If you’re like me, you can’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time without changing thought processes.
I actually timed myself while watching an educational video and the results were embarrassing.
It has been proven again and again that when you break concentration, it takes X amount of time to get back into your original thought process. X being anywhere from 3-30 minutes! So if you concentrate for 10 minutes, surf the internet/do emails/research for 20, you are only getting 20 minutes of actual work done per hour! Since I’m my own example, I’m thinking that most of you can’t stay focused for 10 minutes at a time either.
So why are we letting this happen?
I think it has to do with the reward center in our brain being stimulated every time we look at something pleasurable online. For many of us, it would seem, we are stimulated when we are Friend Requested (ego!), Tagged in a photo (who doesn’t -on some level- like looking at themselves?) or read a funny article. And then there’s the additional distractions of TV and trashy novels.
So what can we do about it?
I am training my brain’s pleasure center to enjoy being offline. I use a Chrome extension called Concentrate to physically lock me out of the internet.
I leave my smartphone in another room…sometimes. I fail often.
A good friend of mine leaves his computer at his job for the weekend. He doesn’t own a smartphone. His brain works really well.
Brain Running Well should be a better reward for all of us than online surfing!
