Facebook. WhatsApp. Instagram. YouTube. And apparently there are things called TikTok and Helo.
Meetings. Meeting requests. Emails.
There's a constant barrage of stuff thrown at us, and our attention is shot. As much as I try to be aware of this fact, it is a daily battle.
People are putting out content all the time. Not all of it is relevant, not even close. But in case some of it might be, I keep an eye out. Plus, I get forwarded a bunch of content as well. In addition, there's simple WhatsApp groups with friends where there's 100 messages if you are away from the phone for about an hour.
While I try to have a system to manage my busyness, I still have not eradicated it from my life. It is something I hope to do.
To be distraction-free, to be in the moment requires practice. I use my training sessions to do this for me.
- When you are lifting weights, it helps to be focused on the lifting of the above-mentioned weights. Sounds obvious but it is not.
- I focus on the form and technique, and try to get in the zone. It does not happen often but the more quality attention I pay, the more my body and mind unite and produce an output.
- My head is clutter-free. I am not thinking about the work that is piling up, that I have to handle in an hour. Or the work that I was supposed to do yesterday but did not. I stay in the moment.
- It is my hour, for myself. As a coach and an entrepreneur, I do not have this luxury much. So, I am greedy about this.
This ends up energising me, and I feel mentally recharged and ready to take on the day. Emotionally, I feel in a much better place. Physically as well. I come out of my training session feeling a lot better than I went in.
The various things I've tried this on are
- strength training
- running
- conditioning sessions
- breathing exercises
- Movement Magic (my curated list of mobility and stretching movements)
Days when I am successful, the quality of work I do in the session and how I feel after the session is phenomenal. Days when I am distracted, I either simplify my training session, or just scrap it. Days in between, which is most of the time, I try and move to being in the moment.
I do one simple thing to make this happen - I put my phone on airplane mode. No notifications, no beeping, no pending tasks. I set a timer to signal the end of the training session, and until then, I just play around or practice or lift. Sometimes all of them.
Somewhere in these sessions is my answer to the larger question of busyness, being in the moment, figuring out how to do higher quality work and deep work. The more quality sessions I have in my training, the closer I go to figuring this out.
Be in the moment. Create pockets of time for yourself during the day. Don't look at that notification. Or open up a new window and dick around on the internet. Or look for a snack. Be in the moment.