Now, I work two wonderful part-time jobs (gladly leaving the full-time job behind), and my classes are done. I am near to graduating from my school of study, and I find myself with less structured time. This, of course, has been an adjustment. My dog and my cat are obviously thrilled with the amount of time I spend at home (as one of my jobs requires I use my home office for most of the time), but it took my easily distracted mind some time to adjust. I could sit down at my office desk and complete work tasks, or I could check out Facebook just one more time. (Or Twitter, or Ravelry, or Pinterest...) Social media is an easy dopamine dump in the brain. Sitting to focus on the task at hand is not so easy.
I still manage to complete my work, but it was taking me longer to do so, than if I wasn't so taken with distractions.
To battle this "monkey mind" of mine, I practice mindfulness. When I feel the impulse to pick up my phone or open a new tab (I opened a new tab three times while writing this), I remind myself of the task at hand. I put down the phone or close the tab, and I take note of the feeling. I bring my focus back to the object - the current object being this blog post. I continue the process, gently bringing my focus back to the object just as I accept the urge to connect to a social network. I have the urge, it is there, and now here is my focus coming back. It has been very helpful not only to my professional work, but to my creative work as well.
I break it down into steps:
1. Note the feeling. (I want to connect!)
2. Accept the feeling. (Yes. That's right.)
3. Bring the object back into focus. (Here is what I'm doing now.)
It's working for me.
Cheers.
