WEBVTT - Second Cup: What you don't know can't distract you

0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:09.880
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:16.200
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.639
<v Speaker 1>tip is that what you don't know can't distract you.

0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.840
<v Speaker 1>By reducing the number of audio and visual notifications you get,

0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.840
<v Speaker 1>you can increase the chances that you focus on whatever

0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:33.400
<v Speaker 1>you choose to focus on. I don't have to tell

0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.640
<v Speaker 1>anyone listening to this podcast that the world can be

0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.839
<v Speaker 1>a distracting place. Our phones and laptops can wind up

0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:46.320
<v Speaker 1>dinging all day long, to say nothing of people popping by. Now.

0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.520
<v Speaker 1>To be clear, sometimes things that look like distractions are

0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.800
<v Speaker 1>just the nature of collaboration or building your relationships. If

0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.560
<v Speaker 1>you work at home, I would suggest not scheduling anything

0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.800
<v Speaker 1>un in interruptible for the moment your kids get off

0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.400
<v Speaker 1>the bus. They might want to tell you about their days,

0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.280
<v Speaker 1>and planning for that is probably better than viewing that

0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.679
<v Speaker 1>as a distraction. And if you work at home, you

0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:15.880
<v Speaker 1>actually do want your colleagues to reach out to you

0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.679
<v Speaker 1>if doing so means that you are not a bottleneck,

0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.360
<v Speaker 1>or if you're able to redirect something that would take

0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:27.120
<v Speaker 1>a long time to unwind. That said, none of this

0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.040
<v Speaker 1>is either or, and many of the things that distract

0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.920
<v Speaker 1>us do not rise to that level of necessity. The

0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:40.319
<v Speaker 1>key is minimizing the unimportant distractions so that you have

0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.520
<v Speaker 1>more bandwidth for getting your work done and properly responding

0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:50.360
<v Speaker 1>to important interactions. So think about what generally happens when

0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.600
<v Speaker 1>you get distracted. I know that for many people, being

0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.440
<v Speaker 1>able to see that there are unread messages piling up

0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.600
<v Speaker 1>in your inbox can make you feel antsy. If this

0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.280
<v Speaker 1>is happening on your laptop or desktop, one easy way

0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.200
<v Speaker 1>to avoid this feeling is to expand whatever you are

0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:13.640
<v Speaker 1>working on to fill the entire screen. Now you can't

0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.000
<v Speaker 1>see the rising number, or the bolded messages, or anything

0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.200
<v Speaker 1>else you are still logged in in case this is

0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.960
<v Speaker 1>an issue for you, but what you don't know can't

0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:29.799
<v Speaker 1>distract you. I would also suggest being judicious about your phone.

0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.760
<v Speaker 1>Make sure you have turned off alerts from apps you

0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.760
<v Speaker 1>really don't need to know a baseball score or most

0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.440
<v Speaker 1>headlines in the middle of a workday when you are

0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:44.400
<v Speaker 1>trying to focus. The trickier area is texts and calls.

0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.680
<v Speaker 1>These days, if someone is calling you, it might be

0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:52.040
<v Speaker 1>a colleague who really does need your quick input on something. Indeed,

0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.080
<v Speaker 1>many of us tell our colleagues call if it's urgent.

0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.040
<v Speaker 1>So one approach is to set your phone to send

0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.120
<v Speaker 1>just unknown numbers straight to voicemail, so you don't hear

0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.640
<v Speaker 1>a ring for SPAN calls. That way, you are only

0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.640
<v Speaker 1>hearing a ring when it is people you probably do

0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.239
<v Speaker 1>wish to hear from. Then look at your text chains.

0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.560
<v Speaker 1>Any highly active ones that tend not to be urgent

0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.080
<v Speaker 1>can be put into quiet mode. They'll still be there,

0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.320
<v Speaker 1>and when you choose to pick up your phone, you

0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.360
<v Speaker 1>can see that you have forty texts, and you will

0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.880
<v Speaker 1>know that the neighborhood association is still figuring out how

0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.440
<v Speaker 1>to get people to bring their trash cans in quickly

0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.840
<v Speaker 1>after the trash pickup, but you won't hear the dinging

0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.240
<v Speaker 1>forty times. I'd say this can even be true with

0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.720
<v Speaker 1>colleague group texts. Go ahead and make any of them

0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:44.760
<v Speaker 1>quiet that you don't think are going to be urgent.

0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.120
<v Speaker 1>You might be wrong, but most of us pick up

0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:53.000
<v Speaker 1>our phones every thirty minutes or so. Anyway, The goal

0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.560
<v Speaker 1>is to get to the end of those thirty minutes

0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:00.840
<v Speaker 1>without having distracted yourself for anything that is not worth

0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.040
<v Speaker 1>distracting yourself for now. I know that many of us

0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.520
<v Speaker 1>wind up distracting ourselves in various ways, and we need

0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.160
<v Speaker 1>to work on that too, But limiting the inputs can

0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.320
<v Speaker 1>help a lot. We can't get rid of all of them,

0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.520
<v Speaker 1>but we can definitely get rid of some of them.

0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.360
<v Speaker 1>What you don't know can't distract you, and in the

0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:30.320
<v Speaker 1>war for attention, every little victory matters. In the meantime.

0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.719
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:45.400
<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.400
<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.280
<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:57.599
<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the number

0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:02.040
<v Speaker 1>four then breakfast po. You can also shoot me an

0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.359
<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That

0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.719
<v Speaker 1>before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.520
<v Speaker 1>so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.400
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:26.320
<v Speaker 1>from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:31.679
<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.