Technology the biggest distractor

I’m currently on a pan-India tour conducting a series of Unconferences on Book Authoring. A study conducted by New York Times states that 81 per cent of people they polled said that they would love to write a book and become an author. Much later when they checked with the same set of people, only 3 per cent of the people had even started writing the book and less than 1 per cent went on to publish the book. 

The situation has been the same in India as well. I sent out a survey to all the participants of the Book Authoring Unconference asking what they would like to learn from the events and an overwhelming majority of the people wanted help with overcoming distractions, maintaining a daily writing regimen and how to stick to a deadline. 

The biggest impediment to the aspiring authors has been the Internet, mobile phones, and gadgets.  Writers are just one segment. This applies to all segments including software professionals, doctors, and other professionals. 

Since our mobile phones are constantly with us, it has become a natural extension of our body. We have developed what is called ‘Muscle Memory’ which means that anytime we are even relatively bored, we subconsciously whip out our mobile phones and fire up a social media app or a messenger app. We have developed the fear of missing out (FOMO) and have this desire to be constantly be updated. 

Cal Newport, the author of the best-selling book Deep Work, talks about the astonishing effects on productivity that mobile phones and social networks have. By being constantly distracted, the quality of work suffers. Here are various solutions to help get over the problem.