Never has it been so hard in human history, to avoid distractions and stay focused on our most important tasks, than in today’s distracted digital world.

Every morning, you wake up determined to stay focused and finish the most important tasks on your ‘To Do List.’ But then, what happens?

As soon as you’re awake, a million and one things begin to pull your attention in different directions.

And despite your best attempts to stay on track, you can’t help but be easily distracted — and get buried in the minutia.
To solve this problem, you attempt to multitask between checking your emails, scrolling on social media feeds, clicking on links online, attending meetings, saying yes to people’s urgent requests, and responding to phone texts. But, what is the result of this lack of focus?

At the end of the day, you feel exhausted, stressed, disappointed and defeated, because you wasted the entire day dealing with every little distraction, and never got round to finishing your most important tasks.

And worst of all, you feel like you’re falling behind on your goals and life is slipping away.
This vicious cycle repeats itself day in and day out.

Do any of these sound familiar?
1. “I have too many ideas and never finish anything.”
You get excited to start many ideas and goals — to write, exercise, read more, wake up early, spend more time with family and so on — but after a short while, you begin to procrastinate and fail to finish any one of your ideas. Each idea almost feels like a book that you’ve read 10 pages into, but then, you abandon it and pick up another one to read.

2.“I know what I am supposed to do but I always get distracted and end up wasting the whole day without progressing towards my goal.”

Your entire day is spent dealing with a hundred and one little things — easily distracted by digital devices and other people’s urgent requests — but you never get started or finish the important stuff. And at the end of a long day, you struggle to follow through on your plans because you’re exhausted and explain away your procrastination by saying “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

3. “It feels like my brain is wired to only focus on one thing for 5 seconds!”

You struggle with “multitasking addiction,” and can’t seem to focus on one thing at a time, even though it kills your productivity. At work, you’re constantly switching your attention between tasks, and at home, you struggle to stay present with your spouse and family.

4. “I have a tendency to overthink on tasks to make it perfect to my satisfaction.”
You find yourself spending too much time and money buying books, researching on the internet and planning, instead of taking action towards your goals.

5. “I get excited by the last hour adrenaline rush to do things.”
You have a tendency to wait till the last minute to get things done. But, this bad habit leads to overwhelm, poor results and lack of trust from other people.

6. “I never seem to make enough time for anything.”
You feel like time escapes you and you’re always running out of time that could be spent with the people and projects that matter most to you.

7. “I tend to feel overwhelmed and in need of a break.”
You constantly feel exhausted and stressed, and can’t seem to catch a break from the daily chaos of life. You’re overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of information, emails, notifications and urgent requests from people at work and home.
8. “I tend to have super productive days and then waste time for days afterwards.”

You’re determined to stay productive for a period of time, but after a few days you’re back to square one. You feel helpless because you keep trying to stick to productive behaviours, but can’t figure out how to do so.

If these are the feelings and emotions which you experience, its ok – there are many people riding the same boat as you and what`s even better, you can overcome these feelings and become productive. Tomorrow we will discuss some of them in sha Allah.