Distraction distraction distraction : Oh, my sweet ADD ADHD!
We were lunching at Clafutti’s, our great Santa Fe French bistro, when the alarm on my iPhone went off. That’s every day at 1:45 to remind me to take off my Daytrana ritalin patch so I’ll be able to sleep at night. So my wife, who sometimes feels I need a little direction (I wonder why?) says, “Doug, go in the bathroom and take off your patch.” She might have been afraid I wouldn’t remember what the alarm meant, or that I might open up my shirt and take it off right there (I have done that; she probably thinks it’s inappropriate but I think that at my age – )
So, I said, “Right!” and got up and went into the bathroom. Now without getting overly intimate or crude or otherwise inappropriate, let me tell you that I performed this little perfectly normal physiological function in there and then came back to the table.
She said, “Did you take your patch off?”
I said, “Oh!”
I’m distracted a lot at home. I start to go to the kitchen to do something but I see something in the living room to do and I start that and then realize I could check something on my iPhone, which reminds me of a new app I want to download so I go back to the computer to get it but I want to check my E mail first and someone asked a question that I need to research to answer and so ——–.
Strategies:
1. When I start to do something, say it out loud – “I’m going into the kitchen to put away this cup.” (I talk to myself a lot.)
2. Rule- for small tasks; I can’t start a new task til I finish the one I’m doing.
3. Label distractions “Oh, I know what that is; that’s a distraction.”
4. Use my index cards, iPhone, or something I have with me always, to note the distraction -“Download a new reminder app.” and then proceed with the task I’m on.
Do you know anything about distractions? Please share.
doug
Am I just flitting about?
Quote o the Day: “Even a dog can’t chase every rabbit.” (I just now made that up.)
de clutter- from Bonnie Mincu clik
Bonnie’s course clik
more on de clutter tip 426 clik
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Oh, my gosh! I talk to myself a lot, too. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been caught doing it in public places – the grocery store, the gas station, Wal-mart. You name it. Cause I do it a lot. It definitely helps me stay focused.
When I’m tidying my house every morning, I have to really force myself to stay focused or I’m all over the house and it takes 3x as long to get it done. When I see something in another room, I say (out loud, of course), I’ll get to that in a minute.
My dad was always easily distracted, too. He lived in a mobile home and I used to joke that it took him all day to get from one end of the trailer to the other because there were so many distractions along the way.
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