Getting Out of a Lull
By: Ben Snyder
Tags: Work, Motivation, Boredom, Self Improvement, Progress

We’ve all been stuck in a rut at some point. Maybe you’re bored or you’ve come to realize your job isn’t as exciting as it once was. Maybe you feel cornered thinking, “I need this job to pay the bills/mortgage/car, I couldn’t possibly make a change.” Or maybe you simply find yourself browsing Instagram for the tenth time in 2 hours. How might you reignite a spark in your career? How might you cut through all of the distractions to begin making an impact at work or in life?

First, a thought exercise. I want you to either write your answers down or simply consider them thoughtfully — we’ll revisit them at the end. Let’s begin:

How many apps do you usually have running on your computer during the work day?

Of those apps, how many are sending out notifications, messages, and sounds?

What apps might be running in web tabs doing the same?

Do you have your phone next to you? How many social media services are you logged in to? What other kind of notifications are you getting on your phone? Any text messages or other chats?

How many different ways are you interrupted throughout the day? Do you have to let the dogs out often? Do your kids run into your office? If you’re in an office with colleagues do they come to your desk to talk?

How many meetings do you normally have each day?

How many other devices are nearby? Do you have a smartwatch? Is a TV on or are you listening to the news or music on an audio device?

Finally, how many monitors do you typically use?

Do your best to answer these questions, it doesn’t have to be exact. I want you to get a general sense of all the clutter vying four a piece of your brain. We’re starting here because, as you’ll see, distractions might just be the single biggest cause of procrastination, boredom, and workplace resent.

Each day most adults spend anywhere from 3 hours and 30 minutes (Zenith, 2019) to 4 hours and 30 minutes at the higher end (RescueTime, 2019) on just their phones. This includes, on average, 58 phone checks per day (RescueTime, 2019).

Go ahead and check your device now to see how many times you pick it up. If you’re on an iPhone go to Screen Time > See All Activity > Pickups. On Android it can be found at Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls.

Quick peeks really add up and they’re having a tremendous impact on our own success. In a report published by Udemy in 2018 on workplace distractions, they found startling consequences as a result of the menagerie of modern diversions. In particular, the data suggests that 54% of workers are not performing to their full potential due to distractions. Which side of that data point are you on? Flip a coin.

The actual time cost of all these distractions is remarkable. In switching context, on average, more than 23 minutes are required to return to the same level of focus from which you originally departed (Mark, 2008). If you happen to be in a field where reaching a flow state is critical to delivering your best work, consider that a single distraction — checking a Facebook comment, for example — represents a 46 minute roundtrip effort to regain that same level of focus (the original 23 minutes to arrive and the 23 minutes you’ll need to get there again).

Getting Focused

It’s not surprising that many of us might not feel a consistent level of engagement with our work when it’s very plausible the vast majority of us can’t focus on doing work. Honest question time: How much time are distractions taking away from enabling your best self at work? And what role do distractions have in your satisfaction and motivation to get work done? Did you say “yeah but” in your answer to either of those questions?

Into the bucket of distractions, let’s add self-destructive thoughts like “this job sucks” or “I hate these people I work with.” All things considered — and unless you’re truly in a toxic environment — it’s entirely likely you may find the same thoughts and feelings at another job. These thoughts are often just distractions from the bigger issue: focus.

How can we be sure we’re reaching and maintaining a state of focus? There are 3 conditions to getting into a flow state (Csikszentmihályi, M.; Abuhamdeh, S. & Nakamura, J., 2005):

One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress.

The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback.

One must have confidence in one’s ability to complete the task at hand.

Given the extent of modern distractions, I add to these conditions: One must have a single focus, in a single context, on a single device at a time. This might sound extreme, but believe me, everything else can wait. What this does require is goal setting and work phasing.

It’s impractical to complete massive tasks in a short enough amount of time without a distraction, so breaking the work into smaller pieces is critical. Think: “I’m going to complete the rough outline of my deck today” or “I’ll write one functional specification before lunch” then close everything you don’t need to finish that task until it’s done.

Getting Started Small

In the morning or night before, write your single task down on a sticky note. When it’s compete, scratch it off with a pen or pencil. Consider keeping a stack of the used notes somewhere you can see them. This is a critical ceremony in your path to getting more done and getting yourself out of a sticky lull.

In marking an item complete you’re feeding signals to your brain that you are important and that you are making a difference — knowing that you’re making contributions to life (even in the most general sense) is the ultimate antidote to being stuck in a rut.

If you can, share your completed item with someone — anyone. Mention your boss on that deck outline. Text someone and tell them what you did. If you have to, say “done!” in a loud authoritative voice if there’s no one around.

If you’re so stuck in a lull that you can’t even form the energy to start, begin with minor tasks like “organize my desk” or “make a lunch for myself,” maybe even “brush my teeth.” When you’re stuck in a lull, any degree of progress is positive reinforcement for your brain.

You might think that completing one small to medium thing per day sounds diminutive, but I promise you that you’ll look back in a month’s time and surprise yourself by how much you’ve completed.

Take Action! Think back to the exercise from the beginning of this chapter. From the list of distractions you thought of, how many are within your control to turn off? Turn them off. How many don’t need your immediate attention throughout the day? Set a period of the day to check them, otherwise turn them off. When you’re ready to work on a task, remember One Focus, One Context, One Setting until that task is complete. Finally, consider using only one monitor — it might seem like you’re doing more with more screens, but all you’re doing is streamlining all those distractions directly to your brain.