If you’re going to get the things done that you want to do in this life, you’re going to need to focus. You’ll need to consciously tune out distractions, put on blinders.

We all know that the great attention chasm in our culture is media and information. And if we’re honest, most information isn’t relevant to our lives. So here’s what I suggest: stop consuming it.

Is that story going to change your behavior? Are you going to do something about it right now? Is it important to your top priorities? Is it within the realm of practical possibility? 

If it isn’t at least one of these, it’s a distraction. You need to find a way to tune out this noise.

But what if you miss something important?

Don’t worry, you will. But that’s not the point. The point is to master your fear of missing out (FOMO) so that you can settle down and get to work. Besides, if you’re already doing what’s important, and you’re fully engaged in it, your complete attention will be on that. If you have attention to spare, it means that you are only giving a half-hearted effort to what you are actually doing in that moment. Stop looking for something to distract you and commit. Be present.

A lot distractions come in the form of short interactions that carry a high switching cost. The switching cost is the amount of time and mental energy it takes for your focus to change from one task to another. Things like e-mail, texting, and social media seem like minor distractions, but the switching cost quickly adds up. For me, it’s the calculator on my phone. I love to run numbers. I might be out walking around,and think of something, and then think, “Shit, I need to calculate that and see…,” and then I slip down a rabbit hole of calculations.

“Wait…what was I doing again? Why did I start calculating?”

It didn’t even matter. It wasn’t going to change the outcome. It’s just candy for my mind.

To make my point (and to make fun of myself for running numbers on my calculator), here’s a situation that’s relevant to most of us.

You’ll need to observe your own habits, but for the sake of some numbers to play with, let’s assume we’re being distracted (switching) between what we’re doing (say, writing a blog post) and our phones (texting, emailing, checking social media feeds).

Let’s say we’re interrupted (distracted) 10 minutes per hour, 12 hours a day, every day of the week. That’s 14 hours per week of little distractions taking your attention from your larger purpose. And it’s important to know that when you go back to the primary focus, it isn’t as though you can give it your full attention right away. It takes several minutes to settle back in.  

In that amount of time, instead texting about doing cool shit, you could be out DOING cool shit. I love to talk, and I think communication is great. But it has to be regulated, otherwise it controls you.

This short video of dogs running a distraction gauntlet is a fantastic example of what we are doing in our own lives.

Are you like the Golden Retriever in this video? I think we all are at times; the trick is to catch it and refocus. You’ll need to create levees that block out all the bullshit. You’ll need to put on blinders to tune out all the noise so that you can focus on what’s really important to you.

The levee might be turning off your phone, or going to a room without a television, or cancelling the streaming service that keeps you cracked out on movies for days on end (I’m looking at the wife as I write that). Take some time to find the chronic leaks in your attention and then getting to work on those levees.