10 Ways to Beat Your Distractions, Increase Productivity, and Enjoy the Process!

What’s your biggest distraction? Is it over-thinking the most insignificant things at the worst times? Or is it more external, like social media, constant phone notifications, or what others are doing and saying? Distraction has been said to be the enemy of vision, the enemy of direction, and even the root of all failure. In this episode, Tom is answering questions to help you avoid distractions and take your goals to the next level by creating rules for yourself that will keep you on track.

As Tom always says, “action cures all,” and if you find yourself easily and chronically distracted from what matters, there are definitely some nuggets of advice you can take action on right now.

SHOW NOTES:

Optimize Cognition | Tom takes it to foundational basics sleep, diet, and exercise [1:29]

Meditation | Keep it simple and start easy, train your focus with breathing exercises[2:26]

Self Awareness | Create rule based strategies that allow you to face your inadequacies [6:44]

ADHD | Not push back, lean into structuring your life the better suits you [12:54]

Unreasonable Beliefs | Have any life you want and use rules to stay focus on living intentionally [15:57]

Outside Distraction | Self awareness, what you don’t enjoy, and what feels right [18:48]

Love the Process | Uncertain outcomes mean that sincere pursuit is what matters [21:14]

Take Action | Your action helps kill the noise of distraction [22:34]

Do or Die | Allow pressure to push action, don’t stand still, avoid overwhelm & get after it [25:56]

Bored Eating | Dopamine rewards need rules & bright lines of what you do and don’t do [29:33]

QUOTES:

“Now you know what you're lying to yourself about, now we can begin to craft strategies, rule based strategies, for getting out of that” [8:38]

“sometimes, instead of pushing back against the way that we are, we can lean into it.” [13:08]

“I don't think there's anything more powerful than journaling for developing self awareness, [....] self awareness is about translating how you feel into an understanding of why you feel that thing,” [19:24]

“...recognize that you should never judge yourself through the lens of a moment. You should only judge yourself through the lens of a lifetime,” [23:52]

“It is very okay to not know what you're doing right now. It is very much not okay to stand still. The only wrong move in life ever is standing still.” [27:34]

“...love feeling good about yourself so much that you adhere to your rules even when it's boring, painful, difficult. That's when things get really really interesting.” [36:37]