I love to write. Even when I’m not blogging it’s rare that I don’t write something every day be it short stories or quick blurbs or ideas for future posts. However, as much as I love blogging, I also have the attention span of a goldfish and can be distracted by everything from browsing the web to movies or emails. As I began writing more and more for this site, I started making a conscious effort to eliminate some of those distractions and in my oh-so-beloved list format I shall now share at least some of what I use to keep the writing going without succumbing to reading Wikipedia for six hours.
1. I Keep my Desktop Clear
I’m a big fan of minimalism and this concept carries over to the tidiness of my desktop as well. Naturally files end up there sometimes, but as a general rule I love being able to clearly see whatever fancy wallpaper I’ve put up and there’s something fulfilling in having that space free. I also ran across a great article for the rest of you Mac users out there over at Adventures of a Barefoot Geek that details how to declutter OS X that’s totally worth a read.
2. My REAL Desktop is Also Tidy
Much like my virtual one, my desk is more often than not completely devoid of everything but the essentials. I have a lamp, a cup of pens, and a fake plant(because I’m too irresponsible to keep a real one alive), but that’s about it. Nicole and I are actually in the process of re-designing our office to be even less cluttered and get rid of a bunch of junk we don’t need. I used to have it littered with gadgets, papers, and other knick-knacks, but found it to be a subtle deterrent from sitting down and actually doing any work.
3. Single Tasking is my Friend
Yes, our computers today make those of yesterday look arcane, taking what used to fill a room and crunching it down to fit into a backpack or shirt pocket. However, just because our tools have evolved to handle dozens of different operations at once doesn’t mean that they should be all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love having the ability to listen to The Chemical Brothers while reading up on Digg all while importing pictures into iPhoto, but that doesn’t mean I should be doing all these things while trying to write. It may work for some people, but when I really need to buckle down and do some serious writing, I keep only my editor open whether it’s WordPress or Scrivener.
4. I Keep my Phone on Silent
If you call me and can’t get ahold of me, odds are good that I’m behind a keyboard writing down the meaning of the universe. Alright, I’m not writing anything that fantastical, but I still value time when I can get away from people calling me when I’m trying to get things done. It’s a simple trick, but one that I thought warranted mention considering many of us are tethered to our phones constantly.
5. Background Music is Minimal
I love listening to music while I work on my computer, but sometimes it can be more distracting. I’m a big fan of ambient music or classical. In the words of John Cusack from High Fidelity, I just want something I can ignore. I love all types of music, but sometimes I can completely lose my train of thought when listening to anything that’s too lyric-heavy. A great website for this type of music is Digitally Imported.
I realize that a lot these may be common sense, but just the same I figured some of you might find it useful. How do you eliminate distractions?ac
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