This is how to resist distraction 4 proven secrets

This is how to resist distraction 4 proven secretsThis is how to resist distraction 4 proven secretsHave you said any of these recently?I get distracted and procrastinate.I make plans but I dont follow through on them.I get things done but not the right things.The problem oftencomes down to just one word reactive.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreMaybe that wasnt the word you were expecting. But reactivity isa problem people have been contemplating for thousands of years. And, yes, its a bigger issue now than ever.What is it? What can we do about it? Neuroscience and ancient wisdom from Buddhism and Stoicism haveanswers.Lets get to itYour ReactiveBrainMaybe youre lazy, maybe youre not lazy. But one thing is for certain yourbrain is.Research shows that even in our free time we often dont do what we enjoy fruchtwein - we do what is easy. Your brain doesnt want to waste energy. So i ts always a bit lazy.Problem is, the world is not lazy. These days its constantly shouting at you.Sometimes its the siren song of entertaining things like text messages from friends and other times its scary things like work emails - but its shouting.Everything is demanding our attention. Wed like to make a plan and follow through or accomplish goals undistracted but the worldseems to be working against you.When I spoke to Duke professor Dan Ariely, he said exactly that the world is working against you.Heres DanThe world is not acting in our long-term benefit. Imagine you walk down the street and every store is trying to get your money right now in your pocket you have a phone and every app wants to control your attention right now. Most of the entities in our lives really want us to make mistakes in their favor. So the world is making things very, very difficult.Your lazy brain is happy to just react to that relentless bombardment of stimuli coming its way.But when youjust react, youdont usually make the best choices. And while youredefinitely doing something, yourerarely achieving your goals.Thats because when youre reacting, youre not in control of your life. In fact, reacting is the opposite of control. You see something fun and you chase it. You see something scary and you run away. Either way, your environment is determining your behavior.Its ironic that we so often say to others, Dont tell me what to do And yet, all too often, were letting the world around us determine our actions. Were not departureing from plans and decisions, were reacting.And these days were often sitting there hoping we get a new text,email, update or notification. Were all but saying, Please, tell me what to do.And while technology has made the problem worse, this issuehas been around forever. About 2000 years ago the Stoic philosopher Epictetus said thisIf a person gave away your body to some passerby, youd be furious. Yet, you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so t hey may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled - have you no shame in that?(To learn the 7 step morning zeremoniell that will keep you happy all day, click here.)More often we need to step back rather than dive in. But how do we do that? First, we need to prepareControl Your ContextBrian Wansink is a professor at Cornell who studies eating behavior. And one of the main things hes found about overeating is that its rarely due to hunger. Its usually due to context.FromMindless Eating Why We Eat More Than We ThinkEveryone - every single one of us - eats how much we eat largely because of whats around us.Youeat less when food is farther away and more when its closer. Heres BrianPeople ate half as much if we simply moved the candy dish off their desk andplaced it six feet away.So when you need to get work done, put your phone on the other side of the room. Make distractions harder to reach.When you have fewer things to react to or you make it harder to react to them, youll be le ss reactive.(To learn the 4 rituals neuroscience says will make you happy, click here.)Preparation is great but thats just the first line of defense. What do youneed to do when youre face to face with something thats pulling you into reactive mode?Stay CalmTake a unterbruch. Something fun is saying Come play with me Or something scary is in front of you and you want to run away and procrastinate. So just pause for a second.As Marcus Aurelius said a long time agoThe first thing to do - dont get worked up The next thing to do - consider carefully the task at hand for what it is, while remembering your purpose is to be a good human being.And modern science agrees. All that emotion is not going to help.Albert Bernstein, a clinical psychiatrist, says staying calm is key to making good decisions in the heat of the momentthe basic idea is that in many situations, youre reacting with instincts programmed into your dinosaur brain, rather than thinking through a situation. If youre in your dinosaur brain, youre going to play out a 6 million-year-old program, and nothing goodis going to happen.Neuroscientistssay stress takes your prefrontal cortex - the rational part of your brain - offline. Quite simply, stress makes you stupid. And thats why just reacting often makes you do stupid things.(To learn how astronauts, Samurai, and Navy SEALs stay calm and make good decisions, click here.)Okay, you paused. But you cant just freeze every time something tempting comes up. So whats next?Think About Your GoalsMake sure the most important thing staysthe most important thing.Even the ancient Stoics knew that.Epictetus saidFirst tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.Not big on Stoicism?The ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness is on the same page. Joseph Goldstein, one of the leading experts in the field, told me something very similarWhere is this action leading? Do I want to go there? This thought which has arisen, is it helpful? Is it serving me or others in some way or is it not? Is it just playing out perhaps old conditions of fear or judgment or things that are not very helpful for ourselves or others?And modern neuroscience researchagrees with both.Thinking about your long-term goals when youre tempted by distraction gives your brain a sense of control and can release dopamine which will make you feel better and more motivated.Alex Korb, a neuroscientist at UCLA, told me thisBy thinking, Okay, what is my long-term goal? What am I trying to accomplish? Calling that to mind can actually make it feel rewarding to be doing homework instead of going to the party because then your brain is like, Oh yeah. Im working towards that goal. Im accomplishing something thats meaningful to me. Then that can start to release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and that can start to make y ou feel better about what youre doing.(To learn more aboutthe six rituals that ancient wisdom says can make you happy, click here.)Youre calm and youre thinking about your goals. Now comes the hard partMake A DeliberateDecisionTurning down fun distractionsis hard. Resisting the urge to procrastinate is really hard.Sotake a second and deliberatelydecide not to give in. I know,that sounds waaaaay too easy to be helpfulWrong.Neuroscience shows pausing andtaking the time to make adecision actually helps stop you from engaging in bad behavior.Via The Upward SpiralMaking decisions also helps overcome striatum activity, which usually pulls you toward negative impulses and routines.And then, finally, act on that decision. Follow your long-term goals. Heres neuroscientist Alex KorbWhen the prefrontal cortex is taken offlineby stress we end up doing things that are immediately pleasurable.Instead of getting overwhelmed, ask yourself, Whats one little thing that I could do now that would move me toward this goal Im trying to accomplish?Taking one small step toward it can make it start to feel more manageable.(To learn more about the neuroscience behind mindfulness, click here.)Okay, weve learned a lot. Lets round it up and see what happens when we put it into actionSum UpHeres how to resist distraction and be less reactiveControl your context You cant react to whats not there.Stay calm Stress makes you dumb. Stress and reacting leads to dumb behavior.Think about your goals Get Stoicism, mindfulness and dopamine on your side.Make adeliberate decision When you do, your brain is betterable to resist no-nos.You dont have to react and answer that text immediately. You dont have to react to that delicious smell and eat all the cookies. You can pause, stay calm, think about your goals and decide to do the right thing.Were all so afraid of being bored that we run to any distraction that presents itself. But when we truly engage with the world and focus on our goals, were never b ored.And as David Foster Wallace said, If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.Join over 271,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.This article first appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.