2360: [Part 1] Identifying the Twitch That’s Keeping Us Distracted and Stagnant in Life by Anthony Ongaro of Break the Twitch

This is optimal living daily episode 2360, identifying the Twitch that's keeping us distracted and stagnant in life, part one, by Anthony and Garro of BreaktheTwitch.com, and I'm Justin Mollick. Today I'll be able to have a bit of a longer post I'll read the first half today, then finish the rest for you tomorrow, so with that, let's get right to part one and start optimizing your life. Identifying the Twitch that's keeping us distracted and stagnant in life, part one, by Anthony and Garro of BreaktheTwitch.com. In early 2014, something happened at work that ended up changing my life forever.

In fact, it changed your life forever too, because if it hadn't happened, BreaktheTwitch wouldn't be here for you. It's all because my coworker walked into my office and interrupted me. The day started out innocently enough, while working as the marketing director at a nonprofit, typing up a blog post with the latest news in the bike share world. Mid-keystroke, I heard a knock at my office door so I lifted my hands from the keyboard and looked over.

After a short conversation with my coworker, I looked back at my computer screen and couldn't believe what I saw. At the end of a half-written sentence, I had typed the word, Facebook. What the heck? During that interruption and mid-keystroke, my brain seemed to have short-circuited.

It was in that oddly shame-inducing moment when I learned I did not, in fact, own my attention. So if I didn't own it, who did? I realized my frequent one-click purchase pattern I'd recognized months earlier was not an isolated spending problem, but an intention and an attention problem. I began to see many small daily actions I was doing were more impulsive twitches than intentional actions.

Since starting this blog and intentionally exploring the impact of my small daily actions, the Twitch has shown up in places I never expected. I even wrote a book about it, learned even more about the Twitch, and incorporated the learnings into the BreaktheTwitch book. As my exploration continued, my philosophy on how to break the Twitch evolved along with it. Defining the Twitch.

An impulsive, unproductive, repeated response to a feeling of discomfort. I'm feeling the Twitch right now. I keep checking my phone for no reason. The difficult scenarios that caused the Twitch will vary greatly, but they all have one thing in common.

We feel a certain type of discomfort called suffering and Buddhism, and there's an impulsive, unproductive solution that doesn't necessarily solve but eases that discomfort. The Twitch isn't a one-time occurrence. It's a pattern that we repeat when we encounter the discomfort over and over again. There are many types of this discomfort, but a few examples are desire leads to the Twitch, which leads to purchase.

Wanting to improve ourselves, purchasing something instead of taking action. Frustration leads to Twitch, which leads to distraction. Getting stuck on a writing assignment, intermittently checking Twitter and Facebook. And boredom, which leads to Twitch, which leads to smartphone, seeking distraction, avoiding being alone with our thoughts.

Now while these are just a few examples of the various discomforts and twitches that we employ to ease them, there aren't many more. Now that you're familiar with the Twitch itself, here's what we can do to help break the Twitch and more fully own our attention, man lives. 1. Build on awareness of the Twitch.

Your attention is being manipulated, and you might not even realize it. I sure didn't until that fateful day when my coworker interrupted me in my office. Start by slowing down and observing your actions, especially during moments that may be uncomfortable or prone to distractions. Situations like when you're working through an ambiguous or difficult task, or the in-between moments in social situations, or when you're feeling bored, impatient or rushed.

Which one of the four common twitches that steal your attention do you have? If you're on the computer all day like me, using a time tracker can be really helpful in knowing where all your time goes. You can also go to your browser history to keep track of how many times you're getting distracted during your work, or try in intentional living values exercise for greater clarity on where things stand currently. You don't have to change anything yet.

Just notice. Feel the discomfort when you get the urge to pull out your phone again and acknowledge it. You can say, hey, Twitch, I see you there. It's fine if you still decide to go through with the Twitch, but don't beat yourself up.

Just acknowledge it and start becoming more aware of how your attention moves throughout the day. Number two, minimize distractions. To change our lives in a meaningful way, we must create space to allow it to happen. Developing a greater awareness of the Twitch is more difficult with a distracted mind, a cluttered home, and a jam-packed schedule.

Even if you're not exactly sure what you do want in your life, begin by removing everything that you don't. In order to minimize clutter, it's important to note that clutter takes on many forms, and consider the following. Impulse purchases that don't align with your values or desired lifestyle. Mental distractions caused by 38 quick social media checks throughout the day.

Physical clutter lying around the house that takes recurring time and energy to organizing clean. Mobile notifications that pull you away from your creative process causing a loss of focus. And overstuffed garages that could be a workspace for a passion project, or even parking space for a car, imagine that. Another idea is to create intentional friction around distractions that are more difficult to remove completely from your environment.

Intentional friction is adding more difficulty around an easy action you want to do less of, so you have more space to make a conscious choice. Work on identifying and minimizing the distractions that pull us away from the things that really matter to us. We have limited time and energy each day. Decluttering our lives allows us to use those resources more effectively.

Number 3. Hear that in tomorrow's episode. You just listened to part 1 of the post titled, Identifying the Twitch that's Keeping Us Distracted Man's Stagnan in Life by Anthony and Garro of Break2Twitch.com. Got PC optimum points?

Visit ShoppersDruffMart for the Bonus Redemption event and get more for your points. Friday May 8th to Wednesday May 13th, valid in-store and online. Take it Anthony. I'll save my comments for tomorrow after we finish up the post, so with that, thank you for being here and listening every day, including the weekends, and we'll continue this post tomorrow, where you're optimal life.

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