Productivity, Distraction, and the Hidden Cost of Convenience

Productivity, Distraction, and the Hidden Cost of Convenience

3/8/25 Note: This week I was hit by some kind of stomach bug which made it really hard for me to get to my computer to write a blog post about my third pillar of sustainability, connection. So, I decided to interrupt my scheduled blog post for one that I wrote a week ago that I planned on posting at a later time. Next week I’ll finish up my post on connection!

I’ve been re-reading the book Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Re-reading this book has been a lot more profound the second time around. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve read more books on productivity since my first read, or because I’ve been using the same productivity methods for a few months now and am just now starting to struggle with the long-term effects that come after months of using one system, the novelty has worn off, and the usefulness and the smoothness of how it fits into your daily routine start to become really important. I’m finding it to be a lot more insightful and the concepts in the book are resonating a lot stronger with me than the first time.

One of the core concepts that I’ve really been giving a lot of thought to is the fact that no matter how good your productivity system is, humans at the core WANT to be distracted. We WANT to escape from the things we’re supposed to do. We subconsciously look for anything to do other than the thing we need to do. Smartphones make that super easy and reward you for your getting distracted with dopamine hits, which is why they’re so dangerous. You may not think you have a distraction generator, but if you’re human, I’d bet money that you do. You may use your smartphone as your distraction generator. Or maybe you remember suddenly you have some cleaning to do that you’ve been meaning to do for weeks. Or maybe you just stare blankly into space. I guarantee you have your go-to distractions, even if you convince yourself that “No I really have to do this RIGHT NOW.” I certainly have mine.

Recently, I’ve been trying to use that “itch to be distracted” as a cue to have a mental step back and reorient my perspective. Here’s a perfect example. Just now as I wrote that last sentence, it felt like a nice complete thought and my brain said “Good job! I should check my phone really quick, I might have gotten an email.” and I used that to trigger to instead say to myself “OK no, let’s not. What am I trying to avoid doing? What am I trying to escape from?” The answer, in this case, is clearly “continue the train of thought and continue to write more of your blog.”

I decided to continue this curious attitude toward my own monkey brain: 

• Me: Why is continuing to write my blog important anyway? Why is it any more important than checking email or opening Instagram?
• Also Me: Because I want to try to encourage more people to find health, happiness, and connection.
• Me: Why is that important?
• Also Me: Because I want to help people achieve something meaningful.
• Me: So that you can…?

I continued to pull on this thread and I found myself, in this particular case, getting down to some values that are relatively core to who I am. Some maybe selfish or shallow, but here are a few that I started thinking about:

• I want to help people.
• I want to be appreciated.
• I want others to feel like their lives are better for having had me in it.
• I want others to suffer less. 
• I want others to feel like they have meaning in life.

The farther I pulled the thread, the deeper it got and the more important I started to find the idea of continuing my blog post. I assume most of us never get to the end of the thread. Heck, most of us probably don’t even start pulling the thread in the first place and just succumb to the impulse to watch TikTok for a while. I frequently do. In the end, I end up inevitably at the question of “am I going to take actions that show my values, or not?” That thought can often make all the difference in getting me back on track.

The issue of getting distracted is also really relevant to trying to live sustainably, as I find the exact same “itch to want to be distracted” is very similar to the feeling that leads you to try to take shortcuts and try to take the easier and less fulfilling route. Hungry? Rather than spending 30 minutes cooking something, maybe you get tempted to order delivery (plastic takeout packaging and less healthy food, anyone?). 

Just like resisting distractions helps productivity, resisting the pull of convenience strengthens our commitment to sustainable choices. Every time we resist the urge for an easy, short-term fix, whether it’s avoiding plastic-wrapped takeout, choosing to repair clothes instead of buying new ones, or opting to bike rather than drive, we reinforce habits that align with a less polluting lifestyle. I find that the ability to quell a moment of “let’s be distracted!” is very much applicable to polluting less and over-relying on convenience too.

I hope I haven’t made this all sound like it’s easy. I find the ability to refocus and try to think about what is really important to me is, at times, excruciatingly difficult, but also exceptionally valuable. I fail and end up checking my phone often, but when I do have those moments when I succeed and convince myself that “Yes, doing that harder task that is meaningful to you and worth your doing it RIGHT NOW!”, I end up feeling so proud of myself for having done it. Getting something done that genuinely makes my day feel accomplished feels amazing.

On a related note, I think it’s always really important to remember that the really important and best-use-of-time tasks always end up taking a lot less time than you think. Writing this blog post felt like I’d have to sit down for a couple hours and write it out, when in actuality, it probably only took 30-45 minutes, only the first 2 minutes of which were hard! After that, I really got into the flow of it and was enjoying the writing. The same often goes for work tasks. Or working in my garden. Or biking to the supermarket instead of driving. None of it is nearly as taxing as our brains would sometimes have us believe. The trick is just finding the motivation in the hardest moments to start moving.

Last thing: Oliver’s book Four Thousand Weeks is full of gems on productivity, happiness, and mindset and I highly recommend it to everyone. If you find yourself always chasing after an ever-lengthening to-do list or always being stressed feeling like you have too many problems and not enough time to deal with them, It will help change your perspective in ways that make your life more calm and happy while teaching you to create a more balanced relationship with time. Read it.

How do you all manage your distracted brain? I love these discussions and thought this one might be helpful to some others as well. Chime in in the comments below!