Have you ever promised yourself to use your phone for just a minute, only to end up spending more than an hour on it?
In Make Time, a practical book on productivity tips, the authors Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky introduce the idea of “Distraction Kryptonite.” If you have carefully read the first sentence of this note, you already know what I am talking about.
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Most of us have one especially powerful Infinity Pool we just can’t resist. We call it “distraction Kryptonite.” Just as regular Kryptonite overwhelms Superman, distraction Kryptonite gets past our defenses and sabotages our plans.
Even though you feel in complete control of what’s going on, somehow, the distraction kryptonite always finds a way to interfere with you.
Probably, in this case, the only solution is to avoid such responsibilities from the beginning.
You are probably not so good at self-control. So, avoid spending time with your phone if you know you lack self-control.
From personal experience, I know that starting my day by taking my mobile will cause a butterfly effect that lasts for the entire day.
On weekdays, I wake up at 5 a.m. (sometimes it’s between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.) and spend some time studying until 7 a.m. However, if I start using my mobile device, I may lose track of time and miss the 7 a.m. chime. If this happens, I have to decide between continuing to study and being late for work or leaving my studies and prioritizing my job.
Neither of the options is good.
In the first case, I miss essential time for studying. In the latter, I miss my early full-time job start, resulting in me getting home late. Getting home late also means having less time to do all that I have to, and I might end up getting sleeping late. Again, this isn’t good for my early wake-up the following day.
And so on and on in the infinity pool mentioned by the authors, without having a clear way out, increasing the feeling of unaccomplishment.