My brain wanders a lot!

Note: This post originally appeared on my old website and has been moved here to my main blogsite.

While conceptualizing ideas for the stories I'm currently writing, I realized that my brain has been so scattered that sitting alone in a chair for 30 minutes makes me feel restless.

During the time I should be writing, I instead did the following:

• I watched/listened to shows, podcasts, etc. on my TV
• I let my mind wander a lot, going so far as to reflect on different issues that I know I have no control over
• I had conversations with my girlfriend and workmates about different topics—anything under the sun

Realizing I was experiencing these issues, I reflected on my own triggers that were causing me to feel this way. I asked myself what the reasons were for why it's hard for me to focus on a single task.

Here's what I found out:

• Even though I already removed social media from my life, I still watch streaming sites like Netflix, which have the same addictive psychological loops that other platforms have
• I don't have clear goals upon waking up, which is why I feel I'm not in control of what will happen during the day
• Music is both a blessing and a curse for me. There are times when listening to music makes me more focused, but there are times when it distracts me from what I'm doing

I've researched and thought a lot about what my plan is moving forward to make sure the systems I put in place would help me build good habits and become more productive and focused.

Based on my research and thinking, I came up with these strategies:

Driving Tour Videos:

• When I'm working at home or writing stories, I play driving tour videos on my TV. I created a playlist of driving tours because I realized that my brain really likes seeing something moving while I work on a task. Also, instead of listening to music, which sometimes distracts me, I listen to the ambient sound of the driving tour video instead.
• It's worth noting that LoFi channels like LoFi Girl help as well, but based on my observation, I like those driving tours more—or those walking tour videos without commentary.

Daily Agenda: 

• I set my agenda for the day. It includes a checklist of my morning routine as well as any notes I write during the day. I read and review all those notes I've written and check if there are actionable tasks I need to do.
• Also, I make sure to be consistent with my agenda while staying grounded in the fact that even though I have a perfectly structured list of To-Dos, I might still make mistakes and everything I set may not work out well in the end—and that is okay, because what I need to do is fix my mistakes and optimize my systems more.

Reducing Information Overload: 

• I realized I'm experiencing information overload and I have to fix it. I still have a lot of work to do to address this, but the biggest fix I made is to stop binge-watching. A lot of my free time went toward watching TV shows. I realized I watch far too many videos!
• Knowing this, I promised myself to watch only one episode of a TV show per day. Slowly but surely, I've been controlling my urges to watch more videos, telling myself that there's no need to rush.

Current Results From My Strategies:

• So far, so good! After a month of doing this, I believe it has significantly improved my workflow. Aside from the strategies mentioned, I also realized that the Pomodoro Technique works well for me.
• It's still not perfect—I'm still having consistency issues—but this is a very good start. 👍

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