Do you know this? You want to do something important for yourself and you let yourself get distracted “just for a moment.”
In my case, I’m currently listening to the recording of my talk with Mazze Wiesner at Mercedes-Benz a few days ago. And for the last 20 minutes I’ve been staring at the blinking cursor in my Word document, completely caught in the magic of Mazze’s songs blending with my words.
What happened that evening was truly incredible.
And maybe that’s actually the perfect topic for today. Not the talk itself — but the distraction.
A few days ago I saw a wonderful post by my former colleague Daniela Hamoshi on LinkedIn. Dear Daniela, I know you’re probably reading this right now, and I hope it’s okay if I quote a few lines from your post:
“About 100 hours of learning per year are already enough to know significantly more about a topic than the average person. 30–60 minutes of learning per day = 180–365 hours per year.
For comparison: on average we spend 5–7 hours per day consuming private media, about 2 hours of that on social media. And still we say: ‘No time for learning.’ No willingness to reduce Netflix or social media. Just 30 minutes less consumption could move us forward in a meaningful way.”
The most important building block for success is focus.
More precisely: focusing on the things that help you take the next step in the direction that moves your life forward.
And this is exactly where many people lose hours of their lifetime every single day.
Of course things like Facebook, TikTok, Netflix series, YouTube Shorts and many others are all competing for your attention. These platforms want you to stay on their pages for as long as possible — and they know exactly how to do it. Short clips, fast cuts and everything that stimulates your brain.
And then people like Daniela or me come along and say: Pick up a book again. Just 5 minutes. But for many people those five minutes feel incredibly boring. There are no fast cuts, no colorful images and no exciting changes every second. So after a very short time your brain feels bored and secretly hopes your phone lights up again — because luckily someone just posted something or sent you a WhatsApp message.
So what’s the solution?
If you want to stay focused, bring yourself to a place where you are almost immune to distraction. Leave your phone in the kitchen and go to your office or another quiet place to work on the things that truly move your life forward. No radio. No television. No phone. No regular phone either. Just you and, for example, your book.
It may feel a little strange at first. But remember how social media captured your attention: It started with the first clip. Then the second clip. Then the third clip. And at some point your brain simply got used to it. Now you do the exact same thing with your book.
Allow yourself to get used to this kind of activity becoming a regular part of your life again. And each time it will become easier. Just like going to the gym — the first sessions are really tough. But over time it becomes easier, more natural, and part of your routine.
Gift yourself at least a few minutes every day for things that truly move your life forward. Because most of the news from the rest of the world often pushes your life in the opposite direction.
Have fun creating your new habit. And maybe your first five minutes begin today.
