We live in the most distracted era that mankind has ever known. As music teachers, we're especially prone to distractions. Between being the creatives we are and working with so many people and projects at once.
Media and devices are competing for our attention at all times. The worst offender?
It's right in your pocket. Your phone.
But, there's one setting you can change that will give you hours of productivity and focus back. I'm talking about...
Notifications. More specifically, turning your notifications off.
We've all been there before. You're in the middle of an important task that needs to get done in two days.
Ding!
You received a text. You'll just ignore it. But already, you're distracted because you're wondering if it could be something important. Or maybe you're missing out on something.
Ding! Ding!
Another text, and now an email. Gosh, the pressure is mounting. Surely a quick check won't do any harm.
It turns out your friend has some big news that probably could have waited. But, you get caught up in a text conversation with her. And the email was about a scheduling issue with a student that you have to respond to.
Bam. 20 minutes gone. And getting back on task isn't easy. Where did you leave off again? By the time you get focused and on track again...
Ding!
And so it goes...
Willpower is simply not enough to handle our phone's notifications. The sounds are engineered to get their hooks into our brains.
There are two reasons we're not able to just say "no" when we hear that siren-like ding. (not the police siren...the mythical-figure siren...Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
The first is a concept called FOMO - "fear of missing out."
When we hear that notification, we're worried that we might be missing important news. Or, maybe we're about to miss out on an opportunity. What if there's an emergency? No matter how much you try to focus on your task at hand, this will be gnawing at you to some degree.
The second is a mental phenomenon known as "variable reward." This is the same reaction that our brains have when we pull the lever on the slot machine. We wonder - are we going to win? Or are we going to lose?
When it comes to our phones, the questions are, "Is it going to be good news?" Or is it going to be bad news?"
Notifications open a story loop in our minds. Kind of like seeing a trailer that shows you the beginning of a movie. When it comes to notifications, we just have to know how the story ends, and willpower is just not enough to make us wait and stay focused on what we were doing.
The only way to reclaim hours of focus and productivity is to just switch them off. Better yet, leave your phone outside the room altogether.
Try it for a couple of days, and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Does the thought of turning notifications off make you a little anxious? Don't worry. The world isn't going to end. And you'll probably be amazed at both your freedom and how much you can get done.
When you turn notifications off, you are in control of your messaging instead of your messaging being in control of you.