UNEXPECTED

Sorry, what was I saying?

I find myself getting distracted far too often when it’s time to write. Does that happen to you, or do you have a good system for blocking the rest of the world out?

Here’s an acrostic for the word distraction which includes just a few of the millions of things that keep me from writing on a daily basis.

Disturbances. Everybody is always interrupting me, asking for something or other. I don’t know where your sneakers are. They’re most likely in the last place you left them.

Ice cream. It’s hard to get work done at night when there’s ice cream in the freezer or someone suggests stopping at the local ice cream shop on the way home.

Sex. Does it count as a distraction if it’s your primary goal in life? When it gets in the way of work it does. Sex is of course not my main goal in life, but if my wife texts me from upstairs that I might want to head up and join her, my laptop closes faster than I can even say “distraction.”

Time. I’m always looking at the clock. Always thinking about the next place I need to get to or thing I have to do. I spend so much time worrying if I’m going to have enough time to finish something that I run out of time before I even start the thing.

Reading. Nothing wrong with a good book or other people’s articles, but one hour set aside for reading quickly becomes two if I’m not careful.

Alerts. Okay phone, I know I have a bunch of apps, and everyone is texting me, but could you go ten minutes without beeping at me? I know, I know, put my phone on silent or in another room. But what if I miss an important alert?

Curiosity. What was the name of that actor in that show? An hour and an IMDB rabbit hole later, I know his name and the names of six other actors from different shows the first actor was on. Wanting to know something is almost always a distraction from getting something done.

TV. Okay, I’ll just check the score of the baseball game and then get back to writing. Oh, it’s a close game, I’ll just watch this inning. Three innings later, oh wait, there’s a new episode of Ted Lasso I haven’t seen yet? See you later article about distractions.

Idiots. It’s probably my fault for letting idiots distract me, but far too often I find stupid people fascinating. Twitter and other places on the Internet are full of them.

Odors. Do you smell that? Let’s go check it out.

Nonsense. This reminds me of one of these that my daughter wrote once. Doesn’t Act Dad-like. I think it was a compliment. I’m always happy to engage in nonsensical activities with my daughters, especially when they were younger.

Most of the things on this list are more enjoyable than working. I try to think of writing not as work, but as a fun distraction itself, and it can be, but sometimes it feels more like a chore, which is never good.

Distractions don’t always have to be bad. They can be fun. Welcome distractions can be a bright spot on a dreary day. You just have to find the right balance between the stuff you want to do and the stuff you need to do.