Tip 2: How to find distraction-busting solutions

Grab your notebook - we're channelling your inner improv troupe to find solutions to distraction.

Want to stop getting distracted? Here’s a process to find solutions to what stops you writing. It works best when done with pen and paper so grab your notebook and sit somewhere away from your regular writing space. 

👉  Think of the last time you got distracted from your writing. What got in the way? Was it several things that interrupted your flow? Do you have regular distractions or some that are more disruptive than others? Write them all down. Then pick one.

👉  On a fresh page write that distraction in the centre. Innovation bonus tip: turn your notebook sideways - this breaks the linear way of thinking and encourages more original ideas. 

👉  Now, generate as many ideas as you can to solve that problem. Start where you are now, with the obvious solutions, things you’ve already tried or that other people have done. Write them all over the page in as random way as possible.

👉  Keep going. The purpose of this brainstorm is to generate quantity not quality. As the double Nobel prizewinner and creative polymath Linus Pauling said: ‘The only way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.’ 

👉  It’s important you don’t judge ideas - if you think of something, write it down.

👉  Spark off the things you’ve written down. Channel your inner improv troupe (we all have one) and say: ‘Yes, and…’ so you build on what’s there to go to weird and wild places. Push those ideas further. As ideas are written they will generate new connections and original solutions that you might not have thought about when stuck or blocked. 

👉  Stop when you run out of ideas. You might have 5, 10, 25, 100 solutions to that distraction. Now pick one to test out. Treat it as a hypothesis, rather than THE SOLUTION, have fun testing it out and playing in your writing sandbox with the many and varied ways to keep focused and making progress on your writing.

We’d love to hear what some of your solutions are (especially any wild and wacky ones) or tell us how you found this exercise. Post a comment below or send us some love by clicking the ❤️ 

See you on Wednesday for our regular Breakthroughs & Blocks newsletter where we’ll wrap up this month’s theme of stopping.

Missed last week’s tip? Read: Managing distraction

Cheerio, Bec and Chris