I heard this term the other day: “Drunk with distraction.”
I wish I could remember where I heard it, but, alas, I was not gifted with the ability to remember important dates, names of people I’ve met before, or sources of great phrases.
It’s a great line anyway. It perfectly describes the diminished ability — and potential damage — that is caused by the overabundance of distraction in our lives. Email, texts, and social media are some of the biggest culprits. So are constant interruptions by other people. Don’t even get me started on the absolute and utter productivity-sucking myth of multi-tasking.
Distraction (call it busyness, if you’d prefer) steals our energy, our attention, and our brainpower to the point where our ability to perform drops to mediocre at best. It also inhibits our capacity to make good decisions because we’re always making them in a distracted state.
Letting yourself be constantly distracted is like being drunk at work (or home or anywhere, really) and instead of sobering up, you just keep on drinking.
You wouldn’t get drunk at work, would you? PLEASE tell me you wouldn’t get drunk at work.
So why do you continue to allow yourself to be so distracted all the time?