Fight Temptation and Control Focus

I think I would be much more productive at work if I only had a typewriter and a telephone. This is result of my inability to write while surrounded by distractions, but it’s still something worth considering.

At my desk, I succumb to browsing the Internet, sending email and reorganizing my desktop and folders. I’ve spent entire days doing nothing but reading about Richard Dawkins, Buddhist poetry and emailing my wife. And today, as I sat waiting for my computer to reboot for the seventh time — I use a mid-90s iMac with barely enough mojo to multi-task — I realized how many articles I could have written had I nothing to work with but a manual typewriter and a blank page.

Granted the perks of a computer and Microsoft Word are almost too great to abandon, but there’s something nostalgic about the hammer of the typewriter, and something demanding about the lack of distractions. A Buddhist approach to writing would be just that: me sitting in an empty, quiet room with nothing but a typewriter and time to focus.

The trick to achieving that focus in this society is developing an ability to block out the distractions or find the time and space to seclude yourself. Working at a newspaper in a cubicle with four other people during the day and spending my nights waiting tables at a restaurant, the first option is more realistic.

I tune my focus with headphones, instrumental music and determination. I can’t disconnect the Internet so the temptation to take a break and check Reddit or ebay is always there. That’s when I have to put my faith in my will power.

Shutting out the office noise is another story. Often the headphones work. I can submerge myself in Buckethead or Mono and just stare at the screen, concentrating on my story. But on unruly days, like Friday afternoon when everyone is just working for the weekend, the tumult is more difficult to drown. On top of that I can’t turn up the volume too loudly or I can’t hear my phone if it rings. The volume of the music also has a tendency to break my concentration if it’s overbearing.

Everyone is different. Finding your own routine is key, though. Try out various things, but the most important step is to fight temptation and focus. Practice by setting goals. Write out a list of goals for the day and take them one at a time. Then set a list of rules: no Internet browsing; no email; no phone calls; whatever you need to do to lasso your attention.

We live in a world that cultivates short attention spans, which can quickly become the Achilles’ heel for a writer.