Distraction can be a terrible disease

Don't let life's mundane and routine tasks distract you from the bigger stuff - your aspirations and your financial goals, writes Nima Abu Wardeh.

Gary Clement for The National

I probably - no, I definitely - annoy many people immensely because of the way I have chosen to structure my days.
As a result, I'm told I am difficult to reach. Why? Because I allocate blocks of time to things I want to accomplish, during which my phone is on silent and face down. When busy, I do not look at emails. I strip my surroundings - including laptop notifications and phones - of any visual, audio or other stimulation.
But I slipped recently, and the result was not pretty. I ended up with an acute case of distraction-itis and decision fatigue. All my energy was used up by mundane, though sometimes important, daily stuff, like finding things that hadn't been put away in the right place (it wasn't me), what we'd have for every meal, shopping lists, appointments, logistics, timings of meetings and more. I answered calls - even from unknown numbers, which I regret. (Please, PR agencies and property agents, stop calling).
Then a nasty illness, a clingy virus, brought the house of cards tumbling down. But now that I'm back in the saddle again, I'm reminding myself of what's important, and what's more important.
Aside from not being social, it's about making the most of each hour, each day. My definition of "most", not anyone else's. I am often amused and amazed that the expectation is for me to be available at other's convenience.
Mine is a pull culture. No pushing please.
Why? Because I want to be productive. My definition of "productive". I want to free my mind from distractions and things that throw me off course. I want to be able to think, produce, create, contribute - and most importantly, to be able to make decisions. Not mindlessly consume - whether it's time or resources or space.
Every interaction - whether a pop-up on the screen, or the phone ringing - means that I have to use precious brain juice to decide whether to respond or not. Then to deliberately go back to the mental point I was at before the intrusion happened. This is taxing.
I realised a while ago that we can get dragged into the daily churn of life and don't move forward in any one direction . Yes, we can end up being promoted or getting that degree, but that's also part of the churn I'm referring to. We often get sucked into crossing off days without focusing on the things that will bring us more freedom, time, energy and joy.
This column is about money and life - and key to making the most of both is freeing our minds and ourselves to decide on important matters, including what to do with money, how to generate or save it, where to keep it and how. It is about what we really want for ourselves.
Pushing these issues to the back of our minds, or being permanently distracted and perhaps overloaded with information, takes away from our ability to have clarity, peace, and arrive at decisions - or at least the best decisions for our life as we know it. And this is costing us.
Various experiments show that making decisions is a consuming process. Because it needs focus and energy, we tend to take the path of least resistance - and that means not making a decision if we can get away with it.
One way this has been measured is by tracking parole board judges. One study looked at what factors affect these judges. Turns out they were more open to favourable rulings 65 per cent of the time the first thing in the morning, when they are firing on all cylinders. This then dipped as the day wore on, to zero just before lunch, and went back to 65 per cent after the pick-me-up of nourishment, ending at zero once again with the last cases of the day.
I know when the best decision time is for me, and it's definitely not after hours or on an empty stomach.
And so to clear my head and help get me to my best decision-making, I'm back doing what I know helps - for me, at least.
I go to bed knowing what I'll be wearing the next day, have the gym bag ready (even though it's sometimes wishful thinking). Snacks are prepared, meal plans are made. I have the daily stuff pre-arranged and can free myself up to tackling things that I must focus on.
I allowed my rules to slip, but now I'm getting my brain back. And with it, I'll get a whole lot more out of life.
Nima Abu Wardeh is the founder of the personal finance website cashy.me. You can reach her at [e-mail]