Episode 7: Distraction Strategies for Creative Minds

In this episode, explore strategies for managing distractions, particularly from social media, while engaging in creative work. The crew share personal techniques, such as using instrumental music and sensory activities, to maintain focus and create a calming work environment. The discussion also touches on the impact of ADHD on distraction management and the importance of customizing notification settings to reduce anxiety. Join us for insights into crafting a productive and distraction-free creative space.

0:00

Okay, so this is National Podcast Month, November the 7th, day seven. What we've been doing is having a little discussion among ourselves on some questions that have come up and I thought I would pose a question today and how do you handle distractions especially from things like social media when it comes to your creative work? How do you handle distractions especially from things like social media when you're trying to do your creative work? Personally, I turn my phone off. Sometimes I have to do that. I used to be able to take my battery off, but they've made phones now, so they're, you know, hard to get into the battery.

0:43

Wrapping it or the speakers on modern phones now wrapping it in a shirt or something doesn't seem to cut it because those things are all loud. They kind of bleed through. So, I don't know what anyone else does.

1:16

I don't find social media if I'm scrolling and being distracted on it is distracting, but I don't find it distracting like wanting to check it if I'm in a flow. It's more if I'm already in a distractible state, that's somewhere I will go to let my squirrels loose, if that makes sense. But the squirrels are already running around at that point. I find if I put, for me with ADHD, if I have a secondary thing that's kind of giving me a little bit of that stimulation to keep me from getting into the squirrel zone.

2:00

So whether that's having some tea that I can just fidget with and smell and taste and whatever, which brings in another sense that can then help me focus on the task or having music that I can go to. Usually music without lyrics cuz otherwise I get pulled in. But if it's just instrumental music, I can find that'll give me an auditory stimulation which will then help me not get pulled into other distractions and I can just focus on whatever project I'm working on.

2:36

Social media for you is not necessarily the problem. Are there other distractions that are problematic for you when you're doing creative work or are all distractions good distractions?

2:55

I mean, social media can be distracting for me if I'm trying to work with social media directly. So if I'm working on social media posts, for example, and I'm on social media for that purpose, but I don't tend to sit on social media unless I'm just in a spacey headspace and don't really have creative energy. I'm just trying to pass time almost,

3:23

right? Because a lot of people with ADHD having that secondary and third stimulation or distraction can help bring some clarity sometimes, right? Depending

3:41

Yeah. I find it can help too sometimes cuz like they'll have a smell to them and they also have a warmth to them. Like any sort of environmental piece that is lightly sensory but is not too much sensory that it pulls away from what I'm doing. On the flip side, if my desk is a mess, that's obviously going to be visually distracting because that's too much visual clutter.

4:14

Candles are a great thing. You know, you said there's a warmth to them as well as the aroma and I it never occurred to me that they do hit more than one sense, don't they? There's the light that's emitted from them. There's the smell that comes from them. There's that heat. Yeah. So, you can hear a few senses.

4:52

I agree with what Ella said. Just it's um if I want to really get something done, I go back to having something in the background to distract me enough that it it pulls me into a a sense of calm. that I can focus on that. So, it it occupies that. For me, it's

5:32

piano music.

5:37

It's always been piano music. Um, just in certain ways, not not necessarily classical, but certain kinds of piano music has always been pretty soothing to me.

6:00

Like, no, not classical. More like like Liz story is

6:08

No, but I mean, if it's instrumental, like there's not words. It's just

6:39

Yeah, no words. Occasionally I send But then that can help me more as a matter of bringing me a sense of calm and focus type of thing. Sometimes I can just work on stuff, but if I have that music going in the background, it's like it's creating a room for me. That's the work environment that from the time the music starts to the time the music ends is like being in study hall, you know.

7:18

Yeah. Okay, I can be there. And that's what it is. Otherwise, when I don't do that, if I run into a hard spot on something, I'm easily distracted. I will go off all go. I'm going to read the next chapter in my book or I'm going to go do this and I'm going to do that. Social media, I'm I I'm just barely out of maybe out of Instagram jail now. I don't know. I have to wait. Um and I don't. I get a lot of notifications and sometimes those will distract me. But if I don't pay attention to them then if I just set them aside then I'm okay.

8:02

But really the music that creates that music room is what helps me focus. And it's I guess I hadn't really thought about how much that really does help me focus and set aside. But I'm also kind of just avoiding social media these past couple days because it's just way depressing.

8:28

Yeah, that makes sense. I just realized too. When you said about notifications, I don't like getting pings. It pokes at my anxiety. So, I actually have almost all notifications off. I get D discord notifications, but I have it set up so I only get them if it's a direct message. I don't get them if they're on any of the servers. So, if I want to check a server, I actually have to choose to check it and go check. I'm not getting pings when people post in them. So, having that, I didn't even realize how much less stimulation I have compared to other people in terms of getting distractions because I have so many of them turned off.

9:07

My phone automatically does not give me notifications except for phone calls or texts from a specific

9:43

list.

9:46

A lot of people have I mean I know just have said, "Oh, Discord is so this this that." But for me, I finally made a choice about a year ago that I was going to embrace it and figure it out. And what it's done for me is that I can pick and choose

10:15

Yeah.

10:18

who I interact with. with, you know, I'm not bombarded like on Facebook, you don't really get a choice sometimes and

10:41

it's based on what they're trying to advertise to you

10:49

and and and that kind of stuff. This is just like, okay, no, I can choose to go to creative work hour server. I can go to doc server. I can go to ecam. I can choose who I want to check in with.

11:00

Yeah.

11:03

And that's pretty liberating.

11:09

I have less notifications on than I used to. I am set to not disturb at night between 9 9:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. But I've got that one friend and I guess we all might have that one friend that you don't hear from them and then they send 25 messages at once and it beeps beep beep beep beep and I'm like, you know, can't not say for work. What I would say.

11:47

Yeah. Yeah. My phone has settings where I can have it automatically switch to not disturb. So at night, for example, it goes into a sleep mode and it doesn't even show the messages. Like it actually blanks even email like if If I look at the application for my email, it doesn't even tell me how many unread messages I have. I actually have to choose to open the email to see if there's any new unreads. It doesn't even tell me if they have come in on the app icon, which is really nice.

12:35

Is that a native setting on your phone or is it an app that you're using?

12:51

Um, no. It's a native setting on the iPhone. I don't know if other phone types have it, but when I was setting it up, I was like, "Oh, this is kind of handy." All right.

13:08

Yeah. is which when you get that new phone then you've got to figure those settings out again right when you when you're break

13:33

I mean possibly although with iPhones they tend nowadays I think to transfer most of your settings over automatically

13:47

cool

13:51

I didn't use iPhones up until 6 years ago when I needed a new phone and the only phone that was massively discounted at the time was an iPhone so I was like all right well it's way cheaper to get an iPhone at that time and then it's just I've just stuck with it cuz it's been working for me.

14:08

What were your thoughts? You know, social media is so different for me and I have all I have no audio notifications. The only time my phone makes noise is if it's an alarm I set or if I have five people that I've classified as like emergency contact. In that case, they let them and you can say let this person break through. Even if I'm do not disturb, make it ring if Allesandre calls me. I have like five people set on that setting. Otherwise, my phone doesn't make a noise. So, I can turn it over and if the visual's gone, on then it doesn't I don't see it. But my social media experience is so different. Like if I'm on a creative project, I need some rewards for getting through let's say, you know, 500 words and I'll go to Instagram, but I have Instagram set up where it's just entertainment for me. Like there's nothing that's going to distract me really. I mean, I'll be happily distracted, but then I can turn it off like, "Okay, that was that was a cute little comedy reel. Now I'm ready to go back to the next 500 words." As opposed. to Facebook where I would never go when I was trying to do something creative cuz oh my god another one of my classmates died. Turn it off. Turn it off. You know, it's that kind of crazy stuff that comes across Facebook that I just that's very distracting for me. So, I would not go there. But Instagram is my safe little social media puppy. At least the way I have it set up. So, I can get a little dopamine hit but then put it away and go back to my creative work. But that's just how I manage things.

15:14

I have so many dings and sounds going off. I can't figure out where they're coming from. So, clearly I I have failed when it comes to the personal settings. I think that's a good idea. And Gretchen, I think you would be a little surprised at Facebook. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the stuff that I saw on Facebook. So,

15:49

I don't know. Like a lot of the stuff that I've seen on Facebook recently, it's still quite sad.

16:01

Yes. Yes. I guess I've been good at Facebook with getting rid of a lot. There's a lot of purging going on now, which I find really healthy. So,

16:07

I'm not, I'm not even actually the purge. In just a lot of the posts that I've been seeing, people are kind of drawing lines in the sand and purging. And so, whatever your personal settings are on who you want to interact with, it might be a more enjoyable experience.

16:36

I don't like the reminders, and I guess they're better than they used to be, but you know, Facebook sometimes will say, "Remember 10 years ago on a Tuesday afternoon, you were really upset. Well, just want to remind you that, you know, 10 years later, it's the anniversary of that.

17:00

Oh, yeah. My Facebook likes to remind me of my um my past with a, you know, an unhealthy relationship and stuff. It's like, look at this. I'm like, yes. Mhm. That happened. Yeah.

17:17

Thanks, Facebook.

17:19

That's great. That's great. Any more thoughts? If not, we can wrap it up right on time.

17:36

Oh, good job.

17:39

Fantastic. All right, we'll tune And it again tomorrow we'll have another little discussion. Thank you