distraction


Related Content

How's Busyness?

Matthew biking up a hill in a cyclocross race in 2009
No, that’s not a typo. Let's look at the busy-ness in our lives, at work, and away from work. Being busy has become synonymous with being a typical American citizen. It’s a point of pride for many to have long to-do lists during the week. But is all this busyness working for us?

Working with Distractions

Episode Number
64
During meditation it is common to hear a sound or experience a feeling that sends the mind off, carried away and caught up in the future or the past. In this meditation we investigate the nature of the distractions, practice letting them go, and re-establish connection to the present.

The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0. Subscribe to my newsletter at matthewtift.com/newsletter.

How to Reduce Digital Distractions: Advice from Medieval Monks

Monk drinking from a bowl and filling a pitcher
Image: Easily distracted; from the Sloane Manuscript 2435, f. 44v. Courtesy the British Library
Medieval monks had a terrible time concentrating. And concentration was their lifelong work! Their tech was obviously different from ours. But their anxiety about distraction was not. They complained about being overloaded with information, and about how, even once you finally settled on something to read, it was easy to get bored and turn to something else.
distraction