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Today’s question and answer comes from Phillip, who said that his biggest challenge when it comes to focus is the fear of missing out:
> Putting the phone away can help keep me focused since I do not see it to become a distraction, but the fear of missing something lingers. What if my wife text me something important? What if I miss something important, that needs my current attention? This robs my focus daily.
This is a legitimate fear. It’s one I relate to personally.
How do you overcome this fear of missing out? Take a step back. Why are you afraid? What are you afraid of?
By putting your phone and notifications away, you’re taking a risk. Therefore, let’s define the risk. Take it from being a nebulous “what if” scenario and lay it out in to something tangible.
Here’s something I learned from Tim Ferris and James Altucher:
1. Get a piece of paper and make three columns. On one side write all the worst case scenarios.
2. Then, next to each scenario, write all the things you can do to minimize those things from happening.
3. Then write your plan for recovery if the worst case scenario does happen.
Now, if you are in a job where it’s important for you to be reachable 24/7, there is likely a process already in place for that.
For the rest of us, with all our back-of-the-mind fears, here are some ways to help minimize the worst-case scenarios from happening:
* Tell your wife to call if it’s extremely urgent.
* Tell your boss that you’re working and won’t be on email or text.
* Tell your friends, family, co-workers that during certain hours you may not be instantly reachable via email or text.
* Set up VIP notifications for certain people who may email you
* Populate your iPhone’s favorites list with folks who you want to get through right away when they call (in case your phone is on do not disturb mode)
* Follow less people on twitter to help alleviate all the possibilities. Or, set up a “VIP” list on twitter that you can check quickly to see if there’s any breaking news, important announcements, etc.
Here’s how Tim Ferris defines risk: “the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome.”
Yes, by putting your phone down and turning off email for a while, you are taking a risk that you’ll miss a message. But what can you do to minimize the possibility that by you missing that text message it will lead to an irreversible negative outcome?
What is the likelihood that because you didn’t have email open, something negative happened and now it cannot be undone? If there is a strong possibility of that happening, fix your communication systems now before it’s too late.
Once you’ve defined these risks and taken steps to minimize them, you’ll realize that there is actually very little risk to facing an irreversible negative outcome because you had your email program closed and you put your phone on do not disturb mode.
Now consider the converse: the risk you’re taking by not allowing yourself to focus on the task at hand. To not set yourself up for doing meaningful work. One way to help minimize *that* risk is to do all you can to remove the distractions and the challenges related to focus. Such as overcoming the fear of missing out.