Have you ever been distracted while working by a phone ring? Or perhaps you’re in the middle of a report, and your mind starts to wander to what you’ll have for dinner. Maybe it’s an email notification that yanks you away from the project you were focused on. You’ve just been caught in the whirlwind of distraction.
If you find yourself resonating with any of these scenarios, don’t worry, you’re not alone. If you feel like your attention span is as fleeting as a flash of lightning, you’re part of a much larger crowd than you might imagine.
A study has shown that this is the case.[1] A study from the University of California revealed an alarming statistic. On average, it takes us only 12 minutes to focus on one task before we are interrupted. Worse still, after we’ve been sidetracked, it takes us a whopping 25 minutes to reclaim our original task. These numbers may be shocking, but they’re the reality of our distraction-riddled lives.
Why do we find distractions so appealing? Why is it that our attention can be so easily shattered by interruptions?
The answer is not as simple as blaming a beep, a buzz, or a notification.
