Daily writing prompts

What Happens When We Disrupt What We Are Doing?

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I’ve been trying to write today’s post…but work keeps disrupting my thoughts. Or perhaps my thoughts of today’s post are disrupting my work. I am torn between what I am passionate about, and what is, at least for now, necessary.

When my thoughts are divided this way I’m not giving 100% of myself to either task. But this is how we live our busy lives these days, isn’t it?

I’m trying to get better; to give my full attention to one activity at a time, but with life coming at me from every direction this can be difficult. My daughter will come into the kitchen while I’m making dinner or washing the dishes. I want to listen to her, I really do. But I have to teach myself to either stop what I’m doing so I can look at her and truly hear what she’s saying, or ask her to wait until I’m finished.

How many times has she said something to me, to which I nod or otherwise acknowledge, only to realize after the fact I completely missed what she said?

Her: “Can I go to my friend’s house Friday night?”
Me (after nodding): “Wait, what did you just say?”

I’ve caught myself checking texts, emails, or WordPress notifications while my daughter is practicing gymnastics, too anxious to find out what I’m missing to wait until she’s finished. My daughter sees this, I know she does, and I try not to…but it’s so tempting.

How much of my life am I missing because I’m looking at my phone instead of what’s in front of me?

Her: “Did you see me Mom?”
Me: “No, sorry. I missed it!”

At work I’ll be focusing on an issue, a problem that needs to be solved, when suddenly an email will pop up begging to be read, demanding my immediate attention. And suddenly I’m pulled into some other project, the original task left unfinished, half done until I remember what it was I’d been working on. My boss insists this is necessary, this juggling act in which nothing is completed well, but is at least finished in the end.

How much more would I get done if I could ignore the emails just for a little while, until I’m finished?

Her: “When will this be completed?”
Me: “When I can give it some attention.”

And speaking of work, I have a new problem requiring my attention. Maybe I’ll get back to this later, or maybe this is enough for now…

This post is in response to the daily writing prompt Disrupt

38 thoughts on “What Happens When We Disrupt What We Are Doing?”

  3. This is what multitasking has created! A bunch of half accomplished tasks with no attention to detail. Yet I am great at multitasking. It’s an oddity, right.? I relate a lot to this post. 🙂

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  5. We sincerely have to be synced. Yesterday, work overwhelmed my life that I was unable to actually sit down and work on my blog. I just let it go and let life take its course. Funny how you posted about the same today.

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  7. In my house, my husband is the distracted one. He is always seen stressed becks of his nature of work. He is almost surrounded by the gadgets that rule him. A multitasker, tasking work through mobile, scheduling in his tab, finalising in his laptop and in BTW fishing for the world news. I ask him something his reply will be to what I asked the previous day.. #disruption #mentalblock

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  10. This is an all too familiar story for most of us. It will take some time to figure out the balance in your current situation, but be prepared for another task as soon as you complete one. I would love to see you over at my blog sometimes. Feel free to browse around and share your thoughts in the post comments.

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    1. Thanks for visiting! It’s true that there will always be something up next….But there are times I need to focus just on what’s in front of me…Like my daughter. I’ll check out your posts! 😁

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  11. I know this far too well! As a society, we worship busyness and are forgetting the value of stillness, silence, and giving something our full attention. I think is partially why flip phones are making a come back. I also find that closing my email and setting a timer when working on high level tasks allows me to be much more effective and efficient. But it is a constant battle.

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