Firstly, please let me apologize for the tardiness of this month’s blog, however the reasons for which have helped form this month’s topic. It occurred to me that distraction is perhaps one of the most powerful forces in the universe. If we were to be totally honest with ourselves, how many times a day does the distraction bug bites us? Once, twice……oh, if wishing made it so!

At this point let’s first fix on a definition of distraction. The ability to carry out a task without interruption or deviation. The distraction ‘bug’ that I referred to earlier is a hungry little chap! It is completely indiscriminate in those it attacks, from new born infants to the elderly and in all walks of life.

If I were to think of a good analogy it would be the Distraction Vs Concentration - for the Heavy Weight Championship of the World! Two powerful forces going at each other in a constant battle for supremacy which, neither can be expected to win! Let me give you an example:

I am currently on a business trip. I left home on the 19th of September (should have been the 18th September but when I got to the airport the immigration official informed me that my exit visa had expired- Round 1 to Distraction). I will not return home again until the 23rd October, bouncing from one hotel to another, business meetings, flights, rent cars and what has to be described as rather a hectic schedule. Now that you have a little background information which of the two Title Contenders above do you think is winning at the moment? Well the fact that I am submitting this blog half way through the month should be a wee clue……yes our old friend distractions.

How do we champion the cause of Concentration here? I for one am finding the recent return to academia quite a challenge. This is my first ‘distance learning’ experience rather than the full time force fed educational system. It has been trying so far to balance home life, family, work, hobbies…..and the list goes on. Now I have found that given the right preparation it really is not too hard, throw in a month long business trip and that’s another matter all together. So how do we find that right preparation balance? Those of us that can totally isolate ourselves for a couple of hours a day are I suspect in the minority.

Let’s put aside our lessons for a moment and just picture a normal day at home.

Example 1
You are in the kitchen reading through a recipe for something. In your mind you are mentally running through all the ingredients listed and picturing each one in your cupboard asking yourself “do I have that and is there enough left for what I need”? The phone rings, it’s your sister whom you haven’t spoken too in a month. You talk for while then resume your preparation forgetting that one of the ingredients you were thinking about earlier isn’t in the cupboard. You were so distracted by the call you have started to cook now its all for nothing due to that one wee distraction!

Example 2
An aircraft engineer is carrying out an inspection of both engines on a Boeing B737-200. After carrying out the borescope inspection (a flexible tube with lenses on both ends similar to those used by surgeons) he is called to the office to settle a dispute between two of the engineers he supervises. Some what frustrated he returns and closes up the engine covers. Unfortunately he was sufficiently distracted and forgot to refit both engines inspection covers. Minutes after take off from Luton, all of the oil in each engine escaped from the missing covers and the aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Stanstead.

It is never easy to complete long tasks without distractions. The average concentration span of an adult is only 15 mins! Let’s keep our eye on the end result, plan out our day and keep distractions to a minimum.

By the way, both the examples above have actually happened!! 

Regards

Andrew

Andrew is currently studying for his Masters Entry Diploma in Management (University of Wales) with RDI.

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