83: How to Stop a Bad Habit with Two Jars and Some Paper Clips

In our busy world, there are so many distractions that pull our focus and stop us from making progress towards our goals. This episode will explain why social media and email are distracting, why our brains love distractions, and one strategy to stop this mental habit.

Spend more time distracted by social media than you do working? Find yourself aimlessly scrolling through your social feeds and new articles? In our busy world, there are so many distractions that

pull our focus
drain our batteries
and stop us from making progress towards our goals.

Not too long ago, Facebook and Instagram were shut down for an entire day. I’m sure it caused quite the panic at Facebook headquarters.

Personally, I’m glad it happened. It made me take a hard look at my ow social media habits.

I’ve talked before on The Bold Life about our brains only have so many resources. Distractions and trying to multitask pull a ton of mental resources. Social media and email alerts are some of the biggest distractors.

Awhile back, I adjusted my work environment and schedule to reduce interruptions.

I turned off my email and social media alerts so they weren’t popping up all day
I scheduled specific times in my day to check emails, so I wasn’t multitasking
I even moved my social media apps to the last page on my phone so I didn’t see them as often!

I thought this was working great. I was getting out of the bad habit of feeling like I had to immediately respond to emails (which is really just my inner people pleaser wanting to make sure I respond ASAP).

I felt like I wasn’t spending too much time on social media, other than the dedicated times to catch up on messages or creating helpful content on my pages.

Was I surprised when Facebook and Instagram crashed for the day!

It wasn’t so much that I missed the apps. I checked a few times throughout the day to find that they were still down, and I thought nothing of it.

But what really caught my attention was how fast I got my to-do list done that day. I was done an entire hour earlier than normal.

I’m pretty good at planning. I usually pre-plan my days before and I’m good at estimating how long things will take me. I have my schedule down to a science!

Or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I went to pack up for the day and glanced at the clock to find it was only 2:00!

I had done a lot to set my day up for productivity and focus.

I had preplanned my schedule
The do not disturb sign was on my door
I took tiny breaks every so often

All of these things helped… but staying off social media was also a big factor in my productive day.

Social Media Apps Are Designed To Be Distracting

Social media apps, news stories, and emails are designed to be really engaging. Writers, publishers, and app creators want to draw you in and have you stay there reading their articles or using their app.

Catchy headlines and interesting images are made to distract you and keep you distracted.

These distractions are fun for your brain and can be a bit addicting in the sense that you keep coming back for more.

It often feels weird to be without these distractions. Imagine that weird feeling you get when you forget your phone at home, or you don’t have cell service.

Distractions Activate the Reward Neurotransmitters in Your Brain

Like sending a happy jolt of positive reinforcement to your brain.

You scroll social, it’s fun and engaging, your brain likes that feeling, so your brain forms these mental habits to keep you spending time on social media.

Busy work and distractions are easier for your brain than getting back to that report you have to write or the project you have to finish.

I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear. He argues that in order to change any habit, we need to make the current habit hard to do and make the new habit easy to do.

This makes sense because your brain likes to be comfortable and to take the easier route possible.

Right now, those distractions and busy work tasks (like checking social media) are easy, comfortable, and more enjoyable for your brain.

To stop getting distracted by these time vampires, you need to make the habit harder to do and the new habit more rewarding.

How I’m Using Paperclips and Two Jars To Stop My Social Media Habit

I have two jars in front of me on my desk at work. One jar is full of paperclips.

Every time I think about browsing social media, but I don’t, I move a paper clip to other jar.

I also move a paperclip every time I finish a task without checking social. Or if I check my email and social at a prescheduled time.

Browsing social media is the habit I want to stop and finishing tasks without browsing social media is the habit I want to learn.

Here’s why this works.

I get an immediate reward for not doing my old habit (interrupting my work to scroll through social media) and I get a reward for doing my new habit (getting to the end of my task before taking a break).

The immediate reward of moving the paper clip is super important.

Often we set goals too far out. You say something like “if I finish this project by the end of the month, I’ll go for a spa day”. Long terms goals are important, but day to day behaviour needs to change first.

Having a reward for as soon as you do the good habit works fast to help your brain learn. It needs to be immediate to reinforce the good behaviour.

Also, the paper clip strategy is visual and touchable. Moving the paper clip when you succeed is rewarding and reinforcing for your brain.

Throughout the day you can look at your jars and see how you’re doing. You can see how many paper clips you moved to your success jar.

Another roadblock to goals is setting goals that are hard to measure. Having something that you can see and feel to reinforce that habit is a great strategy.

Wanna learn more?

Check out my free workbook, Your Daily Productivity Checklist.

In this workbook I’ll show you how to use neuroscience-based strategies to set your workday up for success so you can get more done and get out of the habit of busy work.

You can get your free copy at www.drnicolebyers/checklist

Show Highlights

[01:45] How the social media crash made me take a hard look at my social media habits.

[03:12] The speed at which I finished my tasks when social media was down.

[05:36] How social media is geared toward what your brain loves to do.

[07:25] Why I’m using a reward system of paperclips to stop getting distracted by social media.

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