Avoid Distractions Now - Your Future Self Will Thank You

It's the small choices we make that can cause us to be less focused in the short-term future.

You walk in the door, throw your keys down, toss off your shoes and drop your bag on the couch.

Future you will not be happy.

Where did I leave my keys?

I often do little things in a rushed manner, or put them off as "a future me problem." But here's the issue with going to sleep with a sink full of dishes, an empty toilet paper roll or a washer full of damp clothes: You’ve distracted yourself before you’ve even hit the pillow.

This is an easy cycle to fall into—it's also possible to break it. The trick is to turn regular, daily tasks into routines. Make completing those everyday chores second nature rather than another item on the ever-growing to-do list.

The expanding to-do list. Is there pleasure in checking off everything?

But it's important to remember to also give yourself some grace. There's a lot more happening under the hood than you or I realize when we reach for our devices rather than that last dirty spoon.

Recently, I’ve started journaling and creating a schedule. However, I haven’t yet mastered the habit of finishing every task. And, typically, this "start-but-don't-finish" mentality often applies to my "lesser" tasks.

I’ve finished 26.2-mile marathons despite having broken legs, cracked ribs and other injuries. As a journalist, I was known for delivering quality work in a timely manner, and in my personal life I’ve planned and executed numerous social events over the years.

However, when it comes to figuring out what’s for dinner, doing the dishes or folding laundry, I often leave the job half done (just ask my frustrated wife). Instead of emptying the sink or the laundry basket, I’ll pick up my phone to complete today’s Wordle (or Quordle or Octordle or…), check the Sixers score or go down a rabbit hole about the history of movies filmed in Philadelphia.

Why am I distracted? I might be missing completion bias.

Do you lack ‘completion bias’?

As Dr. Eva M. Krockow writes for Psychology Today:

“Human culture values the completion of tasks. Students wouldn’t receive a certificate if they dropped out of university before sitting their final exams. Athletes would be met with disappointment if they aborted a run close before the finish line. […] The importance of getting things done is deeply engrained [sic] in most people’s mindsets. Do you enjoy ticking items off your to-do list, and struggle to abandon tasks once you have started them? This phenomenon is called ‘completion bias.’ Indeed, it appears that the bias is rooted in neurobiological mechanisms of the brain, with the experience of task completion leading to a release of the pleasurable chemical dopamine.”

But it’s not all good. Krockow notes that there are red flags when completion bias goes wrong, such as “avoidance of big tasks,” “irrational completion of tasks," “disproportionate risk-seeking” and “losing sight of the journey.”

I find myself encumbered by all of these, depending on the situation.

"Avoidance of big tasks" I will tackle smaller tasks—sending a quick email or text—instead of figuring out how to pay my taxes or finding my next career.

"Irrational completion of tasks" Why did I just drive all the out here to do that? I could have just ordered it online.

"Disproportionate risk-seeking" See: running marathons with broken bones.

"Losing sight of the journey" All that dinner planning I procrastinated on is actually about cooking for my family so we can sit together. Years from now, when my kids are grown and out of the house and I'm sitting at a table set for two rather than five, I’ll miss those moments.

As Krockow notes, an obsession with the final goal—the "destination"—often distracts us from the valuable experiences happening along the way. She leans on the famous wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "It's the journey, not the destination."

By blindly pursuing a perfect, "completed" outcome, it’s easy to miss the joy of the learning experience itself.

Or, as Ferris Bueller famously put it: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

So, don't be distracted now. Your future self—the one sitting at the dinner table or waking up to a clean kitchen—will thank you.