You sit down to focus, and something pulls you away: a message, a noise, hunger, a thought. You try to ignore it. It wins.
You’ll see where six kinds of distraction come from and which five you remove before a block. Then you’ll learn what to do with the sixth during it.
How do you avoid distractions and do deep work?
You avoid distractions by removing them before the block instead of fighting them during it. Then nothing interrupts you while you work. The preparation looks long, but after a few blocks it takes only a few minutes.
Willpower loses, because your phone is engineered to capture your attention. I put it this way: “You against a billion-dollar design. You lose.”
Here is when you handle each of six sources:
| What pulls you away | Examples | When you deal with it |
|---|---|---|
| Your body | Hunger, thirst, a full bladder | Before the block |
| Your phone | Calls, messages, the urge to scroll | Before the block |
| The room | Noise, people, the doorbell | Before the block |
| Your desk | Papers from another task | Before the block |
| Your computer | Email, chat, open tabs | Before the block |
| Your own thoughts | Other tasks, ideas, errands | During the block, on paper |
Before all six, check whether you’re awake. Two warning signs say you aren’t: you read one sentence three times, or you keep reaching for your phone. On those days, read how to focus when tired.
Get your body ready first
Thirst, a full bladder and hunger interrupt a block too. Drink a glass of water first, or keep one on your desk.
Don’t overdo it: more water means more bathroom trips. So use the bathroom right before you start.
Eat little or nothing before a block, because a big meal leaves you bloated, drowsy and sluggish. But hunger is just as bad, because a growling stomach distracts you. So eat something small, like a handful of nuts.
Between blocks, a snack is fine, but a full meal ruins the next block.
Why your phone has to leave the room
Next, turn your phone off and put it in another room, because even its presence costs attention.
Ward, Duke, Gneezy and Bos tested this twice (“Brain Drain”, 2017). Just having their own phone there left people with less free mental capacity. The most phone-dependent people lost the most.
A newer study by Skowronek, Seifert and Lindberg (2023) tested the concentration and attention of people aged 20 to 34. They did worse with a smartphone present than without one. Here is how to handle your phone around a block:
- Off and away: Turn it off and hide it in a drawer in another room.
- As a timer: Use it only if you have no other timer. Turn on airplane mode and Do Not Disturb. Keep it out of sight.
- People who message you: Tell them at what times you can’t be reached. You stop waiting for their messages.
Quiet the room and clear the desk
Noise, people and paper still pull at you, so shut them out first. Close the windows and any doors to noisy rooms.
Your brain checks every sound, so wear earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones, with no music. To see why, read whether you can do deep work with music.
Tell the people around you clearly: you’re unavailable for the next block. Set the doorbell to silent, and close the door if you have one. If they still interrupt you, read about deep work when people keep interrupting you.
Then clear your desk, since every object in sight asks for attention. A paper from another task pulls your thoughts to that task. Keep only this:
- Monitor, keyboard, mouse, computer
- Notepad and pens
- Lighting
- Glass of water
Everything else leaves the desk. Put what you can’t sort now into a box or tray beside the desk, and sort it later. To plan the whole space, read how to set up a deep work environment.
Close everything on your computer the task doesn’t need
Last comes your computer. It holds your work and your distractions at once, so close what the task doesn’t need.
Every open app and tab is an open thought. Your brain spends energy ignoring it. Notifications are like a colleague tapping your shoulder every three minutes.
- Close email, team chat like Slack, and social media first. They steal the most attention.
- Close every other app that has nothing to do with this task.
- Close all browser tabs, or open a separate browser window just for this task.
- Turn on Do Not Disturb to silence notifications.
Want to keep some tabs for later? Save them in a bookmarks folder, then close them, so they’re out of sight.
If your team chat keeps sending alerts, read about Slack notifications during a block. If you’re thinking about tools that block distracting websites, read about website blockers.
What’s left during the block: your own thoughts
With the outside cleared, what’s left during the block are your own thoughts. Other tasks, ideas and errands come to mind, and that’s normal. Your brain is afraid of forgetting them, so it repeats them and pushes you to act until they’re on paper.
Before the block, put two sheets of paper on your desk. The protocol sheet holds your goal and steps, and the thought sheet holds all other thoughts. When a thought comes, note it in a few words, look at your protocol sheet and keep going.
An urge to check something can go on the thought sheet, just like any other thought. Reward yourself in the break instead of checking now: a piece of chocolate or a moment outside in the sun. You just did focused work, and that deserves recognition.
If you lose your place in the task, read how to stay focused when you lose track. For urges that keep coming back, read about impulse control.
With the outside cleared and your thoughts on paper, only the task is left. The start decides how fast you get deep into it: a timer and one written goal. See how it works →
FAQ
Does meditation help you avoid distractions during deep work?
Meditation helps you avoid distractions during deep work if you practice it outside your blocks of focused work. It trains you to watch your own mind, so you notice sooner when your thoughts wander at work. Don’t meditate in your breaks, though: it takes concentration.
Can you check your phone between deep work blocks?
Check your phone between deep work blocks only in a longer break or after work. Breaks are the riskiest moment, because a quick check easily turns into 15 minutes of scrolling. New messages and posts stay on your mind in the next block.
Does avoiding distractions get easier with practice?
Avoiding distractions during deep work gets easier with every block of focused work. Your first blocks won’t be perfect: you’ll forget steps and get distracted anyway, and that’s normal for everyone. After a few weeks, the steps become routine, so you stop thinking about them.
