The Tax of Distraction
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What is the 'Tax of Distraction' and why does Ryan say it's worth noticing?
What is going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan League Podcast, where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. Today's episode, I really believe, is going to help you move forward in your life. I believe that today's episode is going to help you accomplish some goals. I believe that today's episode... Perhaps it is going to help with anything that you have been procrastinating on for a very, very long time. Because today's episode is entitled The Tax of Distraction. the tax of distraction. Here's what you're never going to get from anybody in your life. Nobody is ever going to send you a bill for being distracted. There is no invoice that is going to show up at the end of the month that says, hey, just so you know, you lost about 47 hours to your phone this month.
That'll be $4,200, okay? But make no mistake about it, my friends. Distraction has a cost. And you're paying it whether you realize it or not. The tax of distraction, full disclosure, I heard this phrase being on the phone with a guy that works for Maxwell Leadership. That's John Maxwell's company, leadership company, if you're not familiar with Maxwell Leadership. His name is Jared Cagle. And in the middle of a conversation, we were just talking about business and leadership and growth. He used this phrase, tax of distraction. I said, ooh, Jared, that's a book at minimum. It's a podcast episode. So, Jared, if you're listening, you need to write a book called The Tax of Distraction before I do. But for today, it's just a short and sweet episode on the Ryan Link Podcast.
Here's the deal. When it comes to the tax of distraction, unlike your income tax, you don't get a refund. You don't get that time back. If you waste the time, you lose the time. I want you to think about the last time you sat down to do something important. Maybe it was writing a proposal. Maybe you were getting ready to have that hard conversation. Maybe you're just planning out the week. Or maybe you were just trying to sit down to read a book or spend quality time with your kids. And when you were going to go do that important thing, something happened. Something happened that happens to each and every one of us every single day. You get a notification on your phone. Your phone buzzed. Your phone rang.
Or you opened one tab and somehow ended up... in a completely different YouTube wormhole and you just got distracted. Or sometimes you didn't distract yourself. It was somebody. Someone popped into your office or if you're like me and my wife, we have two wonderful children who are 11 and 7. And I'm not going to call them a distraction. That would be not a kind thing to say about two human beings that you love. But I will say there are times where I sit down to do something and then they ask me to do something else. And here's a deal. It doesn't matter if it's a person or if it's a thing. There are plenty of things that can be distractions and they come with a price. Every time you get pulled away from something that matters, you pay.
Why is there no invoice for distraction and how does Ryan illustrate its hidden cost?
You pay in time, you pay in energy, you pay in momentum. And the worst part is, Most of us don't even notice the transaction. Interestingly enough, research from the University of California found that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after a single interruption. 23 minutes, 15 seconds. So let me just check social media really fast. Let me just check the scores really fast. That small distraction didn't just cost you 10 seconds. It cost you almost a half an hour of deep focus. Multiply that by the dozens of times it happens every single day and you're losing hours, not minutes, hours.
And here's what really bothers me. We're more connected than we've ever been before. And also, we are less focused than we've ever been before.
We've got access to every tool, every resource, every piece of information on the planet, and we can't sit still long enough to use any of it very well. I speak to leaders all over the country, and I'll ask rooms full of executives, how many of you feel busy but not productive?
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