Writing as an Antidote to Distraction

Don’t avoid distraction, write instead.

There is an abundance of writing advice on how to tame distractions as a writer, but rarely does anyone highlight writing itself as an antidote to distraction. Writing tames the mind, quiets the noise, and sharpens your thoughts. Over the years, writing has become my top outlet for taming distraction, alongside walking and activating ‘airplane mode’ on my phone.

Because let’s face it, distraction is a modern-day curse. It’s not just unfortunate habits like doom scrolling, having multiple tabs (and browsers) open at all times, and responding to texts while watching a show or working. It’s the inability to conceive a single thought without having ten other competing thoughts lingering for your immediate attention.

“We are creatures of habit. We think somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts in one day, 1 and 90 percent of those thoughts are exactly the same ones we had the day before.” — Dr. Joe Dispenza, You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter

What happens when you write

When you write, you direct your mind towards a single topic. All you are thinking about is the subject of your page. You write a sentence and suddenly near its end, halting with a period. This period becomes the catalyst to your next thought, and the next, and the next. Your thoughts become sentences, and your words become essays.

With every sentence you write, you tame your mind and forget everything else. Doing this frequently trains your mind to be less distracted because you are generating an ability for attentional control; the same result fostered in mindfulness and meditation.

When you write, you reignite your healthy brain patterns

There are studies about the effects of distraction in the operating room, which include things as little as the sound of opening a pack of gloves, measured in decibels. Distractions are brutal; the severity just depends on the context and environment.

In general, distraction spoils your healthy impulses and decision-making. A distracted driver misses the correct turn, brakes too late, and causes fatal accidents. A distracted test-taker rereads a question multiple times because the substance has not clicked with their cognitive understanding. They can’t recall well or draw from memory until the distraction state is alleviated.

When you write, you reignite your healthy brain patterns. You arrange correlated thoughts and group together related items. You create coherence out of words, following a natural inclination to structure your words to make them understandable. With every stroke on the keyboard, writing, organizing, and editing, you metaphorically lift the fog from your distracted brain.

A healthy brain is a brain that thinks clearly. Writing helps you think and clearly because writing helps manufacture clarity.

Before and After Writing

Unfortunately, I am not a neurologist (to show you exact brain scans) but this is how I feel my brain works before and after writing:

Before writing: Like an overcomplicated convoluted signature.

After writing: Like a smooth wave moving towards a direction.

Ultimately, a mind that functions without distraction can produce great things.

Focused Attention: Have a process you can replicate each time

Your writing process primes your brain against distraction.

Focused writing strangles distraction. I write to classical music because I am training my brain that when this music starts, it’s time to work (creating contextual cues for habit formation). The same is true for every part of my process — leaving my phone in a different room, sitting on my desk, turning on my desk lamp, closing all tabs I don’t need, and starting a timer.

Because habits are stored in procedural memory relatively separate from goals and intentions, encountering the same context activates habitual responses, even when newly adopted intentions are strong. — Lucas Carden, Wendy Wood, Habit Formation and Change.

My process can be easily replicated should I be at home or writing in a café: phone in my bag, close tabs, wear headphones, play music, set a timer, enjoy a cold brew/cappuccino, and write. Writing via a process activates a habitual pattern, keeps you alert and clearheaded, and increases your attentional control.

Increasing your attentional control means cultivating an ability to respond to a question directly without settling for the impromptu “What?” that ruins communication. You can empty the plates in the dishwasher in the plate cabinet without briefly forgetting where they belong. You can make better decisions, quicker.

There are several ways to increase your attentional control through writing. Here are some I adopt because they work, and both include timing your writing:

1. Use a timer (The Pomodoro Technique). I know this is an overused recommendation by writers, but nothing works better than this technique for me, so I can’t not share it. Not only will you enter a flow state in writing, but you will feel your mind getting sharper. When I don’t use a timer, my ideas don’t roll out as swiftly, and my momentum takes time to build up. With a timer, my mind knows what to do, and my hands pick up the rest. I run the timer anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes for each cycle.
2. Focused free writing. Write for at least 10 minutes without an outline, or subject, and without stopping, even if it means your words don’t make sense in the moment. I realize this contradicts my previous point about organizing your ideas, but this practice is about letting your thoughts flow onto the page without judgment or self-censorship. Focused free writing generates attentional stamina and fresh ideas. It’s like a mental warm-up before diving into more structured writing.

Minimal distractions are fine

Distractions can be categorized as external or self-initiated. Initiate minimal distractions so you feel in control of them.

Enjoying your coffee and shifting between research tabs pertaining to your piece as and whenever you need to are acceptable minute distractions. Editing as you write is also fine unless it disrupts your thought process. I have a Grammarly for desktop feature installed, which means I can sort out my grammar as I type, saving me time from going through each sentence later.

Choose your vices, but choose wisely. Ultimately — no distraction is the best policy, but sometimes it’s unrealistic and invites unnecessary distraction. I keep water and hand cream on my desk to prevent disruptions later during my thought-streaming process. I can do without many things except dry hands and a parched throat.

Writing as an antidote to distraction is a different way to approach the writing process; it’s no longer a means to an end. Instead, you write to sharpen your mind and create a habit that supports every aspect of your life. Everyone can do with a little more focus, a little more clarity, and a lot more attention. You will become a better thinker, listener, and dare I say friend and partner as a result.

Isra Alaradi is a passionate writer based in Bahrain, a little island in the Middle East.

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Writing as an Antidote to Distraction was originally published in The Writing Cooperative on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.