I seem to have had a spate of this lately. For instance, I went to use my printer, and the paper had run out. Then it was short of ink, so I set about finding the new cartridge that I would have bet my life on being in my desk drawer, but it wasn’t, so a hunt ensued. I went to use the stapler to pin the newly printed sheets together, and the stapler jammed. Then the pencil I selected had a broken lead, and the pen I frustratedly picked up instead was all blobby at the end and left an ugly mark on my pristine clip of papers. Later, when hanging the laundry out, the peg I picked out of a whole bagful happened to be the one that was going to break, and the broken bit snuggled itself down in the bag, probably never to be seen again until I go to take the last one out at some future point. And it isn’t even Friday the 13th for heaven’s sake, the day you would expect these sorts of things to happen.

Being distracted

I wouldn’t say I am ‘easily distracted’ by this type of event, but being so means having significant difficulty maintaining focus on a specific task because my attention is frequently pulled away by other things. They say people who are easily distracted often struggle to complete tasks and find their minds wandering easily. I read this, and it made me laugh and think, yep, this is me.

Credits: PA;

For instance, I am making the bed, and pick up a tissue from the floor, then go to the bin and find it’s full, so go into the kitchen to get another binbag, and end up pulling all the bags out of the cupboard, but the small roll of the ones I am looking for have apparently gone for a walk, and are then located hiding under the bathroom sink. I eventually find the roll, and then, annoyingly, the cellophane wrapper that was holding a selection of small packs of tissues together breaks, and all those packets scatter themselves all over the floor. And I have totally forgotten about the bed, the reason all this happened. Cooking? How many times have I misread a recipe and put in a tablespoon of something in the bowl instead of a teaspoon, because I am not really paying attention, my mind already streets ahead on the next task or on something totally different.

Calma Calma

Turns out, the reason we get distracted is all due to internal triggers. These triggers can be in the form of boredom, loneliness, anxiety, inner emptiness, stress, or something else happening on the inside. (So many reasons!). According to a licensed clinical psychologist, the obvious ones are external distractions, like constant phone notifications, or your neighbour’s loud music, and internal distractions such as stress spirals that can make it hard to concentrate.


They say the way to overcome this is pretty simple: if you're in the middle of doing something and recognise that you are getting distracted, practising mindfulness is said to combat distractions, but it isn't about clearing your mind of thoughts. Instead, it is the act of gently noticing when your mind wanders, not judging yourself for it, and repeatedly bringing your attention back to your current task.

The STOP Method

They say that when you feel the urge to get distracted, pause, use the ‘S.T.O.P. Method’ - Stop what you are doing. Take a slow breath to centre yourself. Observe what you are feeling or the urge pulling your focus. Proceed intentionally with your work.

So when nothing seems to go right, pause and reset, take a few deep breaths to calm your nervous system, then focus entirely on one small, manageable task to regain a sense of control.

Easier said than done. S.T.O.P. works – but followed by a large glass of wine does it for me.