Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Avoiding distractions 197 
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The fundamenTals of 
avoiding disTracTions 
One of the main reasons we get distracted is that our subcon-
scious brain reminds us of something we might have forgotten 
or missed out on. When your brain is comfortable that a task has 
been done, it does not trigger you with constant reminders. 
One way of thinking about this is by considering brushing your 
teeth. Did you clean your teeth this morning? Of course, you did. 
You do it every morning, probably at roughly the same time each 
day. You don’t need reminding because it is a routine. You have 
been brushing your teeth every morning ever since you were a 
small toddler. Because you have such a routine, your brain knows 
it does not need to interrupt you every now and then to ask, “Have 
you cleaned your teeth?” If you couldn’t remember whether you 
had done it, you would rush to the bathroom and give them the 
once over. Later in the day, your brain will want to check again be-
cause it isn’t sure. So, you would be distracted for a moment while 
you had to think, “Did I do them a couple of hours ago, or was that 
yesterday?” You would then think better to be safe, so you would 
rush to the bathroom once more. 
Now let’s think about any of your social media accounts. Do 
you, like tooth brushing, check into your social media account at 
roughly the same time every day? Have you been doing that for 
several years? You can probably see where this is heading, can’t 
you? Without a routine for checking social media, your subcon-
scious brain is not sure whether you have, in fact, logged in and 
checked the latest posts. So, it sends a message saying, “Check 
your social media”. You oblige and then read a few posts before re-
turning to your work. Later in the day, your brain isn’t really sure, 
so it prompts you to check again. So it goes on throughout the day. 
Te reason you do not constantly go and brush your teeth several 
times a day is because your brain is safe in the knowledge you did 
so as a result of having a long-standing routine. Without a routine 

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