“The Opposite of Distraction is Traction.”

The visual from the work of Nir Eyal clearly shows that distractions are actions that move us away from what we really want.  Traction will therefore involve actions that move us toward what we really want.

I see children in my practice on a daily basis that get distracted as they do not have traction. They lack traction because they do not have clear goals, do not plan, prioritize, or they procrastinate. Many learners also do not use home work diaries, time planners or deadline lists, etc.  Many adults also have similar problems.

A study about ‘Deadlines, Choice and Procrastination’ (as discussed in The Science of Learning) indicates that students are poor at predicting how long a task will take. They therefore often underestimate the time needed to complete a task.  As procrastination is such a huge problem it appears that externally imposed deadlines enhance performance more than self-imposed deadlines.  Short, regular deadlines also lead to better results, as the further away an event is, the less impact it has on people’s decisions. Parents and educators can thus play a huge role to help create traction for children and to reduce distraction.

But…first of all we need to be clear on our own traction and become Indistractible.