January 15
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We've all been there.
Time to sit down, focus, and practice piano (or do some other kind of work that is meaningful, important, and requires sharp attention).
This is going to be great.
Ding!
A new text message. Let's see who it is. It's just a text, after all, nothing major.
Oh! Jimmy is looking for a recommendation for an accountant. I know the perfect person! This won't take long.
You go online, pull up the information, and email it off. Just in time for...
Ding!
An email notification that your water bill is almost due.
Better take care of that. Bills are important, after all. Now, where's that checkbook?
Okay, water bill is taken care of. Time to get back to...
Ding!
Instagram. Oh, man! She did what?!? I have to be the first to leave a comment. It's okay, it will only take a minute.
Ding!
Whoa, someone already responded to my comment! I better let him know I disagree with his clearly-biased observation.
(15 minutes later)
Okay, at last! Time to...oh wait.
The time block you scheduled for focused practice ended 15 minutes ago and you were supposed to be halfway across town by now.
Multiply times a decade or two and you will find many lost hopes and dreams.
Relying on willpower to ignore the all-powerful notification is not enough.
That notification ding sets off something called variable reward in our minds. It's the same sort of thrill as when you take a spin at a slot machine. No matter what you are doing, when you hear that sound, your mind can't help but open a story loop that begs the questions...
Is it good news?
Is it awful news?
Is it somewhere in the middle?
This is going to distract you...maybe only at a subconscious level, even if you don't outright drop everything to see what the surprise is.
The social media people take it to a new level by making it addicting by design.
Behind every app, there is a team of thousands of experts that know your behavior better than you do. They tweak the colors, the fonts, the sounds, the layout, everything you see, to make sure you stay hooked.
Kinda creepy, right?
If you find this intriguing and want to read more, check out Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter.
But there is another way.
Turn the notifications off on your devices when you need to do important work.
Better yet, turn your devices off altogether.
It will all still be there when you want to come back to it.
At first, you might feel a little anxious when you try this. FOMO ("fear of missing out") is a real thing.
But once that initial itch passes, you will discover a new freedom of focus you once thought impossible. The only way to believe it is to experience it.
Think of it like this. You are taking control of your messaging. You decide when you want to be sucked in. Not the other way around.
Turn your notifications off and do your important work. Make magic happen. Let us know how it goes.
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For parents, students, and anyone else who believes that music can and should be a meaningful part of everyone's life.
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