Episode description

Hey friend, welcome back to another episode. In this episode, I am excited to talk to you about allowing urges and what it has to do with managing your time and energy and how it plays a role when you’re working on strengthen your focus.

In this episode we’re going to dive into…

• What it means to allow urges
• Why you want to get good at allowing urges and the benefit in doing so
• What fuels these urges

Let’s use one of the most common examples of urges: the urge to check social media. You’re deep into working on a project and all of a sudden you get an urge to check social media. Maybe you just checked only 15 minutes ago, yet here you are with the urge to check it again. When that urge comes in you can either take action and check social media or you can continue working on the task at hand. 

Let’s say that you take action on the urge and check social media; thus you continue to strengthen that connection. This means that next time you have an urge to check social media you’re more likely to check social media. This could also be an urge to check email, same thing, the next time it happens, you’re likely to check your email rather than finishing the task at hand before checking your inbox.

Sometimes I find that urges happen when we’re doing something that is either challenging for our brain to do or it is a mundane task that isn’t quite engaging so our brain is looking for a distraction. Knowing this can be helpful because then we know to expect the urge to arise. When urges happen rather than resisting them and trying to not focus on them, and resist them we want to allow them to happen, feel the urge but not take action on. 

While you may not fully eliminate all your urges, there may be some things you can do to help reduce or decrease the amount of time you experience them.

Did you know that it takes you on average 22 minutes to recover from a distraction. Let’s say when you see your phone, it triggers an urge to check social media and you end up spending 20 minutes scrolling. Not only do you have to account for the time you spend scrolling but also the time it takes you to re-focus on the task you were working on. That alone can create enough leverage to help you stay focused rather than following through on the urge. 

Rather than resisting an urge or following through on them, we want to practice allowing them, and when I say allow them I mean, feel them. The more you allow urges the more you get good at not following through them which will allow you to maintain your focus which will allow you to be more efficient and increase your output. 

Next time you have an urge, get curious about it. Take a pause and feel into it. Allow it to pass and then pick up where you left off. Over time, you will train your brain to be less distracted by urges and more focused with the task at hand.

Next time you have an urge to do something, pause, feel into it, experience it and let it pass.

That’s all I have for you this week. I’d love for you to visit me on Instagram @attentionaudit, and I look forward to next week!