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Distraction is that which draws our attention away from something else

• Distract: To draw away or divert, as the mind or attention. Dictionary.com
• Distraction: An object that directs one’s attention away from something else. Merriam Webster
• Distraction: A thing that takes your attention away from what you are doing or thinking about. Oxford Dictionary
• Distraction: Something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else. Cambridge Dictionary

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We live in an age of distraction where many things compete for our attention

• There are always distractions, if you allow them. Tony La Russa
• You can always find a distraction if you’re looking for one. Tom Kite
• Very powerful distraction nowadays are the notification sounds from social media. Giridharan K
• Life is brutal that way … the loss of irrecoverable moments amid trivia and distraction. Dan Simmons
• My theory is that the world is a difficult place to live in and distraction is the name of the game. Toni Morrison
• We live in such an age of chatter and distraction. Everything is a challenge for the ears and eyes. Rebecca Pidgeon
• Essentially, modern life takes the jumpy, distractible “monkey mind” we all started with and feeds it steroids. Rick Hanson
• The mass production of distraction is now as much a part of the American way of life as the mass production of automobiles. C. Wright Mills
• It’s hard to stay true to yourself and what you want in life when there are so many distractions and so much craziness going on around you. Hilary Duff
• Distractions come at us from all directions. They’ve invaded our life one at a time until we no longer have time for what’s important to us. Leo Babauta
• In our age of increasing distractions it’s more important than ever to find ways to maintain perspective and remember that life is brief and tender. Candy Chang
• The moment of drifting into thought has been clipped by modern technology. Our lives are filled with distraction with smartphones and all the rest. People are so locked into not being present. Glen Hansard
• The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline because you need to be alone to find out anything. Vivienne Westwood
• The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline… because you need to be alone to find out anything. Vivienne Westwood
• Modern life is great at distracting us with shiny things when we could be concentrating on things that bring us lasting meaning and happiness, such as experiences with friends and family, creativity and community. Tara Button
• We’re surrounded by distractions. Whether it’s emails, phone calls, text messages, social media notifications, or people entering and leaving your workspace, those distractions end up eating a good portion of your time. John Rampton
• Production and consumption are the nipples of modern society. Thus suckled, humanity grows in strength and beauty; rising standard of living, all modern conveniences, distractions of all kinds, culture for all, the comfort of your dreams. Raoul Vaneigem
• We are creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where we are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around us, and increasingly unable to engage in long-form thinking. People now feel anxious when their brains are unstimulated. Joe Kraus
• One of the problems of modern society, or the post-Internet age, is that there are so many things bombarding us that we could care about. I think it’s more important than ever to really get clear and focus on what’s worth caring about and what’s just noise or distraction. Mark Manson
• Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down by destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength before going out to face the world again. Aiden Wilson Tozer
• The major impediment to experiencing the sacred depths of ordinary moments is the speed and distraction of contemporary life that moves to the imperatives of the global economic order.In addition, we increasingly live in a virtual world in which our reality is filtered through media and information technology. Sam Keen
• The world that we live in is full of distractions and pleasures that pull us away from a spiritual life. Even our jobs which are a very necessary and important part of our lives can end up being the altar at which we pray. They consume most of our waking hours and provide the income on which we are dependent in order to take care of our families. Michael Huffington
• At times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles. Friend, client, child, sickness, fear, want, charity, all knock at once at thy closet door and say,—’Come out unto us.’ But keep thy state; come not into their confusion. The power men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• What is pronounced these days is staying on the Internet for hours. It’s really about distraction. We are living in such an over stimulated culture. There’s a nervous energy of always having to be focused out there. People have a hard time just being happy, settled, and content. We’re not taught how to just be by ourselves, be present. We always want to change the channel in our minds because we don’t like what’s going on. It’s uncomfortable. Geneen Roth
• Men have always been a prey to distractions, which are the original sins of the mind; but never before today has an attempt been made to organize and exploit distractions, to make of them, because of their economic importance, the core and vital center of human life, to idealize them as the highest manifestations of mental activity. Ours is an age of systematized irrelevances, and the imbecile within us has become one of the Titans, upon whose shoulders rests the weight of the social and economic system. Aldous Huxley

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Some even argue that in today’s world, the “powers that be” are out to distract us for nefarious reasons

• The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information. Noam Chomsky

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Avoiding distraction in order to focus is often said to be one the great challenges we face in life…

• Your real competition is your distraction.
• Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short. Adam Hochschild
• Life is a hailstorm of distractions. It’s not the monster that stops us but the mosquito. Robert G. Allen
• My theory is that the world is a difficult place to live in and distraction is the name of the game. Toni Morrison
• People allow themselves to get distracted; I think ultimately, probably the biggest thing that gets in the way of people doing what they ought to be doing at any point in time is distraction. David Allen
• You face distractions, you face adversity in life and you have to be able to handle it, you have to be able to fight through it and become a better man and become a better player because of it. Ryan Tannehill
• The outcome of my days is always the same; an infinite desire for what one never gets; a void one cannot fill; an utter yearning to produce in all ways, to battle as much as possible against time that drags us along, and the distractions that throw a veil over our soul. Eugene Delacroix

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…and is seen to be a strong virtue in business too

• When I meet with the founders of a new company, my advice is always, ‘Do fewer things,’ it’s true of partnerships, marketing opportunities, anything that’s taking up your time. The vast majority of things are distractions, and very few really matter to your success. Evan Williams
• Great entrepreneurs focus intensely on an opportunity where others see nothing. This focus and intensity helps to eliminate wasted effort and distractions. Most companies die from indigestion rather than starvation, i.e., companies suffer from doing too many things at the same time rather than doing too few things very well. Naveen Jain
• Steve Job’s intensity was also evident in his ability to focus. He would set priorities, aim his laser attention on them, and filter out distractions. That focus allowed him to say no. He got Apple back on track by cutting all except a few core products. He made devices simpler by eliminating buttons, software simpler by eliminating features, and interfaces simpler by eliminating options. Walter Isaacson

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It’s interesting to the note that the challenge of avoiding distraction has been talked about for centuries

• The experience of the past indicates that most of the troubles attributed to the internet and digital technology have served as topics of concern in previous centuries. Contributions on the current challenges facing readers recycle an age-old mantra that there is too much choice, too much information and too much change. Frank Furedi

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While in modern times, we lament the fact that technology is distracting us from reading books…

• I’m very aware how many distractions the reader has in life today, how many good reasons there are to put the book down. David McCullough
• The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he [or she] can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions. Saul Bellow
• What I’m talking about is the state of constant distraction we live in and how that affects the very special energies required for tackling a substantial work of fiction. David Mikics
• Today, distraction is rarely linked to reading. Indeed it is frequently claimed that people suffer from a deficit of the kind of attention required to read a book; and this is usually blamed on the digital media. The diagnosis of the uninhibited reader of novels has been displaced by warnings about the effects of digital technology on the human brain. The symptoms and diagnosis offered by Socrates, Seneca and an army of 19th century moralists about the risks of distracted reading have been re-discovered by 21st-century neuroscientists. Frank Furedi

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…in ancient times, some great philosophers warned about the threat of distraction posed by an excessive number of books

• A multitude of books distracts the mind. Socrates
• The abundance of books is distraction Seneca the Younger
• And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. S. Eliot
• The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger (tutor to Nero) complained that his peers were wasting time and money accumulating too many books, admonishing that “the abundance of books is a distraction.” Instead, Seneca recommended focusing on a limited number of good books, to be read thoroughly and repeatedly. Daniel Levitin

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The argument that new technologies and tools create distraction is also by no means a modern argument

• Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end. Henry David Thoreau
• Saul Bellow delivered a lecture entitled “The Distracted Public” in which he lamented the rise of newspapers, TV, radio, channel hopping, and so on, before insisting that the poet’s role was to woo his audience from distractedness. Matthew Bevis
• Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation… tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego.  His anxiety subsides.  His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a grey vegetation.  Jean Arp

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Conventional thinking argues that distraction is a negative thing…

• Evil is whatever distracts. Franz Kafka
• Distraction serves evil more than any other mental state. Stefan Molyneux
• Distraction is the most corrosive disease of the 20th century. James Victore
• One of the points about distractions is that everything that they do is destabilizing. Bruce Sterling
• Easily distracted” is generally regarded as a negative trait to have. It’s the one we were all chastised about at school. Mary Stribley
• One look at an email can rob you of minutes of focus. One call on your cell phone, one tweet, one instant message can destroy your schedule, forcing you to move meetings, or blow off really important things, like love, and friendship.  Siegfried Lenz
• We live in a time that worships attention. When we need to work, we force ourselves to focus, to stare straight ahead at the computer screen. There’s a Starbucks on seemingly every corner—caffeine makes it easier to concentrate—and when coffee isn’t enough, we chug Red Bull. In fact, the ability to pay attention is considered such an essential life skill that the lack of it has become a widespread medical problem. Nearly 10% of American children are now diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Jonah Lehrer
• The more you pursue distractions, the less effective any particular distraction is, and so I’d had to up various dosages, until, before I knew it, I was checking my e-mail every ten minutes, and my plugs of tobacco were getting ever larger, and my two drinks a night had worsened to four, and I’d achieved such deep mastery of computer solitaire that my goal was no longer to win a game but to win two or more games in a row–a kind of meta-solitaire whose fascination consisted not in playing the cards but in surfing the streaks of wins and losses. Jonathan Franzen

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…and that it is focus, not distraction, that leads to success

• In this Age of Dramatic Distraction, the performer who focuses the best wins the most. Robin Sharma
• Whatever you want to do, do with full passion and work really hard towards it. Don’t look anywhere else. There will be a few distractions, but if you can be true to yourself, you will be successful for sure. Virat Kohli

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In order to do our best work, we need to free ourselves of distraction and give work our full attention

• Hard work’s a good distraction. Scott Westerfeld
• A focused mind is a result of a little effort to tell your distractions to sleep for a couple of hours while you are at work. Sujit Lalwani
• If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. C. S. Lewis
• I presume my work has also always been about reduction without any distraction or after effects, outside emotions, or intimacy or complicity with the subject. Hedi Slimane
• Let your works not be interrupted by the stupidities happening in your own country! Work and walk on your true path ignoring any kind of distractions! Abstract yourself from all the primitivenesses surrounding you! Concentrate on your work! Mehmet Murat Ildan
• We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come. C.S. Lewis

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As humans, we are very susceptible to distraction, and often, we even seek it out

• Distraction is nine-tenths of consciousness. Marty Rubin
• I can’t blame modern technology for my predilection for distraction, not after all the hours I’ve spent watching lost balloons disappear into the clouds. I did it before the Internet, and I’ll do it after the apocalypse, assuming we still have helium and weak-gripped children. Colson Whitehead
• In a word, they failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions. Aldous Huxley
• There is never a time when new distraction will not show up; we sow them, so several will grow from the same seed. Seneca
• When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber. Blaise Pascal

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We distract ourselves due to an addiction to social media and our technological devices

• Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soul craft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists. Cornel West
• If technology is a drug – and it does feel like a drug – then what, precisely, are the side-effects? Charlie Brooker
• Digital technologies, such as social networks, online shopping, and games, use a set of persuasive and motivational techniques to keep users returning. Raian Ali
• Internet addiction is an over-dependence on Internet-connected devices. People may spend hours browsing online shopping sites, playing online games like Candy Crush, or accessing the Internet in some other way. Jennifer Acosta Scott
• Social media addicts can’t stop using sites like Facebook and Twitter — even though they may want to. “Their work performance or academic performance may suffer because they’re so distracted, tracking and broadcasting their lives on these social media sites. Jennifer Acosta Scott
• The more armed we are with information about the seduction of technology, the more we can build systems to better deal with it. I had no idea that I got a hit of dopamine, which is the pleasure hormone that also governs addiction, every time that little email bing goes off. Brigid Schulte
• People using digital media do exhibit symptoms of behavioural addiction. These include salience, conflict, and mood modification when they check their online profiles regularly. Often people feel the need to engage with digital devices even if it is inappropriate or dangerous for them to do so. If disconnected or unable to interact as desired, they become preoccupied with missing opportunities to engage with their online social networks. Raian Ali

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We distract ourselves with multiple activities because our culture esteems being busy

• Somewhere in the late 20th century we got the idea that busyness is a virtue. We decided that the more activities we can squeeze into our lives, the happier we’ll be. What ultimately results, though, is physical and spiritual exhaustion.  We jump from one appointment to another, our body and mind racing.  We schedule events back to back and overlapping, with no time to rest or reflect.  And when we’re in one activity, we’re either distracted with the thing we’ve just done or the thing that’s coming up.  It’s not a good way to live. Jack Zavada
• We are not that busy; we are just distracted. Shawn Wells

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We distract ourselves because of a tendency to procrastinate

• If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. S. Lewis
• I procrastinate so much and I get distracted by anything. Zach Braff
• Distraction and procrastination come in a variety of flavors… when I’m distracted and I walk over and stare out the window, it’s a very different experience than when I feed the distraction by cramming in a few emails or make a phone call. Linda Stone
• I focus best and am most productive when I’m working in a friend’s empty apartment. It’s hard for me to work at home. Too easy to procrastinate online, too easy to be distracted by the state of perpetual domestic chaos that rules my home. Elissa Schappell

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We distract ourselves with what is comfortable

• Our normal human tendencies are distraction and dissipation. We begin one task, then get seduced by some other option, and lose our focus. We drift away from what is difficult and we know to be true, to what is comfortable and socially condoned. Daniel Pinchbeck

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We try to distract ourselves from unwanted thoughts…

• Solitude scares me. It makes me think about love, death, and war. I need distraction from anxious, black thoughts. Brigitte Bardot
• There are times it’s the only thing I want and I wonder how I’ll ever go back to the world of noise and distraction. Other times, silence allows me to hear what’s really going on in my head. Part of the reason we’re on our phones or watching television or reading magazines is to give our heads something else to listen to other than our own thoughts. Eric Lange

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…and uncomfortable emotions like fear

• People are shuffling by in long coats, with shopping bags and takeout, smoking cigarettes and feigning laughter – filling up their lives with distractions to shut out the chaos. Rob Payne
• We must not allow embarrassment to distract attention from elements that make us uncomfortable. Disgust and dread are the sorts of feelings we frequently marshal to conceal deeper layers of our psyche. Lawrence Kushner
• People don’t want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messed cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown. Chuck Palahniuk

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We try to distract ourselves from feeling pain

• We find ways to distract ourselves from the pain. Karen Marie Moning
• You try to distract yourself from the pain, but only death will end it. Napoleon Bonaparte
• Most people manage pain by eating, drinking, smoking, distracting themselves, working harder. That’s just managing pain, the pain that comes from not feeling fully alive from not growing. Tony Robbins

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We distract ourselves to try to escape our problems and ourselves

• At the bottom of the modern man there is always a great thirst for self-forgetfulness, self-distraction . . . and therefore he turns away from all those problems and abysses which might recall to him his own nothingness. Henri Frederic Amiel

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We distract ourselves to avoid being confronted with our shadow

• But what do we do instead? We look away! We don’t like to be confronted with the darkness within ourselves, so we numb our psyches with every conceivable distraction, making sure that the ‘unconscious’ remains ‘unconscious,’ instead of being brought into the field of self-reflectiveness. Bernardo Kastrup

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We distract ourselves because we feel life is empty and meaningless

• When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure. Viktor Frankl
• We don’t think too deeply about life because the more we think about things the bleaker it gets. So we distract ourselves with consumerism we’ve embraced materialism … both as a metaphysical position and as a lifestyle choice. Tim Freke
• Behind their eyes the hope was sickening and in many, dead. They lived from event to event with a subtle terror of the gap between, filling up their lives with distractions to avoid the emptiness where curiosity should have been. Clive Barker
• History shows is that perceptions of distractions are heightened by the difficulties that society has in giving meaning to the experience of everyday life… Our era can become an Age of Distraction only if society wishes to avoid engaging with the uncertainties that it confronts. Frank Furedi
• We don’t think too deeply about life because the more we think about things the bleaker it gets. So we distract ourselves with consumerism we’ve embraced materialism … both as a metaphysical position and as a lifestyle choice.  Our existential emptiness demands we create a new narrative to live by.  Tim Freke
• We feel the gaping emptiness and meaninglessness of our condition in the depths of our psyches. But, like a desperate man thrashing about in quicksand, our reactions only make things worse: we chase more fictitious goals and accumulate more fictitious stuff, precisely the things that distract us further from watching what is really happening. Bernardo Kastrup

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We distract ourselves because of a lack of inspiration

• My distraction’s my defense against this lack of inspiration Against this slow deflation Yeah the further the horizon The more it holds my gaze The foreground’s out of focus but you know I kinda hope it’s just a phase Just a phase. Ani DiFranco

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We are distracted by the internet…

• When I find the right information, the Web is a blessing; when I don’t, it’s a distraction. Victor LaValle
• The Internet is a big distraction. It’s distracting, it’s meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere. Ray Bradbury
• In practice, the Internet functions more frequently as a hive of distraction, a simulated world though which most of us flit from one context to the next. Steve Almond
• The Internet is just bringing all kinds of information into the home. There’s just a lot of distraction, a lot of competition for the parent’s voice to resonate in the children’s ears. Phil McGraw
• But, if we let it, technology can also add a lot of noise and distraction that gets in the way of our most fundamental creative capabilities – instead of freeing us, it can consume us. Arianna Huffington
• Sometimes I wish I never found the Internet. Sometimes I regret getting a laptop and Wi-Fi for logging into the Internet because it is such a distraction. If you have any addictive personality, the Internet will magnify it. Lupe Fiasco
• Another challenge we face as 21st-century creatives comes from the evidence that the internet is changing our brains and making it harder for us to concentrate. Just as sitting at a desk all day makes it important to exercise more, so having endless digital distractions at our fingertips makes it important to practise focusing. Mark McGuinness

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…and by our technological devices

• Even before smart phones and the Internet, we had many ways to distract ourselves. Now that’s compounded by a factor of trillions. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Each time our devices send an alert, it distracts us from whatever we should be focused on. Our attention and focus are continually hijacked by our devices. We are, as Daniel Goleman describes it, in a permanent state of “continuous partial attention.” Keita Demming
• We must make conscientious choices about how and when we use technology, unless we want to be slave to a screen 24/7. Compulsively checking email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. interrupts deep creative thinking. We’re addicted to screens; too often we forget that we control technology–it doesn’t control us. We have a choice–we can keep technology in it’s place, or allow it to erode our attention spans and precious work time. Taking digital breaks is just as important as taking physical ones. Whether we use internet blocking software like Mac Freedom, turn off social networking, phones, and email while working, or commit to staying offline on weekends (as Powers has done), our creative work will benefit. Michelle Aldredge

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We are distracted by constant emails

• Deleting 200 spams a day is a drag. And I was checking my email constantly, rather than getting on with my real work, which is reading and writing. Email was becoming a distraction, a burden rather than a liberation. Tom Hodgkinson

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We are distracted by information overload…

• The result of information overload is usually distraction, and it dilutes your focus and takes you off your game. Zig Ziglar
• A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. Herbert Simon

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…and the pursuit of trivial knowledge

• Leave off that excessive desire of knowing; therein is found much distraction. There are many things the knowledge of which is of little or no profit to the soul. Thomas a Kempis

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We are distracted by the impulse to multi-task

• Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself. Marilyn vos Savant
• If someone around you is multitasking, you pick up distraction like second-hand smoke. Clay Shirky

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We are distracted by incomplete tasks that hang over us

• I think when things linger, that’s when they become a distraction. I don’t want any distractions. Derek Jeter
• I dont get distracted until the weight of other things left undone finally tips the balance; my mind is flooded with calls, bills, supermarkets, letters, and I have to stop and sort things out. Sadie Jones

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We are distracted by physical and mental clutter

• I hate belongings. I hate clutter. It really bothers me because I can’t think properly. If you’ve got distractions in front of you, your mind goes nuts. Simon Cowell
• Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and everything in our vision pulls at our attention. The less clutter, the less visual stress we have. A simple home is calming. Leo Babauta
• Clutter is highly associated with procrastination. Each of those extraneous items on your desk, workspace, or computer desktop is a distraction, a reminder of something else to do. You can reduce your procrastination greatly by eliminating distracting cues.  Richard O’Connor
• Clutter isn’t just in your home, attic, garage or office. Clutter is also in your mind, and distracts you from the amazing things you are meant to do. So clearing out clutter, both internally and externally, opens you up to the wonders that await. And who knows what you’ll discover in the process? Maybe it’s a new job, more money, a new relationship and definitely peace of mind. Try it!  You’ve got nothing to lose except some clutter!  Katrina Mayer

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We are distracted by hedonic pleasures that stand in the way of more meaningful pursuits

• Although hedonic pleasures have their place, it is crucial that we don’t allow them to distract or discourage us from pursuing the deeper sense of well-being that only eudemonic happiness can bring. When we pursue this kind of happiness, we reach beyond ourselves, moving from a mentality of Me toward an appreciation of We. In our experience, this is a process that begins when you find the courage to reexamine your goals and values, the patience to look for the meaning in what you do, and the inner strength necessary to live a life of purpose. Craig & Marc Kielburger

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We are distracted by negative emotions…

• I needed something – the distraction of another life – to alleviate fear. Bret Easton Ellis
• Don’t be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system. Elon Musk
• Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we’re telling ourselves and question their validity? When we are distracted by strong emotion, do we remember that it is our path? Can we feel the emotion and breathe it into our hearts for ourselves and everyone else? If we can remember to experiment like this even occasionally, we are training as a warrior. And when we can’t practice when distracted but KNOW we can’t, we are still training well. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what’s going on. Pema Chodron

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…and worries

• A mind that worries about the past is distracted, and a mind that worries about the future is delusional. Cheng Yen
• Temperamentally anxious people can have a hard time staying motivated, period, because their intense focus on their worries distracts them from their goals. Winifred Gallagher

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We are distracted by our insecurities and doubts

• We need to make peace with who we are so insecurities don’t become a distraction to how we live. Just because I sometimes feel insecure doesn’t mean I have to be insecure. Lysa TerKeurst

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We are distracted by criticism

• Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember ~ the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you. Zig Ziglar
• Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction. Robert Kiyosaki
• Don’t let criticism and insults distract you from your goals and life purpose. There’s a saying that “no good deed goes unpunished. Deal appropriately with damaging criticism, but don’t allow every petty and insignificant critic to pull you off track. Not every snide comment demands a response. Set your intention and keep focused on what’s important in your life, so you can go on giving your gifts to others. Patricia Spadaro

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We are distracted by the impulse to blame

• By blaming yourself, you become stuck in old patterns, old emotions, and old ways of looking at life. Blame distracts you from looking at the facts, free from emotion. And so it keeps you from doing what needs to be done—making changes in how you look after your health, learning to handle your finances, packing up and moving, or forgiving someone. Stop telling yourself, I should have done this or I should have said that. What’s the point? Blame has never helped anyone achieve anything. The real question, then, is What can I do now? Ariane de Bonvoisin

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We are distracted by a hunger for approval and acclaim

• Acclaim is a distraction. James Broughton

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We are distracted by the past

• Nostalgia is a sweet place for a poet and writer to be in. But it’s an indulgence; a distraction. You can’t live in a distraction. Gulzar.
• The past is a distraction, a source of envy, enmity, bitterness. Only the present matters, for only in the present can we shape the future. Cut loose the past; it is dead weight. Let the Extirpation continue. Let it never end. Stephen Baxter

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We are distracted by money and materialism

• Money cannot purchase joy. It buys temporary distractions. LeCrae
• Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss. Doug Horton
• Don’t be too much concerned about money, because that is the greatest distraction against happiness. Rajneesh

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We are distracted by false opportunities

• Some opportunities are a calling. Others are a distraction. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Rick Warren

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We are distracted by majority opinions

• Nothing distracts one from one’s true purpose in life more than following the crowd mentality. Edmond Mbiaka

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We are distracted by the impulse to compare ourselves with others

• Comparison is a distraction from our inner creativity. Lily Diaz

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We are distracted by gossip

• Gossip was usually a mindless distraction from a far too serious world. Dianne Sylvan

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We are distracted by having the wrong people in our lives

• Not everyone who’s been around you in your journey of life is worth keeping. Some have been there to distract you from reaching your purpose. Mitta Xinindlu

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We are distracted by what we are not

• It is so important that you don’t get distracted by what you are not. You need to start confessing your persona and living in it, and don’t be bewildered by your circumstances. Just stay on course with what God is promising you. Graham Cooke

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The potential to experience highly creative flow states

• It’s important to note that one can’t experience flow if distractions disrupt the experience. Mike Oppland
• Focused attention is essential for achieving creative flow, the state in which you do your best creative work. Mark McGuinness
• There’s this focus that, once it becomes intense, leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity: you know exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other; you get immediate feedback. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Greater effectiveness

• Freedom from mental distraction equals power. Dan Millman

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Greater productivity

• One of the fundamental principles of productivity is that in order to get things done, you’ve got to focus. And that necessary focus requires that you eliminate as many distractions as possible. Leo Babauta
• Most people focus on being busy rather than being productive at work. By walling yourself off from distractions, meetings, and even spurious emails at your (office) job, you can usually double your hourly productivity. Then leverage this into a work- from- home arrangement where you continue to do the same job, in only half the hours. Timothy Ferris

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A greater capacity for doing and creating great things

• TV is a distraction from being awesome. James Blacker
• Don’t let mediocrity distract you from greatness. Asad Meah
• You can’t do big things if you’re distracted by small things.
• Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished. Kongfuzi
• I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction. Mark Zuckerberg
• Your results are the product of either personal focus or personal distractions. The choice is yours. John Di Lemme
• Anyone who has tried to build something that changes people’s lives sometimes finds life to be a distraction. Ashton Kutcher
• To busy oneself with what is futile when one can do something useful, to attend to what is simple when one has the mettle to attempt what is difficult, is to strip talent of its dignity. It is a sin not to do what one is capable of doing. Jose Marti

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A greater chance of success

• Until you shut down the doors to distractions you are not yet ready to succeed. Topsy Gift
• Stay focused, ignore the distractions, and you will accomplish your goals much faster. Joel Osteen

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A greater chance of respect and acclaim

• Most of the people in the world are just distracted and work only on the surface but if you will be deep enough to concentrate and study or rehearse anything, the world will bow in honor of you. Sunday Adelaja

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A greater chance of reaching one’s destiny

• Say ‘no’ to distraction so you can say ‘yes’ to your destiny. Thema Davis

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Greater clarity…

• At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can ‘see’ things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known. Boyd K. Packer
• The mind that is not always caught up in detail is your only treasure. Stop chasing details and become still to feel it. The mind that sees details clearly but is not caught by them is like a vast borderless mirror. That mind does not oppose itself. Bluestone

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…due to a clearer mind

• Mind Like Water: A mental and emotional state in which your head is clear, able to create and respond freely, unencumbered with distractions and split focus. David Allen

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More effective leadership

• An effective leader creates specific, achievable goals, initiates action and enlists the participation of others. They remove distractions; grasps the bigger picture, focuses on one task at a time; completes the task competently and organizes for the future. Ken Wyatt

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A greater chance of being able to recognise opportunities and possibilities when they arise

• Never pay attention to the distractions in life. Focus on possibilities. Lailah Gifty Akita
• If we are paying attention to our lives, we’ll recognize those defining moments. The challenge for so many of us is that we are so deep into daily distractions and ‘being busy, busy’ that we miss out on those moments and opportunities that if jumped on  would get our careers and personal lives to a whole new level of wow.  Robin S. Sharma

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Greater inner peace…

• Peace: Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity. com
• When you have inner peace, you are less distracted by your wants, needs, desires and concerns. It’s thus easier to concentrate, focus, achieve your goals and give back to others. Richard Carlson
• A few moments of inner peace and quiet allows the brain to reset itself. You become more centered as this happens, since the brain is clearing out distractions and too much “cross talk.” Deepak Chopra

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…and greater happiness

• Happiness can only be found if you can free yourself of all other distractions. Saul Bellow
• Happiness is distraction from the human tragedy. J. M. Reinoso

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Better health

• Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open. K.S.

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Richer relationships thanks to greater attentiveness

• Listening without bias or distraction is the greatest value you can pay another person. Denis Waitley
• Gift the love of your life with undistracted, untelevisioned, unhurried attentiveness. Mary Anne Radmacher
• Let the person who is talking know that you are listening by making eye contact and focusing on the sound of their voice rather than the distractions around you. Brenda Knight
• When someone else is speaking, it is easy to become distracted by thoughts and external sounds, such as a car horn or other nearby conversations—and by giving in to these distractions you can miss crucial details from the speaker. Brenda Knight
• Distraction leaches the authenticity out of our communications. When we are not emotionally present, we are gliding over the surface of our interactions and we never tangle in the depths where the nuances of our skills are tested and refined. Marian Deegan

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Distraction prevents us experiencing flow states

• It’s important to note that one can’t experience flow if distractions disrupt the experience. Mike Oppland

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Distraction can stop us from reaching our goals and intentions…

• Distraction is a killer of dreams, visions and goals. Topsy Gift
• Attraction to distraction drifts you away from your goal. Dr Vivek Bindra
• Messes create distraction. And distraction reduces your power to achieve every goal you set. Robin Sharma
• We’re busy being busy. Distraction is a dangerously deceptive saboteur of our goals, because we are not present to how much time we lose. We’re distracted by things like being in meetings or on conference calls, or we get on Facebook related to business and the updates of friends captivate our attention and an hour goes by before we wake up. Rory Vaden

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…and stop us from achieving great things…

• In short, for me – I’m kind of projecting onto you – distraction has become a modus vivendi, a way of life. Rather than complaining, I am recognizing that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do because I’m distracted. Shirley Geok-lin Lim

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…or any other measure of success

• The pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure. Put another way, success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place. Greg McKeown

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Distraction can be the enemy of creation

• An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production. Robin Sharma

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Distraction can dilute our power and effectiveness

• When we clutter our lives with imagined obligations, unnecessary activities, and distractions that only kill time, we dilute the power of our lives. Anne Katherine

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Distraction can waste our energy and deplete us

• I tend to get my hands into all these other things and all these distractions, and after a while I start feeling depleted. Scott Weiland
• Distraction wastes our energy, concentration restores it. Sharon Salzberg

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Distraction can waste time; the very stuff of which life is made…

• Your time keeps flying away into vanity while you dine with your distractions. Your life keeps diminishing while you waste your time feeding your distractions. Sunday Adelaja
• If one were truly aware of the value of human life, to waste it blithely on distractions and the pursuit of vulgar ambitions would be the height of confusion. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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…which can lead to regret

• How tragic it is to find that an entire lifetime is wasted in pursuit of distractions while purpose is neglected. Sunday Adelaja
• Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. Derek Sivers

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Distraction can lead to a scattered mind…

• If you see distraction externally, you end up creating an internally distracted state. Tim Ferriss
• The human mind is scattered. We have become negligent about our distractions, inertia, confusion, doubt, fear, and anger. Rajmani Tigunait

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…and stop us from seeing clearly

• So often we are too lazy or too distracted to see with care. Images come into our retinas, and our minds have already interpreted them. We do not see without our biases, our habits of life and thought. Gunilla Brodde Norris

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Distraction can drown out our inner voice

• Listen to your inner voice and never let the distraction of the crowd discolour your poise. Israelmore Ayivor
• Keep making a difference out there! Don’t let the noise around you distract you from listening to the voice within you. Farshad Asl

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Distraction can blind us from the world’s inspiration, beauty and love

• To put it another way, try to think of your mind as an e-mail in-box and the distractions of the world as junk mail. If you don’t clear out that junk mail, you’re not going to be able to receive all the valuable messages of inspiration, beauty, and love that the world’s trying to send you. Russell Simmons

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Distraction can wear out our self-control

• Overloading attention shrinks mental control. Life immersed in digital distractions creates a near constant cognitive overload. And that overload wears out self-control. Daniel Goleman

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Distraction can entangle us

• If destruction fails to entangle us, distraction will do it’s best. Beth Moore

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Distraction can lead to unhappiness

• Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. Blaise Pascal

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Distraction can stop us from hearing God’s whispers

• There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to us well-nigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear these whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not always hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on. Frederick William Faber

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Distraction can even lead to accidents

• Almost all accidents take place because of human distraction. Sebastian Thrun

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Life is too important and short to waste it on constant distractions

• With mind distracted, never thinking, “Death is coming,” To slave away on the pointless business of mundane life, And then to come out empty–it is a tragic error. Robert Thurman Huston Smith
• Don’t get too comfortable. We are here for a certain period of time, and how much of your life are you gonna choose to spend with distractions? How do you make your choices? What is important? David Chase
• If you understand that a wasted time is a wasted life, you will start running away from television, you will begin to run away from movies, you will run away from games like Criminal Case and Candy Crush. Sunday Adelaja

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Focused attention is the antidote to distraction

• Starve your distractions, feed your focus.
• Feed focus; starve distraction. Hei-ran Park
• Focus is about finding simplicity in this Age of Distraction. Leo Babauta
• Focus, focus, consolidated focus. Beware of distraction. Ikechukwu Joseph
• Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do. John Carmack
• Do whatever it takes to create a quiet, distraction free environment where you can focus. Marc Chernoff
• If you direct your whole thought to work itself, none of the things which invade eyes or ears will reach the mind. Quintillian
• Less distraction, more focus. Less gossip, more encouragement. Less past, more future. Less toxicity, more positivity. Robin Sharma
• Don’t allow distractions and temptations misguide you and satisfy you for a brief moment. Be strong and stay focused. Genereux Philip
• Without a clear focus, it’s too easy to succumb to distractions. Set targets for each day in advance. Decide what you’ll do; then do it. Steve Pavlina
• Don’t puzzle the mind with too many inquiries. One finds it difficult to put one single thing into practising, but dares invite distraction by filling the mind with too many things. Sarada Devi
• In an age of distraction, to become a High Performer, you need to structure your life to find focus. High Performers focus their attention on the activities that will drive the results they plan to achieve. Keita Demming
• Not surprisingly, because too much attention to one object leads to distraction, this one object conceals everything else, and when we focus on one point on the map we know that all other points are eluding us. Witold Gombrowicz
• The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious to distractions, to concentrate as long as it takes to achieve a goal, and not longer. And the person who can do this usually enjoys the normal course of everyday life. Per Csikszentmihalyi

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Having goals and focusing on them makes us far less susceptible to distraction

• Stay addicted to your goals, not distractions. Jacklyn Tyson
• Say ‘No’ to distraction so you can say ‘Yes’ to your destiny.
• A distracted existence leads us to no goal Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• The modern impediment to learning is attention, not access. The Stoic Emperor
• I have a dream that I will fulfill. And nothing else will distract me from my path. Lu Xun
• I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction. Mark Zuckerberg
• Focusing on your goals prevents you from wasting time on unproductive and unhealthy distractions. Jerry Bruckner
• It’s easy to forgo distractions and to not accumulate things when you have a larger goal on the horizon. Hugh Howey
• It’s easy to forgo distractions and to not accumulate things when you have a larger goal on the horizon. Hugh Howey
• That which one has set oneself to do, one should not relinquish on the grounds of absence of mind or distraction. Leo Tolstoy
• By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination. Christopher Columbus
• Even worthwhile endeavors need evaluation in order to determine if they have become distractions from the best goals. Quentin L. Cook
• When you have a defined goal, it is a lot easier to spot and let go of distractions that don’t serve you or your purpose. Shama Hyder
• Even worthwhile endeavors need evaluation in order to determine if they have become distractions from the best goals. Quentin L. Cook
• Goals for the future distract from worry and anger about the past and redirect your focus to the direction you’re traveling in. Sam Owen
• Why should any of these things that happen externally distract thee? Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing: cease roving to and fro. Marcus Aurelius
• On the road to your target, you see other roads to other targets. Those who are hopeless from their target often turn to these new targets and disappear on the horizon of these new roads. Mehmet Murat Ildan
• If you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it, your focus is fixed on a set course of action. Instead of becoming sidetracked by distractions and diversions, your time is focused on a straight line from start to finish. Brian Tracy
• Filtering information is one of the brain’s most important functions. Brain filtering is an adaptive strategy and ensures that only the information relevant to our goals is allowed into our consciousness. This keeps us from being flooded with irrelevancies that might distract us. Marjorie Woollacott
• Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. Jack Canfield

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Focusing on what is important stops us from being distracted by what is not

• Life is not entertainment. Life is not distraction. Henri Nouwen
• Eliminate all distractions and focus on things that add value to your life. Sunday Adelaja
• Getting distracted by trifles is the easiest thing in the world. Focus on your main duty Epictetus
• No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide. Chuck Palahniuk
• The vast majority of things are distractions, and very few really matter to your success. Evan Williams
• Focus is what happens when you stop letting yourself get distracted by the unimportant things. Celestine Chua
• We fight too many battles that don’t matter. If the battle is not between you and your destiny, then it is a distraction. You have to learn to let things go. Joel Osteen
• There’s so many things running through your mind. If you can formulate a game plan that works for you and allows you to block outside distractions and get to what matters, that’s how the talent is able to come out. Jake Arrieta

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Focus on your purpose to the exclusion of all distractions

• Purpose is the best antidote for distraction. Shama Hyder
• Sometimes, I think if you get away from what you’re called to do, it’s more of a distraction. Joel Osteen
• Distractions are part of the journey in Pursuit of your Purpose, manage it without compromising your focus on your dreams. Oscar Bimpong
• The core of your life is your purpose. Everything in your life, from your diet to your career, must be aligned with your purpose if you are to act with coherence and integrity in the world. If you know your purpose, your deepest desire, then the secret of success is to discipline your life so that you support your deepest purpose and minimize distraction and detours. David Deida
• If you don’t know your purpose, discover it, now. The core of your life is your purpose. Everything in your life, from your diet to your career, must be aligned with your purpose if you are to act with coherence and integrity in the world. If you know your purpose, your deepest desire, then the secret of success is to discipline your life so that you support your deepest purpose and minimize distractions and detours. David Deida

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Focus on your vision

• People without clear vision are easily distracted, have a tendency to drift from one idea to another and often make foolish decisions that rob them of their dreams. Andy Stanley
• Vision = Focus / Focus = Attention / Attention = Action /Action = Results / Consistent Results = Destiny. John Spence

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Focus on your dreams

• The distractions that stop us from our dreams need to be ignored. Hei-ran Park
• Be king in your dreams. Make your vow that you will reach that position, with untarnished reputation, and make no other vow to distract your attention. Andrew Carnegie
• Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. Derek Sivers
• We also need to be willing to make room in our lives for the impending birth of our dreams. This might mean emptying our life of clutter such as wasted time, energy, resources, or draining relationships. These things can jeopardize our dreams by distracting us at a time when we should be more focused than ever. Christine Caine

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Focus on your intentions

• When distractions are manifold, it’s best to remember what you are supposed to be doing. David Levithan

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Focus on the actions that your dreams and goals call for

• Be about actions, not distractions.
• Distractions destroy action. If it’s not moving you towards your purpose, leave it alone. Jermaine Riley
• Focus on action! Go on! Do it! Call them! Write it! Say it! Grab it! Who knows what ‘awesome stuff’ might happen? Yes – Action is the key! David Ryan
• Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. Jack Canfield

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Focus on what you want instead of being distracted by fears of what you don’t want

• Fight for what you want. Never allow anything to distract you. Lailah Gifty Akita
• Keep your mind off the things you don’t want by keeping it on the things you do want. Clement Stone
• I possess the greatest power ever bestowed upon mankind, the power of choice. Today, I choose to persist without exception. No longer will I live in a dimension of distraction, my focus blown hither and yon like a leaf on a blustery day. I know the outcome I desire. I hold fast to my dreams. I stay the course. I do not quit. Andy Andrews

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Focus on what matters and what makes you happy

• Certain things catch your eye but pursue only those that capture the heart.
• Don’t worry about where you are or what you have or even what you think you want. Take one step at a time and worry only about only this – who you are – who you really are. Find what you love, love what makes you happy – try giving instead of getting, try caring instead of hating. Remove the mindless distractions from your life and focus on the things and people that matter the most to you. Follow your heart to discover what makes you happy, never let go of it, never devalue anything that is beautiful, and build a life that lets you be yourself. Benjamin F Sullivan

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Focus on goodness and virtue instead of being distracted by vice

• Wickedness is a kind of voluntary frenzy, and a chosen distraction. John Tillotson
• Once you decide to do right, life is easy, there are no distractions. William Stafford
• All the while thou livest ill, thou hast the trouble, distraction, inconveniences of life, but not the sweets and true use of it. Thomas Fuller

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Focus on beauty rather than being distracted by ugliness

• The capacity to be overwhelmed by the beautiful is astonishingly sturdy and survives amidst the harshest distractions. Susan Sontag
• Look at how beautiful life is, and just keep looking until you see it. You don’t see what is in front of you because you’re so distracted by your thoughts. Frederick Lenz
• We have been distracted into unnatural motivations: money, prestige, power. Listening to the cuckoo is not going to give you money. Listening to the cuckoo is not going to give you power, prestige. Watching the butterfly is not going to help you economically, politically, socially. These things are not paying, but these things make you happy. Rajneesh

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Most of all, focus on love and compassion

• Love is your one and only goal everything else is a distraction. R. Incer
• Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction. Talib Kweli

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Actively manage and clear distractions from your life

• One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us. Daniel Goleman
• Clearing distractions is simple: turn everything off and get it out of sight so you have the space to focus on what’s important. Leo Babauta

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To transcend distraction, resolve to pay full attention to what is at hand

• In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. Pico Iyer
• Attention, the cognitive muscle that lets us follow a story, see a task through to the end, learn, or create. Archie Bland
• You know that what you seek you shall find, and what you focus on in life will be more prominent in your awareness. You know your awareness is powerful and creative. Sarah McLean
• When you are soul-centered, you can focus your attention where and when you want to, easily, without distraction. You know to look for what you want to see and experience. Sarah Mclean
• Paying attention at every moment, forms a new relationship to time. In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you. Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become that moment. Michael Ray
• To live more voluntarily is to live more deliberately, intentionally and purposefully – in short, it is to live more consciously. We cannot be deliberate when we are distracted from life. We cannot be intentional when we are not paying attention. We cannot be purposeful when we are not being present. Duane Elgin

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Be aware when distractions come your way and be open to what it can teach you about yourself

• Be aware when distractions come your way. You’ll know it’s a distraction when you stop doing what you’re supposed to be doing and find yourself pondering things that have no value. Beverly R. Imes
• Follow the wandering, the distraction, find out why the mind has wandered; pursue it, go into it fully. When the distraction is completely understood, then that particular distraction is gone. When another comes, pursue it also.” Jiddu Krishnamurti
• Our distractions tell us a great deal about our fears, impulses, and hidden desires. What unnecessary task takes up a lot of your time? Distraction isn’t always a bad thing, but when we obsessively find ways of escaping reality, there’s a problem. Draw awareness to your distractions and you will be on the path to greater self-insight. Mateo Sol

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Create the conscious intention of becoming less distractible

• Every day set the simple goal of trying to be more awake and less distracted. Russell Simmons
• I will not be distracted by noise, chatter, or setbacks. Patience, commitment, grace, and purpose will guide me. Louise L. Hay

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Learn to turn off distraction

• Learn to turn off the distraction and live your life instead. Turn off the television and don’t read gossip magazines. Remove nonessential physical belongings that are robbing you of time and energy that could be better spent living intentionally. Joshua Becker

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Work at those times when you are less distractible

• Anytime before noon is the best for when it comes to focusing because the afternoon (12pm- 4pm) is prime time for distractions according to recent research led by Robert Matchock. David Rock
• Writers tend to work early in the morning, or late at night, when brains are naturally able to focus deeply on one thought. In the middle of the day, distractions are unavoidable. I wonder if anything worthwhile has ever been written in the afternoon. Scott Adams
• One thing that I’ve been doing for a long time is to wake up really early. I try to get up around 4 or 5 in the morning, long before most of my lab members are up, which gives me some quiet time to really think without distraction. I think that’s important. Edward Boyden
• I know I’m better at focusing in the morning. So I welcome distractions in the afternoon (especially as that’s my time for writing e-mails, never my favourite task of the day!). That’s when I enjoy hanging out on Twitter, flicking through my RSS reader and surfing the web in search of serendipitous creative discoveries. Mark McGuinness

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Block off specific times for important tasks

• Your to-do list should include items that need to be accomplished for the month, the week, and each day. You must then ask yourself how much time you need to block off to achieve each task. Time blocking allows you to minimize distractions and to maximize your efficiency as you work to complete this list. Clay Clark

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Set a timer for your task…

• Use a timer. I use a timer to limit the amount of time I spend on daily tasks such as email, returning calls, cranking through my to-do lists, etc. This keeps me from getting overly distracted from the truly important tasks I must accomplish during the day. Marc Chernoff

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…and then eliminate all distractions while you work

• Disconnect from everything long enough to see if it feeds your soul or if it’s a distraction. What’s deeply connected will always remain. Maryam Hasnaa
• Once you understand how much energy is involved in high-level thinking like planning and creating, you might be more vigilant about allowing distractions to steal your attention. One of the most effective distraction management techniques is to switch off all communication devices during any thinking work. David Rock
• Eliminating all distractions for a set time while you work is one of the most effective ways to get things done. So, lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, close your email application, disconnect your internet connection. You can’t remain in hiding forever, but you can be twice as productive while you are.  Marc Chernoff
• Clearing distractions is simple: turn everything off and get it out of sight so you have the space to focus on what’s important. That means closing your browser and email program and all programs other than what you need to work on the important task before you. It means turning off notifications and clearing your desk of all non- essential items. Leo Babauta

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Turn of notifications

• Turn off your notifications. Mary Stribley

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Work from a place where there are no distractions

• Take a laptop with no network or WiFi access, and go to a place where you can work flat out without distractions, such as a library, park, coffee house, or your own backyard. Steve Pavlina
• I’ve found throughout the years that I needed a place where I can go with no TV, no computer, no phone and just have no distractions and just be able to sit and think and just not be disturbed. Josh Turner

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Work on one task at a time to the exclusion of all else

• Clearing distractions so you can focus on one single activity is incredibly effective, and breathtakingly joyful. Leo Babauta
• Until my ONE thing is done, everything else is a distraction. Gary W. Keller
• Focus on one project at a time and close all other unrelated windows on your computer. Distractions can tug at your energy, leaving you feeling depleted. Leo Babauta
• Do one task at a time, without distractions. Don’t multitask, and don’t let yourself get interrupted. Single tasking and and focus are are the keys to execution. Leo Babauta
• Focus on one project at a time and close all other unrelated windows on your computer. Distractions can tug at your energy, leaving you feeling depleted. Christine Louise Hohlbaum
• I used to be a big multi-tasker, but I realized that it didn’t work for me, and it probably doesn’t for you either. Pick one thing, eliminate distractions, and focus. It’s the only way to unleash your inner genius. Henri Junttila
• While you’re sitting glued to your chair, you’re not allowed to do anything other than the task you’re there for, no matter what attractive distraction might come to mind. You don’t have to work on your primary task, but you can’t do anything else. This can be torture, but it’s great mental discipline.  You’ll quickly see how easily distracted you are, but you’re forced to develop the will power to withstand temptation.  Eventually, you’ll get something constructive done.  Richard O’Connor

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Take short breaks in the midst of focused activity

• Take short breaks. As we’ve established, small distractions and moments of leisure throughout your day can help yourself refocus and look at your task with fresh eyes. Mary Stribley

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Commit to your task and its successful completion

• If you commit to nothing, you are distracted by everything.
• Concentrate all your energy and intensity, without distraction, on the successful completion of your current project. Finish what you start. Denis Waitley
• One-pointed intention means holding your attention to the intended outcome with such unbending purpose that you absolutely refuse to allow obstacles to consume and dissipate the focused quality of your attention. There is a total and complete exclusion of all obstacles from your consciousness. You are able to maintain an unshakable serenity while being committed to your goal with intense passion. Deepak Chopra

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Resolve to develop your self-discipline and mental will

• What sets disciplined people apart? The capacity to get past distractions. Focus on the task at hand.  Bill Parcells
• You’ve got to develop mental strength. And you develop mental strength with the will. The will is the mental faculty that gives you the ability to hold one idea under the screen of your mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions. Bob Proctor
• A person who is trained to consider his actions, to undertake them deliberately, is in so far forth disciplined. Add to this ability a power to endure in an intelligently chosen course in the face of distraction, confusion, and difficulty, and you have the essence of discipline. John Dewey
• In the yogic tradition, this principle of using intense effort to burn through life’s distractions is called Tapas. It’s another Sanskrit word, roughly defined as “heat” or “essential energy.” The concept is that through a disciplined approach to work and self-sacrifice, Tapas will burn away the negativity that separates us from God. By working our hardest and happily enduring the hardships of life we are able to create a sense of peace and clarity in ourselves. Russell Simmons

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Schedule a fixed time for email

• Designate reply times Give yourself a few windows throughout the day where you reply to your messages. This will take the temptation out of replying while focussing on a different task. Mary Stribley
• Have a time for distractions. Schedule time for your email processing, reading your feeds, and other distractions. Leo Babauta

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When you make a decision, decisively follow through

• Once we’ve made a decision, we are efficient only if we go through with it decisively, undistracted by doubts about its correctness. John Cleese

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Whenever possible, focus your life and career around what you love to do as this makes it far easier to pay attention

• Instead of focusing on how much you can accomplish, focus on how much you can absolutely love what you’re doing. Leo Babauta
• I intentionally abandoned the hard stuff early on because not only do I think it’s useless, I think it’s a distraction. Seth Godin
• If and when you are truly interested in what you are doing, or are about to do, then you will center your attention on it with little or no effort, and almost irrespective of the attendant conditions. Ralph Alfred Habas

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Simplify your life to focus on what matters

• Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus. Ann Voskamp
• Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort. Edward de Bono
• Less stuff means less to clean, less to worry about, and less distraction and more savings. Thomas Davis
• Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us. So let us cultivate simplicity; let us walk in the Spirit. Aiden Wilson Tozer
• Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it. Joshua Becker
• The solution to an overbusy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters. John Mark Comer
• Simplicity is marked by the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. Joshua Becker
• Curating is not just clarity, timelessness, value, and fulfillment. It’s simplicity, living intentionally, and removing distractions – all wrapped up into one. Joel Zaslofsky
• Curating lets us strip away life’s excess and see what we truly value; it helps us get more of the good stuff, and protects us from distractions. Just like simplicity. Jenny Chang
• Simplicity involves unburdening your life and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual. Linda Breen Pierce
• Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual. Linda Breen Pierce
• Simplicity of living means meeting life face to face. It means confronting life clearly, without unnecessary distractions. It means being direct and honest in relationships of all kinds. It means taking life as it is. Duane Elgin
• Simplicity means taking charge of a life that is too busy, too stressed, and too fragmented. An uncluttered simplicity means cutting back on trivial distractions, both material and non-material, and focusing on the essentials – whatever those may be for each of our unique lives. Duane Elgin

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Consciously slow down

• Slowing down doesn’t mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed. Tim Ferriss

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Make room for regular periods of distraction-free silence and stillness in your life…

• There are times it’s the only thing I want and I wonder how I’ll ever go back to the world of noise and distraction. Eric Lange
• When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer. My whole silence is full of prayer. The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer. Thomas Merton

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…and regular periods of solitude

• We rarely find answers in the distractions. But oh what possibilities live within the quiet of solitude. Scott Stabile
• Physical solitude and silence remove the distracting noises that prevent us from hearing on deeper levels. Charles Cumming
• To do much clear thinking a person must arrange for regular periods of solitude when they can concentrate and indulge the imagination without distraction. Thomas A. Edison
• It is only when we are by ourselves that we can know others. When we are with other human beings we are distracted. People try and dream us into their dreams. Frederick Lenz
• Each of us needs periods in which our minds can focus inwardly. Solitude is an essential experience for the mind to organize its own processes and create an internal state of resonance. In such a state, the self is able to alter its constraints by directly reducing the input from interactions with others. Daniel J. Siegel

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Create distraction-free time for thinking…

• I’ll sit down for an hour or two a few days a week in a quiet place and brainstorm. The earlier in the day, the better, before the parade of distractions starts. Ted Alexandro
• What we really have to do is take a day and sit down and think. The world is not going to end or fall apart. Jobs won’t be lost. Kids will not run crazy in one day.  Lovers won’t stop speaking to you. Husbands and wives are not going to disappear.  Just take that one day and think.  Don’t read.  Don’t write.  No television, no radio, no distractions.  Sit down and think. . . . Go sit in a church, or in the park, or take a long walk and think.  Call it a healing day.  Maya Angelou
• I adore the web, but we need to be able to switch off and think. Johann Hari

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…and time for quiet and focused reflection

• Our worlds needs more time to wonder and reflect but there is too much fast paced constant distraction. Fred Rogers
• We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock. Queen Elizabeth II
• Usually, when the distractions of daily life deplete our energy, the first thing we eliminate is the thing we need the most: quiet, reflective time. Time to dream, time to contemplate what’s working and what’s not, so that we can make changes for the better. Sarah Breathnach
• Avoid all refined speculations; confine yourself to simple reflections, and recur to them frequently. Those who pass too rapidly from one truth to another feed their curiosity and restlessness; they even distract their intellect with too great a multiplicity of views. Give every truth time to send down deep root into the heart. Francois Fenelon

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Regularly get out into nature where you can escape all the distractions of modern life

• In nature, every distraction is an inspiration. Michael Bassey Johnson
• I love the sensation of being out in the open air, far away from all the distractions of modern life. Paul Hollywood.
• I needed to be in the bush. There I find solitude and beauty and purity and focus. That’s where my heart lies. Mark Burnett
• The wilderness does not make you forget your normal life so much as it removes the distractions for proper remembering. Jim Harrison
• There’s nothing like the peace of the countryside, the quiet and the lack of distraction. It helps you to focus your mind. Jenny Nimmo
• The wilderness is a place of rest – not in the sense of being motionless, for the lure, after all, is to move, to round the next bend. The rest comes in the isolation from distractions, in the slowing of the daily centrifugal forces that keep us off balance. David Douglas

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Train yourself to bring your full attention to the present moment and keep it there

• We are so distracted and focused on what’s next, we can fail to see what is actually in front of us. Yungblud
• No mind is much employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up all our moments. Samuel Johnson
• If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present. Roy T. Bennett
• Normal people live distracted, rarely fully present. Weird people silence the distractions and remain fully in the moment. Craig Groeschel
• We lead our lives so poorly because we arrive in the present always unprepared, incapable, and too distracted for everything. Rainer Maria Rilke
• Being in the moment means not being distracted by the melodrama and hysteria around you. Present-moment awareness allows solutions to emerge. Deepak Chopra

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Be less available to distraction from others

• Stop letting other people hijack your day. Frank Sonnenberg

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Have self-compassion when you do succumb to distraction

• As we hone the ability to let go of distraction, to begin again without rancor or judgment, we are deepening forgiveness and compassion for ourselves. And in life, we find we might make a mistake, and more easily begin again, or stray from our chosen course and begin again. Sharon Salzberg

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Incessant thought can be a major distraction from attaining inner peace…

• Thinking is good for your mind, but too much thinking leads to distraction. Ehabib
• Thinking is the ultimate distraction, the ultimate escape from reality. Marty Rubin.
• Keep your heart clear and transparent, and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought creates ten thousand distractions. Ryokan
• Our minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them. Thomas Merton
• It’s not even in our power to recognize each thought as it arises in consciousness without getting distracted every few seconds by one of them. Sam Harris
• Most people are so distracted by their thoughts, so identified with the voices in their heads, they no longer feel the aliveness within them. To be unable to feel the life that animates the physical body, the very life that you are, is the greatest deprivation that can happen to you. Eckhart Tolle
• The Buddhist term “monkey mind” is a poetic way of describing the mind’s constant chatter. It refers to the little voice in your mind that comments on nearly everything you do or experience. This chattering voice not only distracts you in most situations, but it also uses valuable brainpower. Brad Swift

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…and so can negative emotions

• The mind gets distracted in all sorts of ways. The heart is its own exclusive concern and diversion. Malcolm De Chazal
• Don’t be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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Our thoughts and emotions distract us from the present moment and the state of being aware

• Often I am not where I am, but where my thoughts lead me. Thomas a Kempis
• Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere. Bruce Lee

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Meditation is a way to consciously free ourselves of mental distraction

• When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation. Ramana Maharshi
• If you can become a mirror you have become a meditator. Meditation is nothing but skill in mirroring. And now, no word moves inside you so there is no distraction. Rajneesh
• Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration. Nhat Hanh
• Meditation is a tool that you can use to give your thoughts more focus and power. It is much easier to visualize what you want and inject substance (feelings) when you are relaxed and free from distractions. Henri Junttila
• We should meditate upon the lord everyday, especially at the advent of dawn and dusk because the atmosphere is peaceful during that time. There is no noise to distract the mind. Meditation improves faith, devotion and self-confidence. Sam Veda

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We transcend the distractions of the mind and body…

• One energy field. Our bodies have distracted us from our energy. We are the infinite field of unfolding possibilities. The creative force. Rhonda Byrne
• It is sometimes said that the first stages of the meditation process are the most difficult. The first distraction is the physical body. Sometimes there is real pain in sitting, and sometimes the ego just tries to distract us by creating itches we will want to scratch. Sarasvati Buhrman

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…by focusing our attention on one thing…

• Do one task at a time, without distractions. Don’t multitask, and don’t let yourself get interrupted. Leo Babauta
• Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness; by constant meditation it gains strength. Ramana Maharshi
• Meditation requires three things. 1) A mental focusing device to break the pattern of everyday thoughts. 2) A passive, “oh well” attitude toward distracting thoughts. 3) Sufficient time—an average of 12 to 15 consecutive minutes.  Herbert Benson
• The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words man, (“to think”) and tra (“tool’). So the literal translation is “a tool of thought.” And that’s how mantras are used in Buddhist and Hindu practices, as tools that clear your mind of distractions. Because when you focus on repeating that mantra over and over again, soon the noise will die down and all you will hear is your inner voice. Russell Simmons

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…and when mental distractions arise, we keep bringing our attention back to the object of attention

• Do not let pleasure distract you from meditation, from the way. Free yourself from pleasure and pain. Gautama Buddha
• Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being. Sogyal Rinpoche
• Zen asserts that the universal nature of inherent wisdom is nothing other than the nature of the mind itself. In simple terms, God comes from within, and enlightenment is attained through meditation. Meditation is concentration, and concentration is the active rejection of all distracting information. Mixerman

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Meditation thus trains us to become less attached to mental distractions when they arise…

• Meditation quarantines distractions. Khang Kijarro Nguyen
• In the practice of meditation we neither encourage emotions nor repress them. By seeing them clearly, by allowing them to be as they are, we no longer permit them to serve as a means of entertaining and distracting us. Chogyam Trungpa
• The Zen meditative approach has a simple, unstated premise: moods and attitudes shape—determine—what we think and perceive. If we feel happy, we tend to develop certain trains of thought. If we feel sad or angry, still others. But suppose, with training, we become non-attached to distractions and learn to dampen these wild, emotional swings on either side of equanimity. Then we can enter that serene awareness which is the natural soil for positive, spontaneous personal growth, often called spiritual growth. James H. Austin

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…even when we are in the midst of our everyday life…

• Thoughts are not necessarily a distraction. Thoughts are arising in this present awareness and dissolving back into it. The silence remains untouched, unstained, immaculate. Thoughts are only a problem if you are preoccupied with them, giving them all your attention, believing in the entity of “me” around which the thoughts swirl. Catherine Ingram

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…thus allowing us to snap out of mental distractions more easily…

• Learning to recognize thoughts as thoughts—as transient appearances in consciousness—and to no longer be distracted by them. Sam Harris
• Anxiety races thoughts and can be very distracting. With a rushing mind, it’s hard to hear the anxiety message and follow it back to its source. Meditation helps tremendously. Ariella Baston
• There is no need to believe or disbelieve your thoughts – just don’t enter anything. They don’t distract you – you get distracted. Nothing exists in itself as a distraction – it is you who get distracted. Why? Mooji
• Meditation is a foundational practice for improving self-awareness. To focus solely on your breathing is to focus on a key internal process. You’ll become aware of how your mind wanders, and get better at snapping out of distractions. Thai Nguyen

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…thereby attaining a greater degree of inner stillness peace

• When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subside and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
• A few moments of inner peace and quiet allows the brain to reset itself. You become more centered as this happens, since the brain is clearing out distractions and too much “cross talk.” Deepak Chopra
• We should not be distracted by anything; neither by dreams, whether evil or seemingly good, nor by the thought of anything, whether good or bad, nor by distress or deceitful joy, nor by self-conceit or despair, nor by depression or elation, nor by a sense of abandonment or by illusory help and strength, nor by negligence or progress, nor by laziness or seeming zeal, nor by apparent dispassion or passionate attachment. Rather with humility we should strive to maintain a state of stillness, free from all distraction, knowing that no one can do us harm unless we ourselves wish for it. Peter Of Damascus

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During meditation, distractions themselves can be used as the object of attention

• Use every distraction as an object of meditation and they cease to be distractions. Mingyur Rinpoche
• Follow the wandering, the distraction, find out why the mind has wandered; pursue it, go into it fully. When the distraction is completely understood, then that particular distraction is gone. When another comes, pursue it also. Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Mindfulness, like meditation, also helps us become aware of when we have been taken in by mental distractions…

• If you suddenly realize you have been distracted, it shows you have recovered your mindfulness, so you should be happy about this instead of being discouraged and regretful. The more often you notice that you have been distracted, the more your mindfulness is progressing. Matthieu Ricard

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…and can also help us to focus our attention where we want it to go

• You can only look deeply into something if you can sustain your looking without being constantly thrown off by distractions or by the agitation of your own mind. The deeper your concentration, the deeper the potential for mindfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• When you are soul-centered, you can focus your attention where and when you want to, easily, without distraction. You know to look for what you want to see and experience. You know that what you seek you shall find, and what you focus on in life will be more prominent in your awareness. You know your awareness is powerful and creative. Sarah McLean

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Another mindfulness approach is to focus our attention on our senses to avoid being distracted by incessant thoughts…

• A person is alive only to the degree that he or she is aware. To make the most of life we must constantly strive to be aware of the importance of being aware. Be aware of your senses and use them: So often we are distracted and unconscious of the riches our senses can pour into our lives. We eat food without tasting it, listen to music without hearing it, smell without experiencing the pungency of odors and the delicacy of perfumes, touch without feeling the grain or texture, and see without appreciating the beauty around us. Wilferd Peterson

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…bringing us into a distraction-free experience of the present moment

• No mind is much employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up all our moments. Samuel Johnson
• Abram believes that the PRESENT is the only real thing and everything else is an illusion a distraction. Jennifer DeLucy
• Much of our lives is spent numbing out to what we’re experiencing. We don’t want to feel uncomfortable, so we seek comforts and procrastinate. We don’t want to feel fear, so we avoid uncertain situations. We don’t want to stay in the present moment, so we distract ourselves with technology, or get lost in thoughts about the past or future. Leo Babauta

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Another mindfulness approach is to focus on a physical task that requires complete attention

• For me, climbing is a form of exploration that inspires me to confront my own inner nature within nature. It’s a means of experiencing a state of consciousness where there are no distractions or expectations. This intuitive state of being is what allows me to experience moments of true freedom and harmony. Lynn Hill

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Some spiritual schools see the ego (the separate self) as being a major distraction from us coming to know our true selves (self-realisation)…

• The great corrupter of public man is the ego. Looking at the mirror distracts one’s attention from the problem. Dean Acheson
• Utterly destroy the ego. Control the many waves of distraction which it raises in the mind. Discern the Reality and realize “I am That.” Adi Shankara
• In the absence of the ‘person’ there are no distractions. Only the ever-pure Awareness prevails.  The Ultimate is nobody’s achievement at all. Mooji
• To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility – the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests – serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities. Matsumura Sokon

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…and especially its desires and cravings

• Let your diet be spare, your wants moderate, your needs few. So, living modestly, with no distracting desires, you will find content. Gautama Buddha
• People are distracted by objects of desire, and afterward repent of the lust they’ve indulged, because they have indulged with a phantom and are left even farther from Reality than before. Rumi
• An inner life and inner enemies to conquer, battle and destroy. These enemies are the various desires that seek to distract our concentration by causing our thoughts to cling to outward things, things that will pass away. Johan Oscar Smith
• Buddha says this is how one should be – no desire, because all desires are futile. They are about the future; life is in the present. All desires distract you from the present, all desires distract you from life, all desires are destructive of life, all desires are postponements of life. Life is now and the desire takes you away, farther and farther away from now. And when we see that our life is misery we go on throwing the responsibility on others, and nobody is responsible except us. Rajneesh

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The intellect is also seen as a distraction from self-realisation…

• Zen culture invites us to experience reality without the intervening distractions of intellect, categories, analysis. Tom Hoover
• Don’t search for truth with your intellect. Don’t search at all. The nature of the mind is intrinsically pure…If you don’t run after sounds and sights or let appearances give rise to conceptual thinking, you will become men unattached to all things. Huijai Dazhu

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…including religious concepts and dogma…

• Science can give us knowledge, but it cannot give us wisdom. Nor can religion, until it puts aside nonsense and distraction and becomes itself again. Marilynne Robinson

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…as well as our tendency to seek the truth of ourselves in external objects and mind concepts

• Those who are actively seeking enlightenment will not find it because the act of looking for it is the distraction from it. Enza Vita
• Anything you believe you have to do or become before you can be free is a denial and distraction from the truth that you are already free. Alan Cohen.
• True freedom is realizing, with absolute clarity and conviction, that we are already That for which we have been searching. All one needs is to call off the search entirely and abide in That which they presently are—empty of the mind’s illusory and nonsensical distractions. Brian Thompson

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In some spiritual schools, the external world itself is also seen as a distraction…

• Release the people, places, practices, and possessions that distract your soul from its contract. Erica Alex
• The world around you is some kind of distraction at best, and evil at worst, and you should be turning away from it. Peter Adamson
• If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Overlong, detailed to the point of distraction-and ultimately, without a major resolution. Jasper Fforde
• The Vedantic yogi never tires of stating that kaivalya, “isolation-integration”, can be attained only by turning away from the distracting allure of the world and worshiping with single-pointed attention the formless Brahman-Atman; to the Tantric, however—as to the normal child of the world—this notion seems pathological, the wrong-headed effect of a certain malady of intellect.  Rohan Bastin

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…a distraction from us attaining desired spiritual states like enlightenment…

• If you spent one-tenth of the time you devoted to distractions like chasing women or making money to spiritual practice, you would be enlightened in a few years. Ramakrishna
• Banish, therefore, from thy heart the distractions of earth and turn thine eyes to spiritual joys, that thou mayest learn at last to repose in the light of the contemplation of God. Albertus Magnus
• These teachings often make a goal of nirvikalpa samadhi, the experience of Consciousness knowing itself without an object, which has in most cases to be maintained through effort, in order to keep at bay what is considered to be the dangerous and distracting realm of thinking, feeling, sensing and perceiving. Rupert Spira

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…a distraction from us knowing our true self…

• A superficial freedom to wander aimlessly here or there, to taste this or that, to make a choice of distractions, is simply a sham. It claims to be a freedom of “choice” when it has evaded the basic task of discovering who it is that chooses. Thomas Merton
• What good does it do to have all the riches of the world and all the world’s pleasures? They will all disappear in the flash we call a human lifetime. Focusing on the pleasures of the world keeps the mind too distracted to search for the inner Self. Rama Swami

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…a distraction from realising our oneness with all things

• If your mind races, return to the place you were before the thought. Return to the site of oneness. Kabbalah
• Not all spiritual paths lead to the harmonious Oneness. Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more. Laozi
• Things constitute Maya in the Indian tradition, a word somewhat misleadingly translated as “illusion” but which works better if understood as “appearance” or “distraction.” It also implies impermanence. The world “out there” appears to be self-sustained, distracting us from the truth: Without consciousness, nothing is experienced, either “in here” or “out there.” Deepak Chopra

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We are encouraged to turn away from all these distractions and turn our attention inwards…

• You turn inward. There’s nothing to distract you, so you begin to look at yourself. Frank Bianco
• Not knowing how to feed the spirit, we try to muffle its demands in distraction…What matters is that one be for a time inwardly attentive. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind. Bodhidharma
• The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace; make it free from distractions; train it to look inward; make this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind. Ramana Maharshi

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…so that our consciousness rests in a state of knowing only itself

• Look for whatever it is you are calling “I” without being distracted by even the subtlest undercurrent of thought—and notice what happens the moment you turn consciousness upon itself. Sam Harris
• One of the names of Buddha is TATHAGATA – one who lives in suchness, one who has become free from all the distractions of the mind. And the miracle is that the mind consists only of distraction, so once you are free of all distractions there is no mind left. In the present there is no mind. In the present there is only consciousness, awareness, watchfulness. Rajneesh

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It is in this distraction-free state that we can come to know our true Self…

• Free your mind from all distractions and dwell in the consciousness of the Self. Adi Shankara
• In the midst of overwhelming noise and distraction, the voice of story is calling us to remember our true selves. Christina Baldwin
• As always I point back to THAT which is aware of the mind. It is prior to thought and beyond simple and complex. It is THAT which expresses via the mind as the thought ‘I Am.’ But YOU ARE before that thought can arise. Stay with that, and questions distracting you from the true essence will dissolve. Leo Hartong
• Deep in the soul, below pain, below all the distraction of life, is a silence vast and grand an infinite ocean of calm, which nothing can disturb. Nature’s own exceeding peace, which passes understanding. That which we seek with passionate longing, here and there, upward and outward; we find at last within ourselves. Richard Maurice Bucke

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…and thereby experience the inherent happiness of our inner being…

• The only thing that can stop you from feeling happiness is you. To continue to look outside for something that is already inside only serves to distract you from looking within. Jac O’keeffe
• Happiness is not a passing state. It is the changeless shining of true self. In states of dissatisfaction and misery, its non-dual shining seems distracted by the duality of a wanting mind that is at odds with what it finds. In states of happiness, the wanting mind and its duality dissolve, thus showing self for what it always is. Ananda Wood

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…as well as its innate love and intelligence

• Ultimately there is light and love and intelligence in this universe. And we are it, we carry that within us, it’s not just something out there, it is within us and this is what we are trying to re-connect with, our original light and love and intelligence, which is who we are, so do not get so distracted by all this other stuff, you know, really remember what we are here on this planet for. Tenzin Palmo

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Some argue that objects in consciousness (the world, thoughts, emotions) need not be a distraction from our consciousness knowing itself…

• The mind, the body and the world are understood to be expressions of Consciousness rather than distractions from it. Rupert Spira

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…since everything is, in fact, an expression of consciousness and made of consciousness…

• Consciousness takes the form of thought and perception and appears to itself as the world. Rupert Spira
• Is there any substance in seeing other than the knowing of it. All there is is the knowing of this experience. All there is is pure consciousness. Rupert Spira
• If we explore the substance or reality out which thought and perception are made, we find only infinite Consciousness. That is, Consciousness finds only itself. Rupert Spira

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…and therefore, consciousness is only ever knowing itself

• Consciousness is only ever experiencing itself. Rupert Spira
• The content of every experience is Consciousness itself. Rupert Spira
• There is only the experience of Consciousness knowing itself in and as objects. Rupert Spira
• Everything that is experienced is experienced by, through, in and as Consciousness. Rupert Spira
• Consciousness never ceases to experience itself. Embedded within every experience is the taste of its own eternity. Rupert Spira

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In other words, the experiencer (consciousness) and the experience (the world) are actually one

• Consciousness and its object are always one. There is no division between them. Rupert Spira
• The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. Erwin Schrodinger
• Seer and Seen appear different. This is just like seeing gold as various ornaments.  They are not different.  Sorupa Saram

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Worldly pleasures also need not be a distraction from self-realisation if we savour them mindfully and without attachment or addiction

• Physical pleasure is a sensual experience no different from pure seeing or the pure sensation with which a fine fruit fills the tongue; it is a great unending experience, which is given us, a knowing of the world, the fullness and the glory of all knowing. And not our acceptance of it is bad; the bad thing is that most people misuse and squander this experience and apply it as a stimulant at the tired spots of their lives and as distraction instead of a rallying toward exalted moments. Rainer Maria Rilke

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Our culture tends to demonise idleness and distraction

• Idleness is a constant sin, and labor is a duty. Idleness is the devil’s home for temptation and for unprofitable, distracting musings; while labor profit others and ourselves. Anne Baxter

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However, the truth is that sometimes distraction is just what we need

• I need a distraction. Colleen Hoover
• I need distractions. Good distractions, not bad ones. Danny Aiello
• It was exactly what I wanted – beautiful distraction. Maggie Stiefvater
• People really get myopic as they get older. We’re not a culture that encourages dreaming or distraction. We’re not ever good at just being. I remember reading some Adrienne Rich quote where she talks about how important it was just to watch bubbles rise in a glass. Karen Russell

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Distraction can be a welcome temporary refuge

• One man’s distraction is another man’s refuge. Khang Kijarro Nguyen
• When something is bothering me, I seek refuge. No need to travel far; a trip to the realm of literary memory will suffice. For where can one find more noble distraction, more entertaining company, more delightful enchantment than in literature? Muriel Barbery

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Positive distraction is recommended by some as a way to avoid negative ruminations…

• Distract, distract, distract. The distracting activity you select must be engrossing enough so that you don’t have the opportunity to lapse back into ruminations. Sonja Lyubomirsky
• Truly happy people have the capacity to distract and absorb themselves in activities that divert their energies and attention away from dark or anxious ruminations. Sonja Lyubomirsky

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…and unhealthy cravings

• Fight boredom. Instead of snacking when you’re bored, distract yourself. Take a walk, call a friend, read, or take up a hobby such as painting or gardening. Melinda Smith
• Practice distraction until the craving has gone. Do something to engage your thinking, your attention, your body, so that you give the craving a chance to pass. Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
• Distract yourself — When you notice a craving setting in, find something else to think about. Take a walk, listen to your favorite playlist, call a friend. Just set your mind to something else. Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.
• Try anti-craving behavioural strategies, such as the 5-minute contract (making a contract with yourself not to act on the desire for the next five minutes, and then engaging in a distracting activity in the meantime.) Many urges are short- lived – you will find they are weaker if you can “surf through” the first few minutes. Anna Rose Childress, Ph.D.
• One thing too is that the craving will not be there constantly, even though it might feel like it at times. You don’t need willpower 24 hours a day; just distract yourself in the moment that the urge arises. If you can distract yourself for a few minutes the intensity should pass. You might have to do this many, many times in a day, but thinking of a short intense burst of flame that you need to throw a blanket on can feel better than thinking that there is a blazing inferno that you need to constantly fight. Amanda Harvey

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Positive distraction can also be an effective way to take our attention away from pain

• Find ways to distract yourself from pain so you enjoy life more. When you focus on pain, it makes it worse rather than better. Instead, find something you like doing – an activity that keeps you busy and thinking about things besides your pain. You might not be able to avoid pain, but you can take control of your life. WebMD
• Try not to focus on your pain. The amount of time you spend thinking about pain has a lot to do with how much discomfort you feel. Those who dwell on their pain usually say their pain is worse than those who don’t dwell on it. One way to take your mind off pain is to distract yourself from pain. Focus on something outside your body, perhaps a hobby or something of personal interest, to take your mind off your discomfort. Maryellen Smith

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Others argue that a better way to deal with cravings and pain is mindful attention

• Often people try to eliminate the urges by distraction or talking themselves out of them. This usually just feeds the urges and creates the illusion that they are interminable until you give in to them. Dr Christopher Walsh
• Our culture teaches us how to numb and distract ourselves but not how to listen to our pain and learn from our difficulties. Think what we learn about pain from television. We learn that pain is to be avoided at all costs and that there are a variety of pain relievers for every conceivable pain.  I would like to see a commercial that says, “Your pain is a great teacher.  Learn from it and be healed.”  Bernie Siegel

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Reading can be a positive and welcome temporary distraction from the world…

• What the book does as a technology is shield us from distraction. Nicholas G. Carr
• Immersing oneself in the problems of a book is a good way to keep from thinking of love. Orhan Pamuk
• I find that when I come out of the library I’m in what I call the library bliss of being totally taken away from the distractions of life. Tracy Chevalier
• Today the problem is no longer that books distract people from their responsibilities but that we have become distracted from reading itself. Frank Furedi
• The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he [or she] can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions. Saul Bellow
• To distract myself from tiresome thoughts, I have only to resort to books; they easily draw my mind to themselves and away from other things. Michel de Montaigne
• An active mind didn’t need distraction in its physical environment. It needed a collection of outstanding books and a good lamp. Maybe some cheese and crackers. J.R. Ward
• What I’m talking about is the state of constant distraction we live in and how that affects the very special energies required for tackling a substantial work of fiction. David Mikics
• The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. Elizabeth Hardwick
• Oh, I just want what we all want: a comfortable couch, a nice beverage, a weekend of no distractions and a book that will stop time, lift me out of my quotidian existence and alter my thinking forever. Elizabeth Gilbert

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…and so can music…

• Music can be a distraction and an escape. Sometimes a welcome escape. You need it. Howard Zinn

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…and movies and plays

• I don’t think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away. Tom Noonan
• I need distractions. Good distractions, not bad ones. A good distraction for me is a great play. Danny Aiello

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Art is seen as a positive distraction by some while others argue art is far from being a distraction…

• Art is the fatal net which catches these strange moments on the wing like mysterious butterflies, fleeing the innocence and distraction of common men. Giorgio de Chirico
• The life of the arts is far from an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is close to the center of a nation’s purpose-and is a test of the quality of a nations’ civilization. John F. Kennedy
• Art is not an amusement, nor a distraction, nor is it, as many men maintain, an escape from life. On the contrary, it is a high training of the soul, essential to the soul’s growth, to its unfoldment. Lawren Harris

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…for it actually captures our attention and thus rescues us from distraction

• Art has something to do with the arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. George Plimpton
• To choose art means to turn one’s back on the world, or at least on certain of its distractions. Melvin Maddocks
• Art is the fatal net which catches these strange moments on the wing like mysterious butterflies, fleeing the innocence and distraction of common men. Giorgio de Chirico
• Art — the fresh feeling, new harmony, the transforming magic which by means of myth brings back the scattered distracted soul from its modern chaos — art, not politics, is the remedy. Saul Bellow
• I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. Saul Bellow

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Creative people, including writers, often go to great lengths to try to focus…

• There’s no writer’s block; there’s only distraction. Carolyn Chute
• Writers are always anxious, always on the run–from the telephone, from responsibilities, from the distractions of the world. Edna O’Brien
• At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Writing is a very lonely occupation. To write you need to concentrate, to concentrate you need to lock yourself away. No distractions; you want your stream of thought uninterrupted. Vikas Swarup
• Since the dawn of creativity, artists of every discipline have seemingly waged war on distraction. Proust famously locked himself away with earplugs and soundproof cork-covered walls to help himself write, while Kafka sought out solitude “not like a hermit” he said, “but like a dead man.” Mary Stribley

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…maybe partly because they tend to be more distractible than others

• I am interested in, or distracted by, a lot of things. John Ashbery
• Focus is important for creative people, precisely because we are so easily distracted. Mark McGuinness
• According to the scientists, the inability to focus helps ensure a richer mixture of thoughts in consciousness. Because these people struggled to filter the world, they ended up letting everything in. They couldn’t help but be open-minded. Jonah Lehrer
• In an effort to concentrate on things, we suppress our distractibility, but the distractions are there nonetheless — not simply preying on our attentiveness, but permeating it. Attention could be conceived as the sublimation of distraction, not its opposite. Matthew Bevis
• Creativity may be linked to a reduced ability to filter out less important information, which is largely in part due to “leaky” sensory filters. Thanks to your leaky filters, you are consistently taking in more information than the average person and focusing on far more than the task at hand at any given time. Mary Stribley

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However, the truth is that when it comes to creativity, too much focused attention can actually be counterproductive

• Letting yourself get distracted keeps you open-minded, and that open-mindedness leads to high levels of creativity. Jonah Lehrer
• By not focusing, we’re not stuck paying attention to what’s right in front us, but what’s all around us. What’s creativity if not curiosity? Jonah Lehrer
• It’s paradoxical. You need to be able to focus to shut off distractions, but sometimes you can focus too hard. You get stuck on something that is not helpful. Mark Fensce
• Sometimes, the very thing we’re trying to improve (focus) ends up being the reason we get stuck on a problem. Through striving hard to pay attention to one thing, we end up constricting our creativity. Itxy Lopez
• The more you look the less you will observe. I have the habit of attention to such excess that my senses get no rest….    What I need is not to look at all, but a true sauntering of the eye. Henry David Thoreau
• When you are trying to come up with new ideas, a laser sharp focus may backfire – and a distraction could actually boost your chances of finding a truly novel solution to your problem. These benefits hinge on the fact that our minds often become stuck in a rut, meaning that we spend too much time concentrating on the first ideas we thought of, rather than generating truly novel solutions. This phenomenon is known as cognitive fixation, and many psychologists now consider it to be the principle barrier to true creativity. David Robson

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Attention narrows our field of perception while creativity thrives by having a wide view of things

• Attention is narrowed perception. Alan Watts
• Knowing a lot is a springboard to creativity. Charlie Rose
• Attention is a selection, a suppression, an ignoring, an ignorance. Matthew Bevis
• Rather than resting on our attentive laurels, we might consider what our attention is missing out on. Matthew Bevis
• Anyone can look for fashion in a boutique or history in a museum. The creative person looks for history in a hardware store and fashion in an airport. Robert Wiedler
• Be an explorer and search for ideas outside your area. Looking for good ideas is like prospecting for gold. If you look in the same old places, you’ll find tapped out veins.  Roger von Oech
• While a typical thinker may focus in on one obvious solution, a more distracted thinker will often take in all the information, relevant or irrelevant, and come up with more creative, engaging and complex ideas and solutions. Mary Stribley
• The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen. Carl Ally

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Forced attention can create tension while creativity tends to work best in a relaxed state

• Attention is a form of “tension.” Matthew Bevis
• Being time-strapped can be kryptonite for creativity. Steven Kotler
• Non-time helps us relax enough to see the big picture and allow innovative ideas to bubble to the surface. Jessica Stillman
• People in a relaxed state and a good mood are far more likely to develop innovative or creative thoughts. Michelle Aldredge
• Many scientists and creative thinkers have noted that the mind’s best work is sometimes done without conscious direction, during receptive states of reverie, idle meditation, dreaming, or transition between sleep and wakefulness. Roger Shepard
• When we’re stressed, under deadline pressure, and trying desperately to produce our best work, we are likely to fail unless we step back, force ourselves to unplug, and take a break. We’ll actually be more innovative and efficient if we stop obsessing and instead go for a walk, take a shower or nap, tinker with a favorite hobby, or meditate. Michelle Aldredge

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Creative people actually get their best ideas when they combine work with some positive distraction

• While this may seem peculiar, the combo of work and distraction leads to levels of innovation not often generated by structured, focused thinking alone. Robert Genn
• If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient. Hilary Mantel
• The key to having a creative epiphany is to first get frustrated by trying (and failing) to solve a problem, and then to stop focusing on the problem altogether by either relaxing or getting distracted. Flashes of insight come not through focused thought, but after focused thought. Which is why businesses staking their future on innovation success, like 3M, encourage breaks, naps, walks and chats to break up focused work. Jonah Lehrer
• Sometimes, too much focus can backfire; all that caffeine gets in the way. For instance, researchers have found a surprising link between daydreaming and creativity—people who daydream more are also better at generating new ideas. Other studies have found that employees are more productive when they’re allowed to engage in “Internet leisure browsing” and that people unable to concentrate due to severe brain damage actually score above average on various problem-solving tasks. Jonah Lehrer

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Distraction, far from being a hindrance, is a necessary tool for creativity

• Scientists have begun to outline the surprising benefits of not paying attention.
• To be with the one I love and to think of something else: this is how I have my best ideas. Roland Barthes
• Something in the book needs to get worked out — or worked through — by my not attending to it. Matthew Bevis
• My best writing gets done when I’m being distracted by people who are calling me or errands that I have to do. John  Ashbery
• All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate. Julio Cortázar
• Sometimes the best thing for creative productivity can actually be just aimlessly surfing the web or overhearing a conversation or two. Mary Stribley
• Evidence suggests that employees who engage in “leisurely internet browsing” between tasks are significantly more creatively productive. Mary Stribley
• By switching off and performing less cognitive-heavy processes, you allow your mind to unfocus from the problem at hand and associate with ideas more freely. Mary Stribley
• I sit in front of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and spend an embarrassing amount of time staring at the screen, then I get my best idea in the shower. Mary Stribley
• There is a distinct trend towards a high degree of creativity and distractibility, suggesting that perhaps distractions aren’t quite the bane of all productivity. Mary Stribley
• The research showed that when trying to solve a complex task, people who were distracted after first tackling the problem did better than people who put in conscious effort. David Rock
• While distractions throughout your day may make focusing on the goal at hand trickier and tiresome in the short term, they can actually help you out in the long term creatively. Mary Stribley
• Distraction arises from an excellent quality of the understanding, which allows the ideas to strike against, or reawaken one another. It is the opposite of that stupor of attention, which merely rests on, or recycles, the same idea. Diderot
• For a certain segment of the population, distractibility can actually be a net positive. Although we think that more attention can solve everything—that the best strategy is always a strict focus fueled by triple espressos—that’s not the case. Sometimes, the most productive thing we can do is surf the Web and eavesdrop on that conversation next door. Jonah Lehrer
• We only know our distractedness belatedly, as a paradise or as a perplexity lost. Distraction is a time between times, a time in which we become momentarily subject to the non-thought inside thought. And this is the time — or one of the times — of poetry. Attention can be helpful later on as part of the process of revision, but for vision itself poets stand in need of distraction. Paul North

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Daydreaming, if allowed as a positive distraction, can be an extremely fertile source of creativity

• One of the best types of distractions is daydreaming. Itxy Lopez
• When you find yourself stuck on a particular issue, indulge in some daydreaming.
• Think about your problem, possible solutions, and when your brain starts wandering off, let it. You never know where it might lead you. Itxy Lopez
• People had previously assumed that daydreaming was a lazy mental process, but Raichle’s fMRI studies demonstrated that the brain is extremely busy during the default state. Jonah Lehrer
• Studies have found a link between creativity and daydreaming, stating that those who find themselves staring into space regularly are more likely to be creative problem solvers. Mary Stribley
• There seems to be a particularly elaborate electrical conversation between the front and back parts of the brain. These parts of the brain don’t normally interact, so when they do as we daydream, it allows for new connections and relationships to be made. Jonah Lehrer

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Positive distraction in the service of creativity rarely takes the form of Twitter or Youtube (although at times, it can)

• If you’re looking for permission to open Twitter or watch a YouTube video while working, you’re not getting it. Social media and your phone won’t give you the type of creativity boost you’re looking for. You’ll only succeed in wasting time and getting sucked in by posts that add no value to your life. The right kind of distraction is the outside world. Itxy Lopez

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• Distracted from distraction by distraction. T. S. Eliot
• Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains. Emilie Cady
• These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics. Chuck Palahniuk
• A lot of horses get distracted; it’s just human nature. Nick Zito
• It’s easy to distract fat people; it’s a piece of cake. Chris Addison
• Sand was dribbling out of the bag of her attention, faster and faster. Sarah Blake
• The secret of medicine is to distract the patient, while Nature heals itself. Voltaire
• Now I will have less distraction. Leonhard Euler (Upon losing the use of his right eye)
• You are my addiction. You are my muse. My worst distraction. My poetry and hues. Avijeet Das
• I think nighttime is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction. Bill Watterson
• I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity. Gilda Radner
• The most dangerous distractions are the ones you love, but that don’t love you back. Warren Buffet
• There is a purpose to our lives that each day tugs at our sleeve as an annoying distraction. Robert Breault
• The biggest distraction in life to one’s focus is often near locus standing people saying all hocus-pocus. Anuj
• You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. Winston S. Churchill
• God was so bored pondering the mystery of his own existence that he created the world to distract himself. Jim Holt
• Hutchison’s Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction. Robert Bloch
• The reason we are so pleased to find other people’s secrets is that it distracts public attention from our own. Oscar Wilde
• Hutchison’s Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction. Robert Bloch
• Spirituality: the last refuge of a failed human. Just another way of distracting yourself from who you really are. George Carlin