Are we towards Traction or Distraction?
Let’s begin with a small story that most of you would have read on your own or heard from your elders during your early childhood days…..Once upon a time in a thick jungle lived a troop of monkeys. Their days were filled with fun and playing with a lot of fruit on the trees. One day they decided to go on a fast. But one of the monkeys said “let’s keep the food ready for tomorrow to break the fast”, others nodded their heads and collected bananas from the nearby plantation. One more said, “Why don’t we peel it as it will be easy to have it.” Then a small monkey asked, isn’t it better to keep the banana inside the mouth? But I promised not to eat it till the next morning. All the monkeys agreed and one after the other the bananas went into their mouths, but none could resist the sweet taste and finally, the bananas disappeared down their gullets. And that was the end of their fast!
Why could the monkeys not resist eating the bananas? What is your reasoning? Yes…..you are right! The monkeys got distracted.
Now, let’s analyze our day-to-day life. Many students consider themselves good at multitasking. However, according to scientists, under most conditions, the brain cannot carry out two complex tasks at the same time. Multitasking can only occur if the two tasks at hand are very simple and do not compete with each other for the same mental resources. So, for example, we can cook a meal and listen to music at the same time. But listening to a lecture while doing homework cannot be done at the same time. Both of these tasks are complex and very demanding and use the same area of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. “Experiments have suggested that when students multitask while doing schoolwork, their learning is far less as compared to if the work had their full attention. They understand and remember less, and they have greater difficulty transferring their learning to new contexts.”
Here is a small task to confirm this understanding.
As quick as you can, countdown from 10 to 0, then immediately say the alphabets from A to K.
Then, alternate between the alphabet and countdown in this manner i.e. 10-A, 9-B.
Do you sense the difficulty associated with multitasking? How to control our actions and focus on what really matters to us. Learning how to become indestructible may be one of the most important life skills for the 21st century.
In his work, Nir Eyal presents a model to explain why we can get so distracted in the first place and, in turn, how we can learn to become distractable. “At the center of the model in action, that is, what we want to do or accomplish—our goals. To the right of Action is Traction, which comes from the Latin word trahere, meaning to draw or pull. We can think of traction as the action we do that draws us toward our goals, whereas to the left of action is Distraction, which has the same Latin root as traction and means to draw apart or away. We can think of distraction as the action we do that draws us away or impedes us from our goals.” Eyal goes on to explain that “all behaviors, whether toward traction or distraction, are prompted by internal or external triggers. Internal triggers cue us from within, such as getting up to put on a sweater and make a cup of coffee when we are cold or putting on lotion when we notice that our hands feel dry and rough. On the other hand, external triggers are cues from our environment, such as the beeps and buzzes from our phone that tell us we have a new message or objects that contain entertainment that we enjoy, such as an internet, TV, gaming system, or smartphone or even people who drop by our house or office to ask us a quick question.”
Thankfully, though, there exist proven methods to avoid distraction but be in traction.
(a) Cultivate the habit of focus on that one important thing
(b) Learn to implement a “work hard, play hard” attitude, devote all of your focus to the school work when you are doing school work, and then do the same when you play.
(c) Another interesting method is Timeboxing; students could plan out in advance when, where, and what they will be working on based on a time-bound calendar in order to make the best out of the available time and resources.
(d) Brain and Body Exercise: What comes to mind when you think of exercise is aerobic activities or sports. But the combination of challenging both the brian and the body, like doing Yoga with chanting mantras, is even better than physical activity alone.
(e) Once in a while try a jigsaw puzzle, build vocabulary, dance your heart out, learn a new skill, listen to your favourite music, etc. to naturally activate the brain areas that control balance, timing, sequencing, error correction, and last but not the least intense focus and concentration.
Ultimately, as we turn away from distraction and learn to really enjoy the work that we do, we can achieve a state of flow. Once inflow, we will no longer be looking for a distraction to bring us pleasure, our working and our learning will already be bringing us the pleasure and satisfaction we seek.
Who knew that every fish has its personality? I certainly didn’t. Until I bought my fish. Today, I will tell the story of a most peculiar and noteworthy fish. I had an aquarium with a dozen fish already. This newcomer was an old female Three Spot Gourami. After a while, we named her Mama Odie, after the crazy old lady in the Princess and the Frog Disney Movie. We had our reasons. Mama Odie was the one fish I knew who got used to the surroundings the day she was put into the tank. Soon, she started interacting with the other fish, chasing them and snapping their tail fins. I thought she seemed pretty cheery and content. But, I soon realized that was simply not the case. She was indeed interacting with the other fish but not playing with them. The continuous chasing was turning into harassment. The snapping was becoming violent. It became clear to me that she wasn’t happy. She despised the other fish and was therefore violent towards them. Let’s just say that this fish was thoroughly fed up with life in my aquarium. Normally, I would have tried my best to help her. But, I had only one tank and many fish. I couldn’t risk the lives of the other fish to save one, could I? So, we put her in a bucket to take her back to the shop in a couple of days. But, oof! Here begins another story. Taking her out was a struggle. While she was being put into the bucket, Mama Odie decided that she wanted freedom and to live her life the way she wished to! After some time, we heard a huge “PLOP!”. We were startled and looked around. The innocent-looking Gourami had just jumped out of the bucket and had landed flat on the floor. Can you imagine such a sight? Everyone began shouting. I stopped thinking. I simply picked Mama Odie up with my bare hands. She felt small, slimy, and smooth, all at the same time. I plopped her back into her bucket. We paused to catch our breath. After a few minutes, we decided to be better safe than sorry. We covered the mouth of the bucket with a net. And thank God we did so. Believe it or not, Mama Odie tried jumping out a few more times. Doesn’t this sound like one of those times when a criminal escapes from prison but is caught and jailed again but with more security watching over him? Well, if all this is too much to digest. I understand. Anyways, finally, we were able to return her to the shop. Although I have little idea of where she is now, I hope that she is in a happy place. Her forever home. Where she is at peace and is content with her surroundings and tank mates. Wherever she is, Mama Odie will always remain in my memories. I know that she was a ‘mere’ fish. But irrespective of the species, every living being has feelings. Every being wants to be free and live as it wants. I strongly believe good ol’ Mama Odie did too.
Picture 1: This picture is when we put crazy Mama Odie in the bucket.
Picture 2: I don’t really have a clear picture of Mama Odie in the tank, but this is another fish who is of the same type of Gourami as Mama Odie.
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