Distractions will ruin your life

Everyone has goals and dreams. We are all looking to achieve something, start something, or complete something. Some of us get there through hard work, enthusiasm, focus, and luck. But many of us fail to achieve our goals and some of our dreams. It’s easy to start things, and when we don’t reach the finish line, it’s easy to blame it on others, the circumstances, and then we give up and move on to the next thing. I do this all the time.

Throughout my life, I’ve had many successes, and I’m happy, proud, and grateful for them. For example, adapting to life in the United States, finding love, starting a family, and pursuing a career I enjoy that remunerates me well. But I’ve also started countless projects and ideas that never went anywhere. Some of them could have been very successful—maybe even life-changing for me and my family—but I got distracted. I messed up.

For many years, I thought it was bad luck or blamed other people for these failures, but looking back, it was me. I lost focus and got distracted. It was easy to find things that distracted me from my goals: watching an endless stream of content on platforms like Netflix or scrolling through social media. Entertainment is good, it helps clear our minds and makes us more productive. That’s true. But as we all know, too much of anything is harmful.

I remember making progress on a few projects, just as streaming platforms were becoming popular. I love movies, documentaries, and interesting TV shows, but when they became available on-demand, my consumption skyrocketed. I borrowed time from my personal projects to watch content.

This is on me. While these platforms and social media sites are designed with algorithms to keep us hooked, I know it’s possible to resist. It takes discipline, something I didn’t have back then. Now, I realize the obvious mistake and I’m doing something about it.

Distractions are dream killers. It’s easy to get pulled into cheap, easy entertainment. It’s like junk food—we all know it’s bad for us, but it’s so convenient. Shame on us. We can do better. We have the capacity to do better, but many of us choose the easy route and become distraction addicts.

Spending time with your partner, family, friends, traveling, or going for walks isn’t a distraction—not in my opinion. These are activities that enrich our lives. We should do more of those things. But sitting in front of a screen for hours is different. It can steal your time and sometimes even control your mind, pushing you further from your goals and projects. It’s addictive, and if you don’t control it, it will ruin your life.

I’m stopping this now. I’m restricting myself to a limited amount of streaming content to focus on my projects and create my own content. I spend most Friday mornings writing, reading, and listening to podcasts or audiobooks. But I also watch a show or movie every day, and that needs to stop. Two of my favorite projects include writing and photography. I aim to publish a memoir or novel and a photography book. I have the time, the skills, and most of the material. What I need is to cut out the negative distractions. I need to focus.

Instead of writing long-form once a week, I’m starting the habit of morning pages—three pages of anything that comes to mind, written every morning before work. Instead of long walks only on Fridays or weekends, I’ll walk 30 minutes every day. It doesn’t matter when or where—just 30 minutes a day. Instead of reading for long stretches a few times a week, I’m going to start reading at least five pages every day.

I’m grateful to have the time for these things, and I need to make the most of it. Am I going to stop taking long walks or reading for extended periods? No. But I want to do these things more often.

The time to do this will come from the hours I currently spend watching the latest movie on Netflix or the newest series on HBO. I don’t need to do that so often. I will allow myself a small amount of time each week for entertainment, but I must be careful not to overdo it. I need to stay focused and disciplined.

It’s time for me to turn off the screens and turn on my life.