The Benefits of Indulging in Distractions
Not all ideas are great. But there are some surprising benefits to exploring the ideas and distractions we often write off as silly or impractical. Indulging in distractions and ideas that might not go anywhere can be a valuable creative exercise (while also being a lot of fun). Giving yourself permission to pursue distractions can help break you out of a slump or become a springboard for an idea that really does have legs. After all, it’s rare to get something right on the first try.
If you've ever worried that your ideas simply "aren't good enough" or get distracted easily and worry you're not focusing on "the right things", step back and give yourself a break.
I’m no stranger to indulging in distractions. Working from home means that it can be tough to get my day back on track once I'm off on a tangent. Sometimes I can pull myself back into the realm of productivity, but sometimes I let myself follow the wormhole, giving myself "distraction passes".
I'm trying to get away from the notion that distractions are inherently bad. Pursuing a "bad idea" often has a lot of benefits. In fact, distractions have even been proven to help lessen pain and give people the courage to tackle challenges. Giving distractions and "bad ideas" a bit of serious consideration can often help you envision unique ways to solve problems.
Many years back, I had a summer job where despite my endless requests for more work, I continually found myself with too much free time. My brain craves problems to solve, so I began to invent projects for myself. None of these projects were going to become a great startup venture, but I learned some valuable skills by allowing myself to explore each idea.
I became obsessed with the idea of visiting an abandoned uranium mine in remote northern Saskatchewan. The community was only accessible by plane and the mine was further removed and only accessible fishing boat. I spent an entire summer gathering satellite imagery, piecing together old site maps, planning travel logistics and studying documentation of the old site. I can't recall how serious my intentions to actually travel there were, but the thrill of finding obscure information and the painstaking hours I spent researching the history of the place and digging up old maps and documents was immensely satisfying. By the time I was done, I had a huge folder filled with imagery, historical backgrounders and research documents, and the realization that I was actually a talented researcher.
Imagery and maps I collected of the Gunnar mine site.
That same summer I began writing a short story about the secret lives I imagined my coworkers had when they went home at night. I got pretty far with it, giving many of them superpowers and elaborate backstories. The story never saw the light of day and will never be a best seller. But it really helped me hone my writing skills and challenged me in ways I never expected.
The opening lines of an embarrassing piece of fiction I drafted in 2008.
I look back on some of my little distraction projects with fondness and the realization that most of them actually built skills I use a lot today. So instead of telling myself to stop every time an idea enters my brain, I've started collecting these little ideas. I put them in a notes app on my phone or on little post-it notes near my desk. I revisit them from time to time. Sometimes I build on them and they grow into blog articles or new business ideas. Sometimes they just sit there. But I try not to write them off as soon as they enter my head.
I think the trick is not to avoid distraction, but to learn how to work with it, to let yourself be swept up in momentary obsessions, to give yourself permission to travel down little brain wormholes and see where they lead. Ideas have value, and you owe it to yourself to treat each idea with a little care and nourishment. You may just discover something about yourself you didn't know was there.
Have you ever followed through with a "bad idea" or indulged in a distraction and had it reveal something interesting? Let me know in the comments!
