Figuring out how to focus on writing is a point of pain for many writers.
Consult any expert productivity advice website, podcast, or book, and you’ll likely encounter one particular tip.
I’ve preached it myself. Margaret Atwood advises it, Stephen Pressfield has advised it, Zadie Smith advises it (note how I slot myself into that list of awesome writers you should totally listen to!)
To focus on your writing, free yourself from the mind-altering distraction behemoth that is the internet and turn it off while you write.
There are also the variations on the same theme…
Get focussed by:
Using apps that block your connection
Using apps that block specific websites that steal your focus.
Write on computers that are never connected to the internet.
Put your phone away in a drawer, or in another room. You can even but little time activated lockers to imprison your distraction machine for the period you specify.
The core of the advice is sound…
In order to focus, don’t go online while you’re writing.
Don’t check anything, don’t research anything, don’t post about the fact you’re writing while you should be actually writing.
However, there’s a fundamental flaw in this advice.
Turning off the internet while you write is meant to remove the distraction. Switch of your Wi-Fi and you’re unable to connect, right?
Yes, but….
You can always, quite easily, turn your connection back on.
You can disable your blocking apps. You can stop using your phone prison (and probably will when the novelty wears off).
I’m not claiming these elimination tactics don’t work. I’ve used them to conquer my own tech addictions. Adding that extra step of turning on the connection makes it a little less likely you’ll give into temptation and break your focus by going online. Still, it does nothing to address the real problem.
The real problem, the reason so many writers get distracted by the internet, is those writers have not learned to work with the distraction.
If you want to go online, you will. If you’re still conditioned to be online every second minute, you will be.
So, what’s to be done?
Work with the distraction.
Work despite the distraction.
Do not give in to the distraction.
And how do we learn to do this?
DO NOT TURN OFF THE INTERNET!
We don’t need to learn to turn off the internet; we need to learn to focus on writing without going online whether or not we’re connected.
It’s not the internet’s fault you keep getting distracted by the very temptation to get online. It’s your brain’s fault.
By turning off the internet, we’re not doing anything to conquer that part of our brain that thinks we need to go online in the middle of a writing session.
When you sit down to focus on writing, don’t turn off the internet. Instead, turn off that part of your brain that thinks you need to be online.
It’s a habit that can absolutely be learned.
It takes practice, and it’s hard work, but if you truly want to conquer that distraction machine, this is the only way to do it.
How to Focus On Writing By Truly Conquering the Distraction of the Internet
Research First
Have everything you need to write ready before you start so you don’t need to open a browser.
Make Notes to Research Later
If you encounter a fact or some such that needs checking, make a note to do it later and keep writing.
Use a Mantra
“It’s not time for the internet, it’s time for writing.” Repeat it to yourself, over and over and over.
Acknowledge the Distraction
When you feel the urge to get online for whatever reason, stop and acknowledge it. Think about why you felt that urge. When I was a social media user, I would often get the urge to check feeds mid-writing when I was in a tricky part of the project. It’s a devilish trick of the brain! Sit with the urge for just a few moments (without giving into it), and it will pass.
Just Don’t Do It
Simple. Just don’t. Don’t. It takes internal fortitude, but you can do it. Just don’t go online.
It’s difficult. The more internet dependent you are, the harder it will be. Hard doesn’t need to mean bad, however. And writing is the good kind of hard work. You can learn to work alongside the distraction and get so good at it that the internet simply ceases to be a distraction.
That’s when the real focusing power happens. Own it.
