We’ve been talking all week about staying focused, even when it feels like our efforts aren’t producing big breakthroughs.

As I was thinking about this, I came across an interview with Nir Eyal. He wrote a book about becoming indistractable.

Here’s what he says:

All distractions have an internal trigger — a feeling that underpins your desire to avoid the task at hand.

“Internal triggers are uncomfortable emotional states that we seek to escape from,” explains Nir.

To become indistractable, assess your internal triggers honestly. Are you reading headlines or checking Twitter to be informed — or are you fleeing reality?

“We start to have a problem,” says Nir, “if we watch the news so that we can worry about somebody else’s problems — as opposed to focusing on what’s going on in our own life.”

That last line hit me hard.

I need to focus on my own life, on what my priorities are. I have enough to worry about without going looking for problems and distractions elsewhere.

This is not to suggest that I’m going to bury my head in the sand and ignore the world’s problems – not at all. Our communities face extraordinary challenges that will require all of our efforts to make progress.

And yet, to do that, we need to take action.

We need to do the things that are ours to do.

Worrying about and tracking every problem on the planet isn’t making a difference; it’s living in distraction.

I’m taking some time this weekend to evaluate my emotional triggers. What is going on inside me that makes distraction more attractive than taking action?