Shownotes
You’ve got momentum, and it feels amazing… until you're interrupted. These interruptions don’t just impact your flow, they also impact your mood. In today’s episode, I explore these interruptions, their impact, and how two perspective shifts have helped me better deal with them when they happen.
Plus, an update on how my current experiment is going (hint: not well).
Links
Subscribe to Cat's Momentum YouTube channel.
Want to join Cat live? Subscribe to get a reminder email and a link to the live stream so you can watch the episode live and join the Q&A session.
View and add The Momentum Experiment calendar so you never miss a live recording and Q&A.
Find Cat on Instagram (@catmulvihill)
Submit a question for the podcast.
Join Cat's Email List
Transcripts
Maybe you can relate to this. You have finally found your flow
Speaker:state. You're focused, you're moving forward, and you are feeling
Speaker:good. That is, until you get interrupted. It
Speaker:could be a small interruption, like a text or a phone call, and then you
Speaker:return to work. Or it could be a bigger interruption, like
Speaker:needing to adjust your schedule for the day and move things around
Speaker:like a puzzle. Or it could be a major interruption that shifts your
Speaker:plans not just for days, but possibly weeks and. And
Speaker:maybe even months. That is what we're talking about today,
Speaker:is interruptions. And I have been thinking about interruptions a
Speaker:lot because, well, I have had a lot of them lately,
Speaker:both big and small interruptions. And I've been paying
Speaker:close attention to my reactions because, well,
Speaker:frankly, I could be doing better. I'm not in my best
Speaker:place when I'm dealing with a lot of these interruptions. Now, the
Speaker:wonderful thing about noticing your own reactions is that it
Speaker:gives you a chance to pause and ask, is there a better
Speaker:way I could be doing this? And today I want to specifically share
Speaker:two perspective shifts that have helped me
Speaker:in recent days and weeks and maybe could help you if
Speaker:you are struggling with interruptions both big and small.
Speaker:And the first thing I want to do before I share this perspective is
Speaker:that I want to break down how I'm thinking about interruptions specifically
Speaker:for this episode. When I say interruption, I mean it's
Speaker:external. So someone or something else is
Speaker:the cause of the interruption, not an internal thing where you have
Speaker:maybe delayed or put it off. And I like to think of the three kinds.
Speaker:First, as one, where you are interrupted in your focus. The
Speaker:second is where it's more of an interruption to your schedule, maybe in the.
Speaker:The next day or two. And then there are these interruptions that
Speaker:affect your routine, your plans over a longer period of time.
Speaker:And if you can imagine you are on a road trip, the
Speaker:first kind would be like bumping up against
Speaker:construction, where they've got the sign, it says stop, and you need to wait until
Speaker:they let you through. Yes, you pause. Yes, there's a bit of a
Speaker:delay, but eventually you just return on the road that you're already
Speaker:on as planned. The second kind would be more like a
Speaker:detour, where you actually have to take an alternate route
Speaker:and you'll get back on the road later, so you're back on that same
Speaker:track, but you had to go off track for a little while before you come
Speaker:back. And I would say the third kind looks like you're just. You have to
Speaker:take a new route, you Just have to let go of the one you originally
Speaker:planned and you're on a different one and you're never getting back on that
Speaker:original path. This could be in the same direction, but not always.
Speaker:Sometimes you are actually redirected in a completely different
Speaker:direction. Now, all of us deal with interruptions,
Speaker:but we don't all necessarily handle them the same way. And I think
Speaker:there are two kind of versions. One is sort of your overall disposition and
Speaker:then the other is more depending on how you are doing.
Speaker:So I do think dispositions are worth calling out. And the fact that there are
Speaker:some people who I just think deal with these better than others,
Speaker:they're like this their whole life. They're just less reactive. They've always kind of been
Speaker:that way. You probably know people that you're just not surprised if they take
Speaker:something in stride. Most of the time there are always exceptions. And
Speaker:then there are other people whose dispositions are a little bit more
Speaker:reactive. And I'm guessing you can think of a person right now
Speaker:that you would probably hesitate to interrupt because it's
Speaker:not likely to go well. These are more long lasting
Speaker:traits consistent over a person's life. But you can
Speaker:also have a difference of how you react depending on how you are doing
Speaker:in the moment. And for me, there are a couple of factors that I've
Speaker:noticed. And the first one is just my health, my mental health, physical
Speaker:health, emotional health. When that is lower, I definitely
Speaker:struggle. And then the other part that I notice is I
Speaker:call this the. Your perceived gap between where
Speaker:you are right now and where you want to be. And this perceived gap can
Speaker:be smaller or it can be really big. And for me, the bigger the
Speaker:gap, the more I might be struggling. And so these
Speaker:two things, my health and also this, this gap or my sense
Speaker:of the gap, they impact how grounded I
Speaker:feel. When I feel grounded, I am calmer,
Speaker:I'm more peaceful. I can access that logical part of
Speaker:my brain and make sound decisions.
Speaker:When I am not grounded, I feel like I'm not in
Speaker:control. I feel more anxious, I feel disconnected and,
Speaker:and honestly, just more emotional, more reactive. And I have a much lower
Speaker:capacity for decision making. And during these
Speaker:times, I've got about as much patience as a small
Speaker:child. I'm not proud of it and I don't really like
Speaker:that version of me, but it is the truth. So
Speaker:even a simple phone call when I'm focused on work, it
Speaker:can send me kind of spiraling. And then those bigger interruptions, the
Speaker:detours or the being on a new route completely, those can
Speaker:sometimes feel paralyzing to me. So
Speaker:what helps, and the first thing you might think based on what I shared,
Speaker:is that I want to focus on health. So your mental health, physical
Speaker:health, getting enough sleep, moving your body, removing stressors like taking a
Speaker:break from social media or doom scrolling, taking care of your
Speaker:health is always important. And at the same time,
Speaker:it can feel difficult when you don't feel grounded or when
Speaker:you feel like you don't have a lot of control. And, and if that gap
Speaker:between where you are now, where you want to be, if that can actually just
Speaker:feel like it's even bigger during these moments. And so I
Speaker:think it's actually kind of hard to focus on health as the first thing.
Speaker:So instead, for me, at least in my experience, is the first thing I'm going
Speaker:to work on is perspective. And I do this in
Speaker:two different ways. And the first perspective shift is all about
Speaker:addressing that, that gap, that perceived gap of where I am now
Speaker:and where I want to be. Because it is about
Speaker:perception, it's not necessarily based in reality. And when
Speaker:I feel like there's a really big gap and I feel like I don't have
Speaker:control and I'm overwhelmed, I try to close that.
Speaker:Asking questions like, okay, what is realistic for me
Speaker:right now in this moment? Right. Sizing
Speaker:expectations, letting go of things that are just unrealistic at this
Speaker:point in time, and just focusing on the small actions that
Speaker:I can take. So what would help me right now? What are the small
Speaker:things? What can I say no to? And what boundaries
Speaker:can I protect? When I answer those questions and I do it
Speaker:honestly, and that might mean making a difficult decision, the
Speaker:gap starts to shrink and it feels more manageable. I feel like, okay,
Speaker:I can cross this. I can get to where I need to be right now.
Speaker:And these small shifts, they help me to handle those
Speaker:interruptions a little bit better. But there is one
Speaker:other perspective shift that I've really started to lean into this year,
Speaker:since I learned it earlier in the year. And this second
Speaker:perspective shift is all about how we define
Speaker:interruptions as a whole. And I've learned that from the
Speaker:author, Oliver Berkman. So he wrote the book 4000 Weeks and
Speaker:Meditations for Mortals. I'm a really big fan of his work because
Speaker:it is all about shifting your perspective about productivity and time
Speaker:management. And in Meditations for Mortals, he
Speaker:suggests that we start to think about interruptions not as something that
Speaker:we need to resist, but as life happening.
Speaker:Life is made up of unexpected moments and interruptions.
Speaker:And if you have bought into this ideal of productivity
Speaker:that you need to avoid all interruptions at all costs.
Speaker:This will change how you define an interruption. What
Speaker:is an interruption? More things in your life will be seen as an
Speaker:interruption, but this will also change how you react to them.
Speaker:You'll see every interruption as a negative thing, and
Speaker:this can lead to resentment. At least I know that's my experience.
Speaker:If it's negative, I resent that I'm being interrupted at all.
Speaker:So instead, Berkman invites us to embrace these
Speaker:moments, to be present while they're happening and
Speaker:just notice that this is part of life. To be clear,
Speaker:this does not mean you shouldn't have boundaries and that you shouldn't
Speaker:take any steps to support your attention. You know, taking small
Speaker:steps like going into do not disturb mode or letting
Speaker:the people around you know that you are doing focused work right now. These
Speaker:are things that will help you and you can absolutely still do them.
Speaker:But if we start to shift how we think about interruptions
Speaker:and the fact that they are a part of life, it can help
Speaker:to sort of loosen our grip a little bit and to be
Speaker:more open to these moments and situations as they happen.
Speaker:I also like to think of the a metaphor that's used in
Speaker:Buddhist teaching about being mad at the rain because
Speaker:you cannot control the weather. But you could put on a
Speaker:raincoat, you could bring an umbrella. In other words, you get to choose how you
Speaker:react, but you're wasting your energy being mad at the rain. In
Speaker:the same way, we cannot control every kind of
Speaker:interruption that will come up, but we can control how we respond.
Speaker:And I know I respond better when I shift that
Speaker:perspective, When I adjust my expectations and
Speaker:remind myself that interruptions are not getting in
Speaker:the way of living life. They are part of living life.
Speaker:Which brings me to my current momentum experiment,
Speaker:which is all about building a consistent strength routine.
Speaker:Friends, it's not going well. Since sharing about
Speaker:this a few weeks ago, I have had two different injuries, and
Speaker:my plans for workouts while traveling just did not happen.
Speaker:I am actually returning to my physical therapist tomorrow to
Speaker:address the current injury because this is not something I think is going to go
Speaker:away on its own. Um, but it. It is a work in progress. I
Speaker:am really actively trying to embrace the concept of
Speaker:act. Observe what happens, reflect on what
Speaker:happens, and then act differently. Try something new. And this
Speaker:is all about paying attention when I do try something
Speaker:and then adjust and try again. And the
Speaker:observation that I am making lately is that I really
Speaker:don't have a contingency plan for injuries.
Speaker:But given That I know I am hypermobile and I'm prone to
Speaker:injury, I should have backup plans. For example,
Speaker:if I have a lower body injury, can I safely do an upper body
Speaker:workout instead? And also what does that look like? Because then of course I don't
Speaker:wanna make anything worse. So when it's time to work out and I'm not
Speaker:clear what I should do or what I can do, and I'm already
Speaker:frustrated because I'm injured, I. I tend to just shut down and I just
Speaker:kind of skip it altogether. So when it comes to this current
Speaker:experiment, my next step is to work with my physical therapist, but
Speaker:also come up with backup plans and maybe work with her on those.
Speaker:The other way to think of these are what people call if then plans.
Speaker:So if I've got this injury, I'm going to do this instead.
Speaker:So that when it's time, when I look at my schedule and I have planned
Speaker:to work out, if something has sort of derailed me a little bit,
Speaker:I know what I can actually do. I have clarity on
Speaker:my options so that I'm more likely to do it. That's at
Speaker:least what I'm going to try. So that is sort of the next thing that
Speaker:I am working on. But I also know, and this, I'll talk about
Speaker:this in a different episode, is that I know
Speaker:my history of injuries and the start stop has
Speaker:really affected my mindset and it has
Speaker:kind of created some fear in working out and getting
Speaker:injured. And so that's another thing I'm working on. And I'll share about that separately
Speaker:in a different one because it's. It's whole own topic,
Speaker:but it's a real thing that I don't want to ignore. So as I'm trying
Speaker:these things, I'm also paying attention not just to practical issues
Speaker:like not knowing what to do when I'm injured, but also
Speaker:paying attention to what I'm saying to myself. What are some
Speaker:of these discomforts and hesitations that are arising? What? Because they seem
Speaker:to be arising. And when it comes to
Speaker:interruptions, having those backup plans is also a really good
Speaker:option of if I am not at home or if I'm in another situation,
Speaker:what are my possibilities? All of that can
Speaker:definitely help with handling when you have to maneuver, when you have to
Speaker:detour and all of that. So hopefully these perspective
Speaker:shifts that I've shared today about interruptions could
Speaker:potentially help you. If you're having negative reactions or
Speaker:you're finding interruptions difficult, obviously keep your
Speaker:boundaries. But is there maybe a different perspective you can take
Speaker:when both small and big interruptions come into play,
Speaker:because they do happen. This is life, and it
Speaker:may impact your momentum. But when we have those
Speaker:good perspectives, it allows us to kind of get back on track or pick a
Speaker:new track so that we can keep moving forward.
