Constantly Distracted? Here’s Why Focus Feels So Hard Right Now

You start your day with a to-do list—and end it wondering what actually got done. Between pings, posts, and messages, your brain is managing 10,000 micro-decisions a day. No wonder focus feels impossible.

In this episode of Ditch the Chaos, we’re breaking down why focus feels impossible lately—and what mental clutter and digital burnout are actually doing to your brain. This isn’t about motivation or morning routines. This is your nervous system on overload.

You’ll learn:

• What content fatigue and digital burnout really look like
• How mental clutter steals your focus before you even start your day
• Why tech breaks aren’t enough (and what to do instead)
• What recovery-first scheduling looks like in real life
• The three simple inputs to reclaim focus without deleting every app

These lessons come straight from what I teach in Chaos Detox—because productivity doesn’t start with planners. It starts with protecting your mind.

👉 Start Chaos Detox and learn how to reset your systems—before burnout becomes your baseline.

Want the original blog version of this episode?

CLICK HERE → How Digital Overload Is Wrecking Your Focus—And What to Do About It

Transcript

# (019) Constantly Distracted? Here’s Why Focus Feels So Hard Right Now

[00:00:00] You've opened the same three apps five times in the last 20 minutes and still haven't done the thing you meant to do. Your attention shot. Your brain is buzzing and somehow just existing online feels exhausting. It's not a motivation issue. This is system overload. Welcome to Ditch the Chaos, A snackable podcast for busy women who are done with burnout, rigid routines and productivity guilt.

[00:00:29] You'll get clear, actionable strategies to reclaim your time and energy without planners pressure or one size fits all systems. I'm Cara Chace, entrepreneur since 2015. Mom of two wife to one, and I am unapologetically caffeinated. Let's dive in.

[00:00:46] Let's start with this. Focus. Problems are not a personality flaw. They're a system failure. We're living in a digital landscape that was not built to protect your attention, your brain, [00:01:00] smart, capable, and amazing is trying to process 10,000 inputs a day, notifications, dms, slack, pings, popups, emails, feeds.

[00:01:12] It all adds up. Yeah, every single one of those is a micro decision your brain has to make. Do I open this or not? Do I respond or ignore? Do I save it for later or click? Now, even if you don't act on them, they take up bandwidth as thousands of micro decisions you make every day. And when that happens every minute, of course, you're mentally fried by 2:00 PM It's not about motivation.

[00:01:41] This is about your nervous system waving the white flag. I do want a side note here that diagnosing or speaking about a DD or A DHD is beyond the scope of this podcast. Focus issues can be medical as well, and there are so many layers to our lived experience and I [00:02:00] can't cover them all.

[00:02:01] Today we're talking about the lack of focus that comes specifically from content fatigue and always being on. So let's talk about what content fatigue actually looks like. This isn't just about scrolling too much, it's chronic cognitive overload. It's when you stare at your screen, but you can't absorb a single word, or you open your go-to apps on autopilot and.

[00:02:26] Put your phone down more drained than when you started. You're posting, responding, and quote unquote doing the work, but there's zero creative spark left. You might feel emotionally flat, irritated, or like nothing matters that much anymore. This is real. You're not making this up, and if you're running a business, managing a household, or juggling multiple roles in your life, it's even harder because you're not just scrolling.

[00:02:54] You're strategizing what to do with all that information, even if you don't [00:03:00] realize you're doing it, so you're not just tired, you're mentally thread bare like the knees of your toddler's favorite pants. And here's the part that no one talks about. Most people try to solve this with another app or a digital detox or deleting Instagram for the weekend.

[00:03:18] Ensure that could bring you some relief, but it doesn't actually solve anything. Because the minute you step back into your work email, slack marketing content group texts, it all comes flooding back in. Digital fatigue doesn't fix itself during a weekend cleanse.

[00:03:36] So what actually works then? A system, a mental filter boundaries, a structure that helps you eliminate. And process digital inputs before they wreck your focus. And what does this structure actually look like? I'm gonna walk you through the three steps I teach in my chaos detox course.

[00:03:57] Step number one is to track your attention [00:04:00] leaks. Where is your focus going without your permission? What are those apps that you open on autopilot and you don't even realize you're doing it? So a lot of those things are social media apps, texts, and emails. What's draining your energy that you're not actively choosing?

[00:04:19] And those can be notifications that should be on silent or even following social media accounts that don't make you feel good. You can't reclaim your time and energy from the things that you don't even notice. So take notice.

[00:04:34] Step number two is to design a recovery first. week.

[00:04:39] That white space that I've been talking about, it means having buffer in your days as much as possible, stop scheduling yourself like a machine. Recovery isn't a reward for getting things done. It's required before you can focus again. I've said this before, I'll say it again. White space is a [00:05:00] strategy when I sit down to plan my week, the first thing that I put in my weekly calendar.

[00:05:06] Is my sleep time and my break time for lunch and getting outside. Everything else fits around those times.

[00:05:14] Step number three is to create those input rules for what's allowed to get your attention.

[00:05:20] What are your boundaries around content, meaning social media or even your email inbox. Do you have a no scroll zone in the morning? Do you use theme days so you're not jumping between writing, responding, and reacting all day long? These rules aren't about restriction. They're about rebuilding a structure.

[00:05:43] So you can have more capacity to focus, and I promise once you put even one or two of these into place, the fog is going to lift. Let me give you an example of what it looks like in my actual life. So every morning for at least the first hour, I don't touch my [00:06:00] phone, no email, no social, no notifications.

[00:06:04] It stays face down while I drink coffee and read. If the weather is nice, I go sit outside with my coffee in the book. In winter, I cozy up by the fireplace. If I have a little extra time, I'll stretch. I'll write down what's on my brain or just move slowly through the morning routine with my kids. That could mean making pancakes instead of toast.

[00:06:26] Whatever feels good in the moment, and I can feel the difference when I don't do this. If I pick up my phone right away, my focus is gone and I'm in reactive mode immediately my brain is hijacked before I even brush my teeth. But when I protect that first hour, it's like my mind gets a chance to fully boot up, and by the time I start work, I'm calmer, more grounded, and way more focused.

[00:06:52] It's not fancy, it's not big and complicated, it's just intentional and it works. [00:07:00] Here's your reset and reclaim action step for the week. Choose one scroll spiral that you tend to fall into at a time of day. And create a block around. It might be mid-morning, mid-afternoon, late night. You know what you tend to do?

[00:07:16] No apps, no notifications, no mindless input. Replace it with something that calms your brain. Music, journaling, even just sitting in silence and staring out the window while you stretch or have something to drink. It could be actually watching the Netflix show you've been binging instead of having one eye on your phone at the same time.

[00:07:38] Give your nervous system a break and see what happens. Alright? Here's what I want you to remember. You're not broken. Your nervous system is overloaded, and focus isn't about more discipline. It's about fewer unfiltered inputs that cognitive overload. What feels like laziness or burnout, is usually just your brain trying to [00:08:00] protect itself from nonstop micro decisions and context switching.

[00:08:05] Start small track where your attention leaks, build white space into your week and add a couple of boundaries around how and when you let content in. You don't need to disappear from the internet. You just need a system that protects your time, attention, and energy. And this is exactly what we walk through step by step.

[00:08:24] In Chaos Detox, you can build it and you don't have to do it perfectly to feel the difference. Thanks for tuning in. Do you want me to answer one of your real life productivity questions on the show? Something like, what is the best way to plan my week when every week looks different? Sign up at Care Chace.com/insider or use the link in the show notes, sign up for free and email me your question.

[00:08:50] Until next time, I'm Cara Chace reminding you to keep questioning the rules and making your own.