Many of us have busy schedules and very little time to fit something else in. If we are not careful, it is so very easy to get distracted… Getting distracted happens everywhere, and all the time. What is it? It’s simply allowing our attention to shift. Where? To something that is perhaps of lesser importance or does not meet the requirements of the moment.
Wishful thinking, a daydream that hangs around too long, a call from an old acquaintance. Even that book with an exciting conclusion just begging you to pick up and read. For me? Simply see beautiful scenery on the web…and imagine you living in that snow-covered log cabin on the edge of a lake with no one else around… Whoa… Hold on! Distractions!
Distractions exist around every corner!
Equally, if you are waiting on an anticipated phone call or potentially good news. You are like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! You have a hard time thinking about the “right here and right now.”
Distractions Everywhere
Vacation starting dates create huge distractions. Watching others enjoy their downtime makes one wish your start date would arrive quicker. Waiting for that work clock tick down to the closing hour. Huge distractions! Often your customer or your job suffers.
Sometimes distraction leads down paths you would just as soon not take. Losing focus on something important and focusing on something that can be taken care of at some other time. Maybe it’s like not seeing the trees because all you see is the forest.
Distracted driving is a huge problem in our automobiles. Complicated consoles, computers, Bluetooth connectors, and even talking or texting on the phone. I watched someone holding a cup of hot coffee… Putting on makeup while looking in the mirror on the visor – driving over 60 mph! Lives are changed in just seconds of distraction. Have you seen drivers distracted by their actions, swerving across lanes of traffic, putting everyone around them at risk?
Worse yet… Have you ever been one of them?
Here’s my thought today.
Somehow we must recognize Distractions for what they are. We must learn how to control them, else we live constantly in the world of Procrastination!
How do you control distraction?
Everyone has a technique, and perhaps you have one you could share with others. What works for someone else may, or may not, work for you. Unless you try something you will never know.
It’s easy to say, “Buckle down and work!” but the reality is you are not sure what it means to buckle down, nor do you want to work! “Whoa! Rein it in there little missy!” (in the voice of John Wayne from some movie line that just popped up in my mind!). The key is, you have to learn the techniques that force you to keep your feet to the fire! Really???!!!?? Do you want to burn your feet? Well, that might be better than your nose to the grindstone. Or getting your head out of the clouds or letting someone control you with blinders!
I’m curious. What techniques do you have to bring distractions under control so that you will not procrastinate?
When the Apostle Paul deals with Spiritual Warfare he tells the church to “…bring into captivity every thought…” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Jesus tells Martha, as she worries about by Mary is not helping her serve. She is anxious and troubled (Luke 10:41-42). If you pause for a moment you realize, distractions are huge when our mind is straining at the gnat, but willing to swallow the camel (Matthew 23:24)
The truth of the matter is … our thoughts are huge distractions. Worry about finances, family, career, along with the myriad of other undone tasks of life, then you become distracted.
Distraction creates a loss of focus!
An Alaskan boss said something interesting, “A clean desk is the sign that you’re not doing anything.”. I quipped, “A cluttered desk pulls attention from one task to another, and some tasks are more pleasurable than others…” I’m just saying! It’s easily about perspective, personality, and your personal space! Don’t come comparing my desk today to the one of yesterday! I’m just saying!
One thing that has worked for me, sometimes, is making a list of everything that needs to be done. Some call it a “To Do” list. If you can list tasks in order of category, or priority, then perhaps you can simply follow the list. Success is marking tasks completed! Accomplished, you are!
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Snow Ball system, this concept deals with the smallest balances first and works toward the bigger items.
Recently, I’ve become a proponent of Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner. It helps me put my goals, objectives, tasks, and plans into focus. Thusly, I’m ensuring I keep my distractions to a minimum.
Again. What works for your situation depends on what’s on your list today. Along with how you work, and what you do when distraction pops its nose into your business.
Procrastination
The main problem with Distraction is that it leads to Procrastination.
It’s a big word, and to me, it simply means my life is out of focus!! Distracted!
“Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the “last minute” before the deadline.” (Wikipedia)
Procrastination allows you to jump from one task to another without getting anything done! Or, at the very least, not getting things done in time to enjoy the next section of life. It’s almost like you are carrying a load of partially completed tasks.
This is a problem for me! Closing out a project, or completing a task, is often waylaid by the distraction of the next project or task. A simple daydream floats into my momentary distraction. If you only knew…
You may delay,
but time will not,
and lost time is never found again.
~Benjamin Franklin
Whoa. Time will not delay! And that lost time will never be found again. It will only require something else to be procrastinated against, so the snowball effect of distractions are easily felt. Day after day.
“My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.” ~Charles Dickens Click To TweetLet’s not let distractions create a constant pattern of procrastination. From my seat in the house, I see they are strongly related one to the other.
How do you control your distractions? Care to share? “I’m listening…”