Focusing on any given task is not easy. Our culture doesn’t help us either. Distractions are everywhere, bombarding us from every direction.
An early morning status update, blog post, or thirty second video clip can send us spiraling into the world of what if or what should have been. Before we know it we spent our entire day wrapped up in someone else’s reality, but far from living out our own.
It’s not that we intend to neglect those around us.
It’s not that we give up on the dreams in our hearts.
It’s just there.
Distraction. Staring us in the face.
It feels like it found us rather than we went searching after it. After all we have a long list of tasks to get done. I mean, come on, it’s not like we having nothing else better to do with our time. The list is endless.
I’ve spent the last few months working on this because when I look at what I want to get done compared with what actually gets done, I see a huge gap. When I look at the time I squander doing things that give me no satisfaction, things that don’t bring me closer to my dreams and goals, I get frustrated and discouraged. Not because I have too much to do, but because I know I could do them if I would just stay focused. I can’t blame anyone but myself. I know deep down the problem is with me.
So what do we do? How do we focus? Is it even possible?
The first thing I started to do was notice what distracted me. Different things distract each of us differently, so I spent some time identifying what those were for me. For example, I turned twitter off on my phone. I only see twitter updates now when I go to my app or computer. While I may be an hour late to know something, I’m able to focus just a little bit more through out my day. It’s been incredibly helpful. Minimizing the things that distract me has helped me keep my focus where it should be.
I recently evaluated my goals for the year- four months have already gone by in 2012. I spent some time narrowing down the areas I want to focus on for the month of May. I have some big goals and I expect big results. I know that by remaining focused to do it will bring much more satisfaction than turning my attention to whatever comes in front of me.
It is possible, but I believe it takes increasing amounts of discipline and self-control.
It may not be easy, but it is possible.
What’s your biggest distraction?