- Handle Your Distractions to Keep Focused
- By Wendy Hearn, Coach
You've chosen to be more focused,
you've discovered what you want to focus on, and you know what
you need to do to maintain that focus.* So that's it, job done;
you're totally focused. Well that may be true for the moment,
but there are still distractions which may get in the way. Although
you've taken all the critical steps, there are still many things
that can stop you being focused. Why not approach it like a game
you're playing? This enables you to keep experimenting, evaluating
and improving parts of it.
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It's an ongoing process. Part
of this process is to become aware of any distractions that are
either there now or may come up in time. When you're aware of
these, you're more likely to notice them for yourself and find
a way to handle them.
So, what sort of distractions
could get in your way? There may be external factors such as
interruptions, your environment, conflicting directions from
different people or other people's expectations.
There may be distractions in
your mind, such as the voice that's reminding you what else you
need to do. Your mind may also justify to you that there's something
else necessary for you to focus on. Being more focused takes
you outside your comfort zone and your ego will object. Your
ego will do anything to prevent this and will create numerous
distractions. It will try all sorts of things to unfocus you
and sabotage your success. As you become more focused, you may
find that initially your ego objects even more and you may notice
more distractions than before. Life is full of distractions.
However, what if your ego isn't to blame? Maybe your intuition
brings to your attention some other things you need to take care
of. |
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What is often needed is enough space
to see and acknowledge all this, and to understand whether it's
a distraction or something you need to pay attention to. Being
focused doesn't mean working hard all the time; it's also about
having the space and time to be with everything and see it for
what it is. Distractions won't just go away; they need identifying
and they need solutions.
I've always been pretty good
at jumping from one thing to another! Since paying more attention
to what's been happening these past few weeks, I've realised
that I often justify what I need to focus on, even when it's
really a distraction. Because the things I focus on at these
times fit into the bigger picture somewhere, I justify to myself
that they're still worth doing and I'm not that far off track.
However, they aren't where my focus needs to be if I'm taking
the most effective action.
In order to have the space, I've
decided to challenge myself to do nothing when my focus is slipping.
I choose to sit quietly, do nothing and be with whatever is going
on in my mind or notice whether it's my intuition. This prevents
me from jumping from whatever I was focusing on to something
that may only be a distraction anyway. Or there may be a really
important message that I'm missing. It's about being in the moment,
trusting myself and seeing what's needed.
Being focused takes practice.
Keep identifying what stops your focus and experiment with ways
of overcoming this. Only you can discover what you need to do
through experimenting and evaluating. No one else can tell you
what you need to do. What works for one individual, doesn't work
for another. What are you willing to experiment with when your
focus is slipping?
What I want for you is to handle
the distractions that keep you from accomplishing what you want
to achieve.
* see previous articles
The
Power Of Focus
Have
A Focused, Effective and Productive Day |
