Kill Your Distractions

Oct 14, 2012, Written by Sue Miley

It’s time.  It is time to stop complaining about all of the interruptions.  We need to move past the ever enticing email, Facebook, Scramble with Friends notifications.

It’s time.

It is time to once and for all kill your distractions!

Distractions shouldn’t win.  I don’t want to look back on any given month or year and say “I could have accomplished my 3 major goals this year if only…..”

…. if only I hadn’t procrastinated away my productive time.

…. if only my ego didn’t keep allowing me to stop what I was doing to give some particular wise advice to every human being in a 5 mile radius who stopped me in the hall, or walked into my office unplanned, to ask me something.

…. if only I had prioritized and listened to Stephen Covey after 20 years and really put first things first.

If only I hadn’t let the distractions win.

We all have excuses.  What’s yours?

Identifying Your Distractions

In order to kill your distractions you must understand them first.

Satan does.  He finds our weakness and feeds it.

To kill it, we need to know what it is.

What is yours?  Busyness, interruptions, fires, procrastination, addiction, ego, co-dependency……

or a little of all of them?

Once you have identified the underlying problem that keeps you in an endless loop of not accomplishing your greatest goals….

kill it!

How To Kill Your Distractions

  1. Go cold turkey.  For some of us, if we recognize the distraction dragon we can slay it with one slice of the sword.
  2. Take steps.  For others, we need a plan.  We need to turn-off all of our notifications.  Take a day out of the office to get stuff done.  Establish office hours for the interruptions.
  3. Get help.  It’s okay to get help.  If you have stayed in this cycle of distraction keeping you from achieving, you may need a little outside objective help.  We may need a coach to keep us on track and get us out of the fire fighting business.  Truly if you are co-dependent (aka always rescuing everyone else) you could learn to detach from a book or a codependency group.  And if you truly have an addiction, you know you will need outside help to change course.

I am in the take steps camp.  I have started by dusting off my Stephen Covey “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and started planning my most important activities.  They go in the calendar first.  I also spent some time this past week unsubscribing to junk emails and retailer ads (I know right before the holiday shopping season) and turning off notifications in all of my Apple gear.

What about you?  What is the underlying source of your distractions?  Which method will help you most; cold turkey, taking steps, or getting help?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dena Dyer says

    Excellent tips, Sue! Thanks for sharing. I stubbed it today on The High Calling as a “featured” member post. I hope that will get you some more readers on this practical, helpful topic.

  2. Terry Gassett says

    Great post Sue. I too am in the taking steps camp – especially as the new year fast approaches. Being a spontaneous creative type, I often find myself flitting around like a butterfly from project to project. So, I am taking steps to be more intentional about saying yes to those projects that are really important for me to get done, which means saying no to the other interesting ones which pop up. Looking forward to more productivity.

    • S_Miley says

      Terry, I know it is hard to stay focused, but it is a also a blessing to be interested in so much! I know many people who struggle to find interesting projects. I think our problem is a better one! Thanks for sharing!

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Sue Miley

Sue Miley MBA, MA, LPC helps small business owners build successful businesses on a foundation of Christian values. After 20 years in business, and 10 years as a Christian counselor, Sue uses a combination of faith, business and psychology to help clients in business and in life.

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