Things To Consider Today    By Leland Pulley

Eliminating Distractions To Get More Done

Distractions are merely things that take our attention away from one thing so we focus on another thing. Usually distractions take us from more important things to less important things. They take us from bigger to smaller things, from higher to lower priority things, and from long-term to short-term things. In general most distractions serve no real purpose other than waste our time, energy, and resources.

Where do distractions come from?     Many begin with ourselves. One distraction is an idle mind. Our thoughts wander from one thing to another in a random way. Too much of this is an indication that we have too little to do and lack purpose in our lives. We also daydream. A certain amount of this is normal, but a lot usually means we’re bored, disorganized, frustrated or simply lazy relative to the tasks at hand. Another common distraction is all the sights and sounds around us. We have not learned to tune them out. Some people turn on the radio or television and have it going in the background while they’re doing something else. This can interfere with their ability to concentrate or focus on certain tasks. Simple distractions like these are common. Just strive to keep them under control or limit how much time and energy they use up in your life.

Many potential distractions are found in our environment. We live in a fast paced, ever changing world, with few absolute values, standards, and guidelines for living. It is a world of diversity that offers us many options in almost every facet of our lives. With lots of choices come lots of things to see, do, buy, experience, and enjoy. So we seek to take advantage of all these things as much as possible while we can. This “here and now” mentality governs in our lives. No one is monitoring us or our life style, so right and wrong can easily be blurred in our minds. There is little support to help us stay on track and achieve our goals, nor stay within the limits of good behavior. We are free to wander down the road of life and accomplish a great deal or very little. All of these conditions contribute to the number and variety of distractions we let into our lives, as well as influence how well we deal with them.

 As individuals, we choose to let distractions come into our lives and control how much impact they have on us. Unfortunately, we can allow our lives to be filled with a lot of miscellaneous, disorganized, and unimportant things. These things steal time and energy away from what we should be doing. They’re like weeds in a garden choking out the vegetables that should be growing there uninhibited. The weeds need to be uprooted and thrown away. This is necessary in a garden and in our lives too. It is hard to do this without self-discipline, vision, a plan, determination, and then real efforts sustained until our life is free of weeds.

If we aren’t careful , distractions can lead us to indecision. They fill our lives with too many variables and unclear priorities. Things become more complex. We are less sure of what we should do, when and where to do it, and with whom. In this sense, distractions hinder us from acting in a decisive manner. A good illustration of this is having too many activities. It’s hard to keep up with them all. Some are more important, but which ones is not always clear. So we feel driven by all the activity, rather than controlling it.

Distractions work against our priorities. They divert us from higher to lower priorities. If this happens too much of the time, they are interfering with our own game plan. They are hindering our progress. They become a negative influence in our lives. This is true even though what we’re distracted to can be a good thing. For example, if you need to study for an exam, but take study time to read the newspaper, then the newspaper is a distraction. Under other circumstances the newspaper reading would be fine, but in this case it pulled you away from something more important. It is now a negative thing. Likewise, having a hobby or personal pursuit is fine, but it should not take resources away from your job or family responsibilities. If it does, then it becomes a distraction until it’s impact on these more important priorities is diminished and it is more under control.

 Distractions interfere with reaching our goals. It’s important to stay focused on specific goals and have clear priorities for them. Distractions cause us to be less focused than we need to be. They weaken our resolve and discipline to do what we really want and need to do. They steal our time and energy so we have less resources to actually reach our goals. The net result is we’re less efficient and effective in our efforts.

Another negative effect of distractions is we don’t see opportunities as clearly. We’re looking at a lot of miscellaneous stuff mixed in with worthwhile stuff. It’s harder to see everything as clearly this way, and distinguish between what is important and what is not. We may even be looking at the wrong things at the wrong time. Under such conditions it’s easier to not take advantage of opportunities. This leads to less accomplishments in life.

If we aren’t cautious with distractions, certain things will have some appeal to us. We are tempted us to sample things we shouldn’t or get involved in relationships and activities we shouldn’t. Examples of these are immoral sexual activity, habitual gambling, drinking in excess, using illegal drugs, stealing, and abuse in the home. With more temptations in our lives, we fall prey to more of them unless we have established good standards for ourselves. Even then, with more temptations, we are more prone to have moments of weakness. Under these conditions it’s easier to make poor choices for ourselves and others. Once these choices are made, they cause problems. They become serious distractions and actual obstacles to doing what we should be doing.

What can we do about distractions? It’s important to understand how they work. Their secret is they work on us a little at a time. They depend on our lack of clear standards to live by, a lack of goals with priorities, our lack of self-discipline, our continual excuse making, and procrastination. We keep telling ourselves tomorrow I’ll do better or improve or repent, but tomorrow never comes. We tell ourselves that this one time I can do it, and one time won’t matter. But this one time becomes many times, and soon bad habits and patterns of living have been formed. We think we can go into negative environments and suffer no harm, but we are not strengthened either. Thus, in the long run we do not grow in a positive manner as much as we would have if we had stayed in positive environments only. All these little deviations or digressions away from what we should be doing, add up over time. Ten minutes here and thirty minutes there eventually become weeks and months of accumulative time that is eventually thrown away. Twenty dollars here and a hundred dollars there eventually lead to a lot of wasted money. In a similar fashion, negative thought patterns and habits and attitudes eventually form and become part of our lives. Negative accumulation like this works against positive accumulation or the real progress we supposedly want in our lives.

Once you allow distractions to get a foothold in your life, they are hard to eliminate. One type of distraction often supports another or feeds off of the same weakness you have. One excuse you give yourself for distractions will usually support or lead to other excuses. Too many excuses accepted by you, support or lead to more distractions. Then it’s harder to keep your focus on the objectives at hand.

Listed below are some solutions for distractions. Use them to minimize your distractions. You’ll lead a happier and more productive life.

   • Establish personal standards of thought and action to live by on a daily basis. Without such standards, there is too much situation ethics. It is harder to know where to draw the line of what you will or will not do in various situations and under various circumstances.
• Be clear in your own mind what you want and why. Be sincere and honest with yourself in determining this. Have definite reasons for what you want. This will help you be realistic.
• Establish clear goals that are feasible. Set some priorities and maintain them so lower priority items do not use resources allocated to higher priority goals. For example, if you want a college degree, figure out what classes you need and take them. Don’t waste time merely taking courses that will not count as credits toward your degree.
• Stay focused and don’t let outside influences distract you from your objectives. These influences could be too much television time or Internet use. Even longer than necessary conversations can waste time. Don’t accumulate too many physical goods or you may waste some of them, not use them all up, or have to more spend time in storing and maintaining them.

To get the most out of this article, ask yourself some questions.

   • How much are you distracted by little things or unimportant things?
• Can you identify specific weaknesses or vulnerabilities that you have, which permit a lot of distractions to enter and remain in your life?
• Is it hard for you to study, focus, stay on course, or maintain standards for personal conduct?
• How often do you give up on goals? What is the most common reason for this?
• Do you let others pull you away from what you should be doing?

Try to identify the various types of distractions in your life at this time. Which ones are worse and need your attention to diminish their impact on you? Determine how many distractions or how much distraction you can have and still do what you want and need in order to meet your obligations, satisfy yourself, and be happy too. Then take appropriate action to keep distractions under control sufficiently to accomplish this.

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Copyright  2007     Leland Pulley