Focus and Handling Distraction

[Christopher777]

We know all too well what happens when we get distracted :

We don't get things done.

Aside from losing our focus towards the goal, we tend to get sidetracked and pulled into another direction.

The point of this post is that distraction is a global issue.

Everybody struggles with it.

Even if I have trained myself to focus and be disciplined, distraction has a way of entering through the backdoor even if you are ever so vigilant.

Here's the thing. As humans and entrepreneurs, we do A LOT of things.

We eat, we drive, we walk, we listen, we talk, we type, we read, we browse, we login to our accounts, we shop etc.

And every single activity requires focused attention especially if it's something important.

Many of the things we do are automatic. But if we want something important to get really done, we have to concentrate our attention, time and energy.

Time, attention and energy are all finite resources.

Here's what I mean. I love to play chess. As much as I love it and want to get much better at it, it is a resource heavy activity. Time, energy and attention is consumed on overdrive.

We love things that make us feel good. We love to do things that help us focus. Focus allows us to slide into the flow state and it feels really great.

Focus is addictive. I love playing, and when I do, I know i'm being productive in terms of training my mind, my focus (hey), my attention, and my skill. But I am also dead set on achieving other goals, so doing this activity (chess) takes away the resources of time, energy and attention from them.

We all know how to focus. Video game players know how to focus.

The problem is really not distraction and how to focus.

The problem is in choosing what to focus on.

We have Facebook. We have the internet. We have TheFastlaneForum.com and it's alerts and reps and replies and awesome posts. We have our kids vying for our attention. We have our phones ringing, twitter humming and radios banging.

And every single time we focus on something, our attention, time and energy tends to flow in that direction. Where it gains momentum.

If I play chess, there's a tendency to continue doing it.

If I post in the forum, there's a tendency to continue posting.

If I cold call, talk to clients, customers, there's a tendency to continue this pattern of activity.

If I go to facebook, same thing.

If I read books, same thing.

Time, energy, attention, flows like water towards what you currently focus on.

UNTIL, something distracts you away from it and then you have to choose what to focus on again.

It's actually easy to focus. In order to read this post you had to focus.

What's hard is taking control of the process of choosing what to focus on.

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This reminds me of the scene in The Man of Steel where the villain dude smashed his helmet and since Kryptonians could see and hear everything, it disoriented him. Superman on the other hand learned to control his attention as he grew up on Earth.
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(This pic is just for aesthetic purposes. And also something to focus on

If you can decide to focus on one thing for a whole year, I can guarantee that you will be bored like hell. I can also guarantee that you will achieve that goal of one thing soon enough, faster than anyone working on the same thing.

See? You just focused on this post. You feel this tendency to read more stuff like it.

What are you gonna focus on next?

Would it be your first priority? Your jam session? Your relaxation and recovery?

What's next? Are you in control or are you like a leaf in the wind, focused and distracted at the same time?

What are you focusing on?

I just had to write to this. As a reminder to myself, as well as share to the forum.

Thanks for focusing.

 

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