I’ve been thinking lately about all the time I give to distractions in my daily life. Even while writing this post, I opened my email, though I quickly realized what I was doing, so I shut it down. The distraction didn’t take hold of my writing time.
Since time is my greatest asset, are my distractions supporting my well-being or robbing me of my time?
Time to take inventory of how you spend your time.
Time is our greatest asset.
You can replace money, but never time.
What is a distraction?
It takes you away from what you want or are supposed to be doing.
Distractions do not support your well-being.
Instead, they are ways to zone out in your life.
What are potential distractions?
- When you are focusing on a project, task, or exercise, someone calls you, and you immediately change your focus.
- Maybe you hear the ring of a message on your phone and reach out to view it.
- You are overwhelmed with too much to do, and it’s easier to go to your phone and read the news, check out Facebook, or any other distractions your phone can provide.
- You are bored, so reach out to a friend to call them instead of doing the work you need to complete.
- There is background noise that is taking away your ability to focus.
- How about mind wandering, fantasies that are better to live with than the reality of your actions?
- You spend hours watching TV to pass the time.
Distractions don’t give us rest time; they waste valuable time in our lives.
Distractions vs. Time to Relax
How do you know you are indulging in a distraction or what you are doing is providing needed rest?
We all need time to relax and rest.
- Stepping away from a stressful situation and walking helps you relax and refresh your mind and body. Then you return to what you need to focus on.
- Small mini deep breathing minutes provide a mini rest time and are no distractions.
- Scheduling breaks in your focus time gives you a chance to relax. The critical word — schedule. When you schedule rest times, you are supporting your well-being. When you get distracted, you are not owning your time.
- Deciding to watch a movie you are interested in can provide enjoyment and rest.
What is your intention when you use your valuable time?
Building Your Focus Muscles
We live in an instant society; we want life in small bites, easy to digest, quick to read, and then let it go.
Though building one’s focus to use our time to our best advantage, it does take practice and awareness on how we use our time. Again that is where our time inventory comes in handy. It helps us recognize our most robust times and when we are vulnerable to distractions.
Distractions — University of California Irvine study: “It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.”
Building one’s focus muscle takes practice, concentration, and effort.
It’s so much easier to be distracted, be entertained than to buckle down and be motivated to use our life’s most valuable asset – TIME – to support our well-being.
- Take inventory by tracking your time for about two weeks.
- Capture times that you give to distractions
- Stop multi-tasking, as this leads to distractions.
- Start meditating – deep breathing as it slows down your thoughts and body and releases tension that accumulates without you being aware.
- Decide what are your three most important focus areas in your life now.
- Break down the daily tasks to support the focus areas that are important to you.
- Schedule and do them each day – no matter what.
- Set a timer for 50 minutes to concentrate on what you need to do, then take a 10-minute break. Do this several times a day to build your focus muscles. I do this when I get caught in distraction land. You set your time up the way that works for you.
Your Thoughts
How would you evaluate how you use your time daily? Do you indulge in distractions that you don’t even remember doing? Or do you protect your greatest asset – TIME – to create the life you want?
Women’s Group Topics
I’ve been in enough meetings to see how easy it is to get distracted in our thoughts and don’t necessarily stay on topic. We drift from one topic to the next, and at the end, we don’t remember what we discussed. Discuss how you get distracted in your life daily. What distractions do you use the most?
Be well,
Pat
“To fully enjoy the ‘richness’ of our lives, we need to stop long enough to visit with ourselves.”
(Pat Brill)
Other Topics You May Be Interested In
Our Power in Life is Choice
How to Be More Accountable to Yourself
Do You Sabotage Yourself?
Do you want to download a PDF copy of both of these books, then go to:
