How to stop being distracted

Distractions prevent us from focussing on the important things.  They come in all shapes and sizes, pulling us away and causing us to feel as though we are losing control.  They may be trivial items such as internet browsing, or more ‘serious’ items such as emails and other work, but not the work that we really need to get to.  We beat ourselves up and blame ourselves for lacking self-discipline and organisational skills, but we can’t seem to break the cycle, why is this?

Let us examine what a distraction really is. The clue is contained in the very definition of the word.  A distraction is “an interruption; an obstacle to concentration”, in other words an obstacle that is blocking you or preventing you from ‘seeing’ the item upon which you should be focussing.

Now distractions are not sent our way by a host of mischievous elves with nothing better to do than create turmoil in our work or personal lives.  The truth of the matter is that distractions are mechanisms that we are guilty of putting in place in order to avoid that which we should be targeting.  And the avoidance has become so habitual that we don’t even notice we are doing it anymore.

The hard truth is this: the important thing you really should be doing, you are actually avoiding by allowing your brain to be entertained with other things.  The reasons for task avoidance vary depending on the situation, but they all boil down to the feelings you have attached to the task that you are avoiding. And it is these feelings that you are really avoiding, not the task itself.

Being honest with yourself and identifying the emotions that you have surrounding the task you are avoiding will enable you to rationally approach the task with a clearer perspective. 

But how do you prevent yourself being distracted?

Learn to categorise the sources of your distractions.  Some may be purely pleasurable and you may be craving some ‘me-time’. You should allow yourself this, but only once you have made a dent in the work that you need to accomplish.  Some may be other work-related items which you can better prioritise for another time of your day.  And then there are trivial distractions which do not offer any benefit; these should simply be eliminated.

Awareness of the real cause of distraction is the secret to regaining control.

For more information on overcoming distractions and procrastination, contact us at The Time Clinic on www.timeclinic.co.za

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The power of the onion – in business and personal life!

Being successful in both our work and personal lives can be immensely challenging.  And when faced with these challenges alone, it is human to feel overwhelmed and alone at times.  Yet there is so much we can learn from one another, so much we can benefit from personal influences, and so much we can benefit from the support of the right networks.

The creation of the onion is a technique that was taught to me many years ago by an amazing counsellor, and is receiving more media attention these days in popular psychology.  An onion is an analogy to describe how one should view the relationships we form.  As an onion has many layers, so our relationships can be placed within the perspective of ‘layers’.  Your inner layer is your closest and most trusted relationships, whilst the further layers from your core tend to be the more superficial relationships that you may still value, but will spend less time on and which offer you less intrinsic value.  

The truth is we all use the onion model intuitively to some extent or another. However, it is possible that your onion at certain times of your life can quite literally stink!  The quality of your innermost layers are paramount to your health and wellbeing.  Sometimes our inner layers contain people who really belong in the external layers and are demanding too much of our time.  Who have you chosen to keep closest to you?  We need to assess if we are getting support from these people we hold closest.  We need to evaluate if these relationships are offering us opportunities for personal growth.  And we must not neglect our role in maintaining and nurturing these relationships to ensure our inner core remains healthy.

The onion is first and foremost a useful way to effectively time manage your relationships– by evaluating the relationships that are most important to you, you are better able to prioritise those relationships that you should be spending more time on. 

We should also be creating separate onions for both our business and personal lives. 

Yet very few people consider this model when viewing their business relationships, and constructing an onion for your work life is important and advantageous to your personal development.  Your business network should include relationships that inspire and challenge you.  There is a lot to be said for the company we keep!  Find opportunities to surround yourself with people that are successful, inspirational and role models or mentors.  Place these people in your onion! 

Also include people that you would select if you had to employ your own personal ‘board of directors’.  Keep these people around you, try to lean on them, but always make sure the relationships are reciprocal, to the extent that the layer of your onion warrants! 

And finally include people in your ‘business onion’ that are influential, contacts who have great networks that you can leverage off.  These networks will soon feed into one another and soon you will become an influential networker yourself!

Robert Kiyosaki has to say, “The richest people look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.”   Relationships are truly key to your effectiveness, therefore consider prioritising your relationships using the onion for dramatic effect in both your personal and business life.

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