Isn’t it interesting that there is very limited recognition of how good the vast majority of business owners are at being distracted? Well in fact not just business owners but everyone! It is quite impressive the commitment we have to being distracted and not just from time to time, in all likelihood for the duration of our waking day. From the moment we wake up.
Now don’t you think with this level of consistency shouldn’t we celebrate and recognise our resolve and drive to live distracted lives? As you read this you probably haven’t really identified just how distracted you are. How much of your time is spent flitting from one thing to the next? How unengaged you are in a conversation, how you are unable to think with clarity because there are so many things going on right now. Primarily because of your subconsciousness. You have become so good at distractions it is now an unconscious competence, you don’t know half the time how distracted you are. A key indication may be the overwhelming feeling of busyness!
So if we have been able to master being distracted to such high levels do you think you would be able to master high levels of focus? To be committed to one thing sufficiently to add value to yourself, your team or business? The answer is yes, of course, you could. The challenge is that word ‘commitment’. How do I achieve enough commitment when there are so many distractions?
Having already gained mastery in distractions you are already well equipped to master focus. Take a moment to assess just how you invest your time into being distracted, think for a moment what it is that makes you so distracted?
- The ease with which we are connected to our social life through social media. Just how many channels do you monitor?
- The need for information, just how often do you get informed of new emails?
- The offering of information, the amount of information we receive, telling us what the next best idea will be and how to get ahead of the game.
- The ease with which we are connected via our smartphones, texting, calls, instant messaging and video calls.
- Being the all-knowing oracle in your business, the default setting for all queries for your team, customers and prospects.
- Working IN the business which always impacts on your ability to focus ON the business.
I’m sure there will be even more distraction when you start to look closely enough. Here’s the thing, it’s taken you a very long time and huge commitment to have mastered your distractions in your day to day activities. Think of the habits you now have? What do you do when your phone beeps? Think right now how many plates are you spinning? What I’d like to challenge you to do now, assuming you’d like to have a higher focus on you, your business or team, is to shift that commitment and dedication towards where you want to focus. Essentially commitment towards being present in all you do.
The point here is to shift away from living a distracted life to fully engaging yourself and committing to what you want to achieve. Now from my military days, I had a high level of focus, in fact, I termed it ‘Pig-headed self-discipline’. It took me a long time to get to a place where I was able to really commit, essentially being truly present when I was engaged in what I was doing. Think about an Olympian, how have they the commitment and focus to be truly engaged and present when training and competing?
Think of this in the terms of your business, in terms of your daily routine (if you have one that is), in terms of talking to people. How committed to you are you? A powerful and effective way to start is to think about the conversations you have each day and just how present you are? Would you look at your phone if it were to buzz or bleep at you? Would you answer a call when talking to someone? Do you create a strong connection when you are talking to them? If like the masses, these may be symptoms of your distraction mastery then ask yourself this question. How much more am I likely to gain from conversations if I were to be truly engaged and present with them?
Now if it’s the case that you now can see just how distracted you are day to day make a commitment to start to increase your focus. Create your daily routine and be present when engaged in activity or action. Seek always to truly engage with another when in conversation. Now, take a moment to identify something you truly need to invest time in without distractions. What is the potential of being able to truly focus on it? What could the results be? Then make the same commitment you subconsciously made to being distracted to now being present and ‘in the zone’!
Now there’s a challenging thought!!
