Overcoming the Distractions

I think everyone can agree that there is SO MUCH going on in this world today.  From violence, racial discord, political unrest, just to name a few.  It's very easy to get caught up in all of the chaos with access to social media, conversations you hear as you are out and about or even at work.  However, some of this can take you away from what you are truly trying to accomplish in your life.  Distractions come in all shapes and forms.  Some can add value to your life, while others clearly do not.  Distractions can come in your personal life and take you away from taking care of yourself or your family.  Distractions can come at work and take you away from the true tasks you need to achieve.  Distractions can come when you are trying to reach certain goals in your life and take you off course.   So how do overcome those things that are distractions to ensure you maintain focus?  Here are a few things I have learned through this journey called "life".  Without focus you can easily become distracted and lose precious time that could have been used to reach your goals.

1. Acknowledgement - in all things the first thing you need to do is acknowledge a distraction is present.  This is easier said than done in some cases.  Sometimes you may not even recognize there is a distraction as you go through the motions. So you may ask, "how on earth do you acknowledge something you may not even know is there?" One clear way to recognize a distraction is to find yourself in turmoil, distress or constant chaos that is adding absolutely no value to your life.  If you find/feel in your gut that something isn't right, something probably isn't right.  If there is something that is constantly pulling you away from what you want to achieve  you need to 1. listen to your gut 2. take a moment and stop what you are doing - be still 3. reflect on that item that is giving you the angst in your gut to determine what to do next.  Our gut tells us a lot of things, but it's up to us to listen to it.  You have to take time away from the situation, just sit and be still, in order to take control back from the "thing" that is giving the turmoil and chaos.  The "being still" part is allowing you to just sit and think outside of the noise.  Then you must reflect.  What part are you playing in the chaos? Who are the additional players in the chaos? Is this particular situation adding value or taking value away from what you're  trying to accomplish in life?  Depending on the answers to these questions you need to fully acknowledge the issue.  Don't beat yourself up over it because we all go through chaotic times in our life where we allow unnecessary distractions in. However, if you don't acknowledge the issue it will continue to reek havoc in your life.  So the first step is identifying and acknowledging you have a distraction that is adding absolutely "no value" to your life.
2. Remove the distraction - once you have acknowledged you have a distraction that is not adding value to your life you need to remove it.  This could mean removing friends, acquaintances, organizations, companies, etc...This can be extremely hard depending on who or what you are removing.  If it's not adding value to your life, and just more turmoil, do you really want that to be a part of your life?  Why would you keep unnecessary drama in your life, unless you just like that sort to thing?  If you have distractions that are causing you to perform horribly at work, not meet you personal or work goals, stress, changing your attitude about yourself and on life in general, why on earth would you want to keep that distraction?  DO NOT let a distraction alter the joy you have.  Now I know there will be some situations that are harder to navigate depending on the distraction.  For example working with a co-worker.  In work situations if you have individuals that just make it hard for you to do your job, but really have no influence on the ability to remove them it can be challenging to remove the distraction.  However, there are behaviors that are under your control.  You have the ability to control one's self and how you interact with that individual, and those around you.  Don't feed into that individual when you know they are doing things to push you buttons.  Step away and determine what you need to do to calm down (taking deep breaths might help).  The more you feed into that person, or alter your behaviors, the more control you are giving that other individual.  I'm not saying this is easy to do, but if you want to keep your sanity and peace you may need to alter your behaviors in situations where you don't have as much control to remove the distraction.  Ultimately you control "your behaviors" and what you will and will not allow to take away your peace of mind.
3. Accountability - find individuals who will hold you accountable.  I have accountability partners that keep me set on my goals and what I want to achieve  The reason I have accountability partners is sometimes while you're in the mess you don't see as clearly as you could.  My accountability partners are on the outside looking in and can alert me to things I may not clearly see.  They are trusted advisors that know what to say to get my attention.  I had to find a way to hold myself accountable from not allowing distractions to take me off focus., as I have a lot I want to achieve.  With social media and other vehicles that easily feed into negative energy, if used incorrectly, I had to be careful not to be sucked into that world.  In order for me to do that I hold myself accountable, but I also have others who hold me accountable as well.
4. Retrospective - in all things do self introspection.  If there are distractions coming at you, what are you doing to either feed into those distractions or attract them.  It first starts with you.  You control "YOU".  So don't blame others look at yourself first.  Once you have a true session with yourself then identify what you need to do to remove the distraction.  Also, reflect on why you allowed the distraction in to begin with because you may see a pattern.  

Sometimes we allow individuals to take advantage of us because we are a good natured and caring.  Sometimes we allow our goal to overshadow our life and take away the joy and peace we could be truly experiencing.  Sometimes we allow individuals opinions of our goals or aspirations to stop us from achieving what we KNOW we are meant to do.  Sometime we allow conditions to dictate how we react and take us away from enjoying life.  Sometimes we just give people too much control over our own life.  Sometimes we just allow enormous amounts of distractions to come our way because we don't believe in ourselves.  Sometimes we don't even recognize we have a distraction.  

There are a lot of reason why we do what we do and why we react the way we do.  However, you control "YOU"!  You can control and overcome these distractions that are adding no value to your life.  You were put on this earth with a purpose.  You have goals and visions you want to achieve.  Don't allow distractions, in what ever form they come, to distract you from fulfilling your purpose and vision.  

There will always be distractions, but the question is how you will handle them?  Will you allow them to overtake you or will you overtake them?

Regards,

The BA Martial Artist

Paula A. Bell Consulting, LLC