How To Stay Focused And Avoid Distractions From The Masses

how-to-stay-focused-and-avoid-distractions

Distractions are everywhere!

It doesn’t take much – merely a conversation with someone, and our minds can be spinning off on new thought patterns, or coming up with new ideas.

Or there is of course the online marketers, tempting us with things that, let’s face it, most of the time we don’t really need!

Navigating the day can be a minefield with our focus being pulled in all directions.

But getting super clear on your intentions for the day will help combat the daily distractions that present themselves!

HOWEVER, you cannot get super clear on your intentions for the day if you’re not clear on your intentions for the week…the month… and actually the year ahead.

This is why it is so important to always keep your mission in mind.

Knowing what your dream future not only looks like but also feels like will keep you in good stead to not succumb to mindless activities and distractions that won’t help you get to it.

So a little actionable exercise for you.

Spend some time really thinking about what you want for yourself in 5 or 10 years’ time.

And I mean REALLY thinking.

Don’t rush this in one sitting, take your time over it.

Let your thoughts gather and your vision evolve over a few days.

I used to really struggle with visualising and planning for my future. It was down to a number of reasons which took a while to identify. Two key things though were, I wasn’t practiced in thinking that far ahead so I found it hard to do, which when I broke it down and worked towards just 1 year ahead, and then another, I found it much more manageable and easier to do.

And the other key thing, and a bit of a revelation at the time, was because I was afraid of getting my hopes up and being disappointed, so I didn’t want to commit to a vision. Yup, fear of failure, and yeah you’re looking at former miss commitment-phobe here – to be fair, it crops every now and again in a few areas of life, but my self-awareness and own coaching tools allow me to identify and dissect it when it does come up, and keep it from running amock!

So, anyway, back to your vision, your plan… and your mission!

After spending some time thinking about your dream future and writing your thoughts down on paper – I’m a big advocate of that by the way – writing things down – get it out of your head and onto something physical and real!

imagine yourself in the future;

With all the things that you dream of having,

Surrounded by the people that you would love to be surrounded by (or maybe no one at all?)

And in the physical place and surroundings that you would love to be in.

Sit in this picture for a while and really feel what it feels like.

Feel the sensations in your body,

Notice the vibrance of colours of the picture in your mind.

See if you can imagine the smells around you, the temperature in the air… build as real a picture as you can.

And then write down exactly what you see and how you personally look and feel like in 5 or 10 years’ time and arrange the description into a few paragraphs.

Now what you’re going to do with this, is read it every single morning when you wake up – and you can read it again before you go to bed at night if you want –
And what this will do, is remind you of where you’re heading each day and get your subconscious to work on looking out for opportunities that will get you there as well as helping you avoid falling to the distractions that won’t.

Honestly, this works. I would encourage you to write it on paper and pop it in your bedside drawer or nightstand, or pin it to the wall or ceiling even. Make sure it’s one of the first things you see when you get up each day and read it before you do anything else.

It’s important (when doing this for the first time at least) that you don’t write a huge essay because that will be a chore to read when you need to get going in the morning. You want to make it as easy as possible to refer to but ensure that it is specific enough to throw a good mental picture into your mind.

It may be weird at first, but keep at it and you’ll build a habit out of it in no time and you’ll soon see the huge difference it makes to your lifestyle, your productivity, and your overall confidence in who you are and where you are heading!

On Key

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