Something I have come to realise. Distractions are not all the same. It’s very easy to conclude that any and all distractions that we might face in life and in our work are bad. We decide that every single distraction is a problem. The truth is, they are not. The truth is, we often get this skewed. We embrace the distractions that are bad and we seek to eliminate things that are not really distractions at all. So don’t be too hasty. Distractions! Embrace some – Eliminate the rest.
Not all distractions are created equal
It helps to understand what a distraction actually is. It its most basic level, we are talking about anything that takes you away from what you are supposed to be doing. Some things that distract you are out and out distractions. They have little to no value. There is no point of view that legitimises them as things that help you with what you are supposed to be doing. Others, whilst they might not agree with your current plan and timetable, actually they are exactly the kind of things you are supposed to be doing. Often, the things we class as distractions, are just things that we are supposed to be doing coming at us when we aren’t ready for them.
Embrace some distractions
I know from experience that parents of young children often feel that they cannot ever get anything done because their children are so distracting. I came across a quote in a book that made the point that we should embrace this. Our children are not a distraction, they are the ‘work’ (which is a bad choice of word in this context). If you are involved in any form of ministry, you might be tempted to feel the same about your congregation. They never leave you alone so you can get things done. But step back and think about it, pastoring your congregation is not a distraction, it is the ministry you are to engage in.
Colleagues that have questions and need help could be another example of this.
I am trying very hard to think very differently about this kind of distraction. Setting boundaries and protecting focus is important and I will discuss this in a future post, but today I do not want to lose the point. Some of the things we consider ‘distractions’ are actually important opportunities to serve people. In many situations, this will actually be a key part of our role and responsibility. In fact, embracing this kind of a ‘distraction’ can greatly improve our ability to be effective. By being ready and available to serve, teach, train and help people that come to us, at a time when they need us, we can actually have a much bigger impact. It will be a more effective approach than only being available when it suits us to be.
Embrace these distractions as far as you are able.
Eliminate the rest
Often we cannot embrace these distractions. We consider them killers of our focus. And they can be. But, a little bit of examination of the way we live and operate, will reveal that a part of the problem is that we do not eliminate the things that are ‘pure’ distraction. These things suck out our focus and leave us with no option but close our eyes, ears and hearts to the needs of those around us.
Our complacency in killing the useless distractions, means we have no option but to say no to opportunities to serve that do not come to us on our terms.
I have countless examples of this kind of thing. I could never list them all! Some are significant, others less so but they all distract us and provide no value in doing so.
Are you the type of person who leaves dozens of tabs open on your browser? This is how you remember things you need to look at in the future. So, every time you go online to look at something, you allow yourself to be distracted by dozens of other things that at some point were of interest to you. True, those websites may be useful to you in the future, but having them in front of you when you open up your browser is not. Bookmark the page. Or better yet, create a task with a link to the site so you can plan when to look at it. The ‘leaving tabs open approach’ is nothing more than inviting distraction.
Perhaps you have a tonne of files spread across your desktop, or perhaps you leave files open in Word or Excel until you have finished with them? You leave them open so you don’t forget about them. All this does is suck your focus every time you try to work. It is a meaningless distraction that provides no value. Find another way to remind yourself about what you need to finish and when. Find a way that reminds you ONLY when you actually need it to and not every single time you try do anything.
Do I really need to be notified by my phone when my energy is refilled on Survivor.io? What value is provided by most of the notfications that we allow our devices to bleep and blurp at us like some kind of crazed R2-D2? The same could be said of desktop notifications or any kind of non-urgent communication such as email or chat messages. Much better to guard your focus when it counts buy muting these notifications and then allocating slots each day to go through new communication.
Embrace some – eliminate the rest
Here is my plan. I am going to examine all of the things that I think of as being ‘distractions’ and ask the question “Is this really taking me away from doing the important things in life? Is it just giving me an opportunity to focus on what is important at a time that doesn’t suit me?”
There are so many things, that through negligence, complacency and plain laziness that I allow to distract me. It drains my focus and means I am less open to serving people when they need me to.
For me right now, the issue is files. I have not kept on top of filing new documents that come to me. So, whenever a new document comes, it gets lost in the mess as the whole is too big a thing to sort out. But, this distracts me. It means when I go looking for something, I often find other things that I haven’t dealt with and need to. It distracts me.
I wonder, what are the things that you allow to distract you when you really should eliminate them? Do you need to bookmark the tabs in your browser? Do you need to create a better way of managing tasks and what you need to remember in the future? Do you have too many things being left in conspicuous places so you cannot do anything without seeing these reminders and getting distracted?
You need to be able to embrace the opportunities that come up, unexpectedly each day, to discharge your main areas of responsibility in ways you had not planned. These are not distractions – they are the work. To do that, you need to eliminate all other distractions that actually suck your focus away from the things it really should be given to.
Distractions! Embrace some – eliminate the rest.
