Focused or Distracted?

DISTRACTED OR FOCUSED?   

That’s it! At any given time we are either Distracted or Focused!

Today started great. I have a project I am working on and had booked off some time on my Calendar to work on it.

Got off to a good start in the morning. Did my walking to loosen up.

Come home and have a nice hot shower. 

When I start on something I am working on, usually I like to get some 

quiet low classical baroque music. Then I get at it. I know that the sooner I start, the faster and quicker I get into the zone. I get up early so a lot of times I can get a lot of work done in 2 to 4 hours before my

enthusiasm begins to dwindle. I think some of my best ideas show up anytime, but the real good ones before sunrise and 9 a.m.

I’m just about ready to start typing, but wait I forgot to mute my phone and maybe put it over on the counter. I do keep it close by in case any one of my family calls, but for the most part when I am focused…I AM FOCUSED! 

So I’m just reaching for my phone and of course….it starts to go off.

 I look at it and say…..should I answer that. I know what it is and I can answer it later. I had just submitted a Huge file with some new budgeting which I took quite a bit of time on. It was quite thorough and there is no way they went through that whole file within the last hour. 

So I answer it. Wrong Jim! You shoulda left it. They had some detailed questions that seriously I just don’t like to get entangled with first part of the day before I go to work. I don’t even know why they couldn’t figure it out. But I answered, so I had to look after it.

That really wasn’t the beginning though. At 6:45 this morning, a construction crew that was working on the home next door decides

to start their router to trim the plywood they had just put up. I thought about that one too but it had already started. By the time I go out their

and bury the guy with my spade, they might already be done.  So I bit the bullet and put up with it.

So whats its sound like to you. That I am focused or that I am distracted? 

Of course you guessed. By the time I got off with the phone call I was in too deep. The calls keep coming in and each time I answered I was getting deeper and deeper away from the zone I like to be in. Each time I tried to scurry away lol. It was hilarious actually if you were watching me. Finally just after lunch I said to myself

‘Okay thats it’!!! ‘  I am outta here!

It felt like my boundaries had been violated here at home with all the noise and phone calls going on. 

 So I’m going to my secret spot.

The place where everything is silent. Actually it can be silent anytime, its just that I chose to get involved in other than what I was planning, interrupt my schedule and create a little chaos!

So you know what I’m talking about when I say ‘Are you focused or are you distracted?’ 

It’s one or the either. There is no in between. You are laser focused on getting something done or you are totally messed up and distracted. Funny thing is we all know when we are distracted. We also all know the feeling that comes with being focused.

That feeling when you are so fired up about everything. Where your focus is and the results you are getting. There are times you really have to discipline yourself. Turn off the tap of other stuff going on and just plain focus!  FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!

The real silly part of it is, if you procrastinate and say to yourself, you’ll do it tomorrow. Usually never comes.

It gets easier though as you have a little chat with yourself and just decide that now you are going into your zone and getting it done.

I have this friend of mine. Lets just call her Nancy. Nancy is one of those go getter types. When I say that I totally mean it. She talks a mile a minute as her brain unwinds and keeps getting more ideas. I just love listening to her and I can keep right up as her words of brilliance keep coming out. She goes way beyond in looking after her clients. She has action behind everything she talks about. 

Moves like lightning and just plain gets it done! Get’s it all done!

Once you’ve had excellence in your life it is easy to spot a winner.

The Professional. The one who gets it done. When that happens things come together a lot smoother and quicker. 

When you do that, you can operate in the focus zone! Without distraction. If it's a distraction, you can push it to the side, get your project done and later just go back and see how urgent that distraction actually was.

There is focus and there is distraction. You cannot work on both at the same time because then nothing gets done.

So going back to my story on the day when I had all those interruptions. I did actually get the work done on my project that day which was important and I wanted to do. Its really important to me and that is why I take great joy in starting my day with it.

What about you? Whats the one thing that if you just focused 15 minutes on everyday or 1 hour everyday not matter what, how would you feel about that? I talking something you are really excited about in your life, that no matter what is going on you get to work on it everyday. It could be your little secret project. Something you are totally obsessed with that no one will know about until it is completed.

Even then you might tell anyone. Whats one thing that if you worked on it a little bit everyday that in a few months or a year you could have a masterpiece. After 2 years there would be no stopping you. And if you kept on for the next 20 years, then you have a legacy that you probably could not stop of you wanted too.

Because lets face it. In todays World there is so much stuff going on that it just doesn’t make it pleasurable. I am not going to make a big list and go into detail because that isn’t my focus here. 

I think we all need something good going on in our lives that we can focus on everyday so that even no matter what happens we can focus on our own joy and know that we made a difference today.

For a Free Copy of my Book ‘Extreme Winning’ CLICK HERE: www.jimsapara.com