I had every intention of finishing this article this morning, but I made the mistake of opening my email reader. I was looking for a really important email to show up in my inbox. But two hours later, it still had not come. I wasn't exactly sure who it would be from, but I was sure someone would send me an email that would require my immediate attention. There were a few emails that weren't important, but I enjoyed reading them.
The original title of this article was going to be How to maximize the use of your time, but it wound up being the best way to avoid distractions. So here it is in the afternoon and I am just now finishing it. I could have been finished before noon if I hadn't stopped for lunch. It's very hard to concentrate on writing when your stomach is growling.
I happened to glance out the window and saw some pretty nasty looking clouds. You never know when a thunderstorm might pop up. I thought it was a good idea to go to the weather website to look at the weather radar. There was rain in the area, but nothing severe. I was about to leave the website when I saw an article about the possible link between cell phones and cancer. I am a heavy cell phone user and I wanted to read the article and find out exactly what form of cancer cell phones cause. There was also an article about the hurricane season and what preparations need to be made. I don't live on the coast, but this is hurricane season, and it is always a good idea to be prepared.
I have had lots of experience with distractions. They pop up everywhere. They are insidious. I try to avoid them. Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I don't. I guess my inability to resist distractions is a sign of weakness. I definitely have no one to blame but myself. And. even as painful as it is to admit it, there have been a few times when I have been guilty of procrastination -- moments of laziness when it's easy to give in to distractions as a way to put off doing what I need to do. it could be that I have a short attention span. I do get bored easily. And there are times when the distraction is a lot more appealing than what I should be doing. I am a curiosity seeker. I like to explore. I like to take things apart and see what makes them work. I am a little impatient. As a kid I was always asking my parents " are we there yet?"
I do know there are two kinds of distractions: avoidable and unavoidable
Some distractions just cannot be avoided. Every sailor, at some point, encounters a storm on the open sea that blows his ship off course. The consequences of the storm have to be dealt with. But the storm does not end the trip. The destination is still there. The sailor must figure out where he is and plot a new course to the destination.
Most distractions can be avoided by identifying them for what they really are: time wasters. And you can do that by asking yourself one question: is it bringing me closer to or taking me further away from where I need to be? If the answer is the latter then reject it and don't pay it any more attention.
Accomplishment is a time management issue. The level of accomplishment is in proportion to the amount of time and devotion we give to whatever it is we are working to accomplish. All achievers are tenacious, too. They stick with a task until its complete.
When you encounter temptation to leave what you are doing take a moment to close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax. With your eyes closed, focus your attention back to your task and review the reasons why you are doing it. Are you under a deadline? If you are, how much time do you have left to finish? If you don't have a deadline, create one. Your time is valuable. Don't waste it. Open your eyes and continue your task with renewed determination. It is not so much that we win the race, but that we finish the race. To quote Winston Churchill: "never, never, never, never give up."
There will always be temptations to waste time, but that doesn't mean we have to give in to them.
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