There is no greater distraction in the world than whatever keeps you from doing what you need to do in any particular moment.
I'm not sure that sentence makes sense but I will try to clarify.
You have started a project and this is not just any project...this is THE project, the one that will crush all previous and trailing projects. After much hunting and gathering, you have all your materials, you are fully fed and hydrated, everything is set to begin when, suddenly...
It doesn't really matter what it is that "suddenly" appears on your radar; it has served its purpose to pull your mind away from the task at hand and your body will soon follow. If someone had "suddenly" entered the room and unloaded a suitcase filled with $100 dollar bills, that would be an understandable distraction. It would be reasonable to get up and go investigate.
The unreasonable, but still very powerful, distraction would be noticing that you have a hole in the sock on your right foot. It isn't even an annoying toe hole, it is a harmless ball-of-the-foot hole and yet you (ok I) could turn it into a thirty minute ordeal trying to figure out how it got there, checking to see if you have any clean, unholey socks and finally having a few (eight) Chips Ahoy cookies to refocus your mind on what needs to be done on your project.
The point is that the distraction doesn't have to be huge and it doesn't even have to make sense for it to be a distraction. Sometimes the slightest thought or sound in the room or even a different project can serve to pull you away from what you know needs to be done.
This short little post took me several hours because I needed a shave and a haircut, a bowl of Rice Krispies and one episode of "The Office" to get me primed to write. See what I mean?
What's your distraction of choice?
Peace.
1 comment:
Bradley, there is a clinical diagnosis for this... it's called ADHD! They make medicine that helps a lot. You should try some... ;-) I am allowed to say this, I think I'm qualified. Even so, on meds or not, you are correct. For each of us, regardless of the task (and maybe inherent in the undertaking of all tasks) distraction finds itself in front of our face. The difference to completing a task or not may lie in our ability to ignore, or set aside, those distractions.
On a side note, I believe that watching an episode of "The Office" very well may be the perfect primer for about any task!! Just pay attention to Dwight, he'll show you all you need to know about productivity... :)
PEACE
Post a Comment