Stop the distractions

Most of us text while driving and I’m sure we all talk on a phone while we drive. For me it gives me a sense of being productive and staying in touch with my world while doing something that is a necessary evil – DRIVING! The statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA reveal information that is difficult to ignore. Over 20% of all crashed involve some level of distraction. And for the “hands free” safe drivers; they are in the category of “delayed reaction” equal to someone at .08 blood alcohol. That’s small but can be a significant impact when every split second can save a live.

With all the forms of communication there are a plethora of avenues for our time, concentration and effort to be thwarted by distractions and interruptions. I recently heard someone speak to this at a conference and I thought about all the ways we get distracted and maybe distract others in things outside what is relevant at the moment. For example, when I am in the middle of making calls, or preparing for a presentation, I get very focused on the flow, the order of the presentation, the points I am going to make, how they are relevant, and then I view this from the clients perspective and try to anticipate how they will receive it and what possible thoughts they might have around what I am saying – AND THEN – my cell phone rings, it’s a friend who wants to discuss the activities on the stock market. I have to stop thinking about what I was doing, refocus on the conversation, get wrapped up into it, then we have a lively dialogue for 10 minutes and wrap up and I say, “I have to get back to something, hey thanks for calling.” In retrospect I should be saying, “By the way, I am going to send you a bill for the time you have stolen from me”. I may have a lot less friends if I really did that, but we are too reachable today and we feel obligated to react when these forms of communication which pull us away from the task at hand and into another direction.

Someone interviewing Bear Bryant, the legendary coach at ‘Bama, toward the end of his career asked him how the players were different today as opposed to when he began coaching. As he thought for a minute, the people in the room pondered what the answer was going to be. Many thought he would respond with, “the players were faster”, “the players were bigger”, “offences were more complex”, or something along those lines. To the surprise of everyone he said, “a number of years ago I had to start teaching mental discipline.” Although every was shocked when he said that, it makes a lot of sense. When Bear Bryant first became a head coach in 1945, hardly anyone had a television. But as years went on, the TV and other devices came along and have gradually distracted us and continue to invade our space.

Today our minds are bombarded. It is imperative that we fight for our time and keep our goals, tasks and vision clear on what we want to achieve. We must cherish our time. Time is the one thing we all have that is equal. Ben Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Learn to be more passionate for your time and mental space and refuse to get ripped off. The highest achievers in any field know this and apply it every day. If you are to be among them, it takes resolve, discipline, and the courage to not give in to distractions even when we would rather do so. Get the most out of every day, by managing the pieces of time that make it up.

Ingite your passion!