Feeling distracted and overwhelmed with too many things you want to accomplish?
Now you can master those distractions! Follow these 5 simple steps to find your focus and get things done.
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It never fails. The day I have an important task to accomplish, I find a hundred other things to do. That is, a hundred other things I’d rather be doing.
Laundry, dinner plans, phone calls, and Facebook drama–all muddling my mind to busy my thoughts.
Distractions. They’re the number one reason we can’t get anything accomplished.
In the book, My One Word, Mike Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen challenge us to choose one word to represent what we hope God will accomplish within us, and focus on it all year long.
Why not focus on focusing?
If our biggest problem is our lack of attention, why not challenge ourselves to work out our own issues with ADD?
5 Simple Steps to Master Distractions and Get Things Done
#1 Face the fear.
I love to start new projects. However, it’s the finishing that overwhelms me.
What if my work is rejected?
What if I’m not good enough?
What if I’m making the wrong choice and should be working on something else?
What if can lead us in a thousand directions until we’re wasting our time chasing the wind, rather than accomplishing what we first set out to do.
Face the fear and finish.
#2 Organize
I’m a day dreamer. It’s a curse.
One idea leads to another and then another, until I’m lost somewhere in a sea of forgetfulness, swimming against the current of procrastination.
Though imagination and countless ideas are wonderful, accomplishments are buried beneath them.
Need to organize those cluttering thoughts?
Keep a notebook handy. That way you can corral your wandering thoughts for later and quickly return to today’s task until it’s complete.
Focus is acknowledging the fact that you’d rather be doing something else.
So write down those thoughts, worries, regrets, etc. and get busy finishing the task you started.
#3 Center
Why do I wander off aimlessly by trying to please everyone else?
For me, God’s truth is at the center of it all–period.
He’s where I find my ultimate purpose and so I rely on Him to keep me grounded within the reality of how He defines me, rather than how others perceive me or even how I view myself.
Who or what is at the center of your dreams or what you hope to accomplish?
If you do fail, what are you left with?
When fears try to overcome me or worries get in my way, I refocus my thoughts through God’s reality.
In the end, if God is at the center, then how can you fail?
#4 Utilize
Last week I discovered a new productivity app promising to organize my life and save valuable time. I went to YouTube to watch a couple of clips about the product. Yep. The rest of the day is lost in history.
Anyone else need a new gadget to begin?
There are only so many hours to research, make more lists, and find new tools to help us work.
We are only efficient when we utilize the least amount of time to get it done. Resist the urge to invest in more gadgets and fancy software before evaluating what you are trying to accomplish in the first place.
Before wasting time and money on some new organizing method, look at what you already have available right now.
Utilize your own assets. You are your greatest resource.
#5 Serve
Anyone else on an ego trip?
I can easily get caught up in keeping up my own appearances or jumping on the bandwagon to follow someone else’s grand plan.
In the end, it’s not about me. I’m only a servant fulfilling God’s purpose.
“Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.” Psalm 119:37
What about you?
Are you feeling distracted? Share your thoughts and ideas with us.
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Awesome post! I just was talking about productivity and organization on my blog. I’d love it if you dropped by and shared your post in the linkup! I know my readers would love it.
I need to stay organized. I waste so much time in wandering off on side projects! I am trying to stay centered on God this year though!