Are Distractions Destroying Your Dreams?

Life can get in the way of everything if we let it. I think of courage as not some overly dramatic dance with danger. Courage at its core is a mindset. Courage can be thought of as a state of mind that exists absent of the constant fear of failure. Courage is the mindset we need to adapt to lead at our highest frequency.  Life and those things that get in the way of courage, will derail our success in life if we let it. Today I want to talk about some of those things that derail us, distractions, and share some strategies to help us stay on track.

If you continue to fuel your distractions, you destroy your dreams. Distractions are everywhere, and the first step is recognizing them. It may be easier to notice that you are being distracted by social media because it’s more intentional than being distracted by things that you “have to do”.  For example one of the biggest work related distractions are emails. Sure we need to read, respond to, and craft emails but we need to do so in constructive ways. Depending on the role you have, you may receive hundreds of emails a week, and that does not include our personal emails. What I have found is that just like in my personal life, I have intentions that I set for my work day. I will tell you that reading and responding to emails are never part of that intention, however there is a time and place. If my intention for the day is to focus on meaningful outcomes, my email correspondence will align to that. In order to truly focus on meaningful outcomes, we need to time box where and when we spend our energy. Start with creating a plan for the day. Then, line up tasks aligned to your plan and your intentions in priority order. Once that is complete, you may want to set aside time to read emails, starting with anything labeled urgent. We have a choice and we can respond to ones that need response. Resist the urge to be everything to everyone, and move on. Not everything needs our input. Next, list any to-dos from those emails on in your plan for the day, again aligning in priority. If those low priority items are not aligned, add them to another day. Focus on the goal and not activity just for the sake of activity. At the end of the day, when we ask ourselves what did we get done---responding to endless emails does not seem to be an answer that aligns to outcomes. Emails are only one example of a distraction, and some are more obvious than others. When you find yourself spinning around in circles as opposed to moving forward, check in with yourself, and start getting clear on what’s taking up your time.

Now we know how to deal with distractions, If you want to go deeper, we should talk about why we’re constantly battling with distractions. The tools that I shared a few minutes ago are helpful in setting up strategies to deal with distractions, but unless we deal with the why, we’ll allow every distraction to throw us of course. Why are our minds are distracted by relatively simple things? The reason is that we are constantly looking for it. Sounds crazy right? It’s true. If our mindset is not one of courage and anabolic, healing energy, then it’s going to be the inverse. Our mindset will be catabolic, destructive and filled with lack. If were not tuned in with growth energy, then were most likely stuck in a story about how hard life is. We look for evidence to support our story. We start identifying more with our struggle than with reality. In order to fuel success, we need to align our thoughts with success. We need to be able to lean into the energy of leadership healing and success. We can only do that when we are willing to go deep and curious about your emotions to get unstuck. If everything is a struggle, and points back to ourselves as victims or targets – Nothing works out for me, it’s unfair, so and so always gets the good projects, I must be invisible – we are being emotionally reactive and not proactive. We are stuck in a negative story that we continue to validate. We are not creating we are drowning. If you want to move past lack and struggle you have to show up in a new way, being courageous – willing to go deep and curious about your emotions to get unstuck. If you are ready to start creating, let’s chat. Let me show you how Balanced Mindset Coaching call help you to be more courageous.