Distractions

Distractions: Events that occur in your daily life which interfere with your ability to be successful and create challenges which keep you from fulfilling your dreams.

Not long ago, I was reminded of the detrimental powers distractions have on our lives. They come in so many forms and most of the time we call them 'life'. You have probably heard it before, 'Life Happens'. When this phrase was first introduced to me, I just knew that everyone has things going on in their life that can have a tremendous impact on the amount of success they were going to achieve. The point was that we could be doing everything great and before we knew it life would happen, we lost focus on our goals, and put our dreams aside for life.

Even as I write this, I'm consumed with thoughts of work, relationships, and my overwhelming desire to provide substance within this post. This is nothing more than the distractions I am speaking of. Over the years I have met many people who tell me that they don't have time or that these were the cards they were dealt. The problem with this attitude is that you have allowed the distractions in your life to control that which you have complete control over… your dreams and goals.

Many of the people I speak with have big dreams and very ambitious goals for their family, but gave up on their own a long time ago. You hear things like, "I need to make sure Johnny gets to play in the big game" or "I don't want to let my friends down." Now don't get me wrong, we definitely need to support our friends and family. But this is where I think the connection is made when we speak of life happening. We get so consumed with our circumstances that we give control of our lives to them. I know I mentioned friends and family, but there are so many other things that create distractions in our lives. Every single one of us has a honey-do-list or some list of things that should get done. Every single item on this list has the power to control our lives to the extent that it will overtake our desire to achieve our dreams.

As a child everyone of us has big dreams but somewhere, someone or something had enough influence over us that we put our dreams on hold because we may have thought them too ambitious. This leads each and every one of us to where we are today and very rarely do I meet someone who is right where they want to be. Maybe you decided to start a family or concentrate on your career, neither of these things are bad and they both were opportunity costs. In order to pursue this, maybe you gave up the dream of playing in a rock band, finishing college, or following through on starting your own business. Life happened and now it's time to get back on track.

Distractions are just like dreams… everyone has many and few ever find resolution. Distractions can be simple, such as cleaning your desk at work or getting the oil changed in your car. Or they can be truly life altering such as unexpected health issues or loss of employment, but they can all be overcome with diligence, time, and a little bit of effort.

The Plan

Before you tackle the plan, write down some of your dreams again, the bigger the dreams, the better. Remember if you don't have a written goal, how are you going to know when you achieve it? Now, make a detailed list of all the distractions in your life. Then as you look at the list of distractions in your life, divide them into 3 categories:

1. Things that can be resolved today. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Cleaning out the garage
   • Organizing your desk, or
   • Using the financial management software you bought last year.
   
   
2. Things you can start today, but will take repeated attempts to resolve. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Taking control of your time/schedule
   • Getting back into shape
   • Start saving for that vacation you've been dreaming of
   
   
3. Things that may never get resolved, but forward progress will create a better life for you and those around you. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Seeking a support group for family loss/illness
   • Lifetime learning so you can help others
   • Starting that business you always wanted

Regardless of which category your distractions fall into, know that each and every one of them can be controlled and that you, and only you, have the power to control them. I know that these three categories may not include everything on your list. Just remember, if you want to achieve your goals and live out your dreams, you have to take control of the distractions in your life because you can either make your dreams come true or make excuses, but you can't make both.