Thursday, August 22, 1996

Distractions

Life is a series of choices, one after the other. Your life is of your own making. You always have precisely the things in life that you want to have. If you don’t have something you think you should have, it is because you haven’t wanted it enough to do what is necessary to get it.

As you work toward your goals, for the day, for the month, for the year, distractions will come up. Distractions that are new, and interesting, and perhaps even exciting. They will knock you off track if you let them. They will cause you to lose your focus. With the revolutionary advances in communication technology, distractions have increased in frequency and intensity.

To keep from getting bogged down, you need to ask yourself this: What is more important, the goal or the distraction? Don’t ignore distractions altogether or you’ll be in danger of developing tunnel vision. Distractions can often carry useful information or opportunities. But you must keep them in perspective. Your goals are also important. And if you can’t keep yourself focused, information and opportunities will do you no good.

So resolve to always make a conscious choice. Decide if the distraction is worth the setback it would cause you. Take control of your productive time. Keep yourself on track, with regular and intentional stops for sightseeing.

— Ralph Marston

Patience Venturing out of the comfort zone next

Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.