Do you suffer from bright shiny object syndrome? No surprise, all of us do to some extent. In fact, it takes effort not to be distracted; to stay focused on what’s important. Let’s take a minute to look at what’s happening all around us. Quite honestly, I think it is harder to maintain focus today than it was 100 years ago. Here’s why.
The first thing that greets you when you go into your office is your computer. You turn it on and e-mails flood into your inbox. You start answering e-mails, clicking on the links in the e-mails and the next thing you know you are following an interesting yet non-productive path. The phone rings, someone stops by your office, you attend multiple meetings, get back to your e-mails, check blogs, research and the list goes on and on. No doubt about it, we are in information overload and using these distractions to avoid doing more challenging tasks.
Did you know that there are more than 2 billion e-mails sent every day? Often times it probably feels like most of those e-mails found a way into your inbox. Some 75 million blog posts are published everyday. While you definitely don’t read all of them, your colleagues will be talking about certain industry relevant ones while your friends will be talking about the ones that matter to them so you better pay attention to at least some of them.
What’s a person to do?
You need to take control of your time. You decide what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. Your e-mails don’t know you are sitting in front of your computer, nor do facebook and twitter. Ignore them until you set the time to respond. Then, use a timer to limit the amount of time you spend on social media and e-mails.
If you want to live a life of your design, you need to take control of your time and FOCUS on what’s important in creating that life. The sooner you develop that focus, the sooner you can play with all the bright shiny objects call to you.
You share very important advice Janet! I used to get distracted all the time by emails, social media etc… but I’ve changed my ways and enjoyed a productivity boost. I now allocate 2 days per week to go through my inbox. I will of course check a couple of times a day and deal with important messages, but everything else gets left for my email time. Getting through it all in one big chunk has helped free up a lot of my time.
Martina, aloha. You definitely get the gold star for e-mail management. What a great tip. Not only will I implement it, I am going to share it with others. Mahalo and aloah. Janet
Awesome! It has really worked wonders for me
It can definitely be difficult to keep focused sometimes, but I actually use my distraction to my advantage. I open up a ton of tabs all at once and then when I’m done opening up tabs and getting distracted, I’ll go through each tab one by one and get everything done. It works out well for me.
Thanks for this post!
Morgan, that is a unique approach. Plus, what’s great about it, is you probably get an endorphin rush as you can close the tabs and check off on a “to do” list. Brilliant!
I most certainly suffer from “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome.” As much as I’d like to think that my multi-tasking tendencies are beneficial, that’s rarely the case. I need to keep my focus and knock out one task at a time instead of trying to balance too many things; the latter is how everything topples over!
Good post!
Jill, “they” the great “they” that know everything about everything, say that we are deluding ourselves when we think we are accomplishing things when we multi-task. “They” had allsorts of charts and graphs showing how unproductive then practice is. HOWEVER, the test was conducted on men so . . . enough said.
Haha! Thanks Janet, I needed that!
Hi Janet,
This is such a timely post for me. I started 2011 determined to eliminate distractions. Sometimes, it seems like a large portion of those 2-billion emails a day land in my in-box! LOL
Email is my biggest distraction. I shut it down completely when I need to write articles for my blog.
BTW – I love that t-shirt!
Thx, Sherryl, glad you liked te post and the t-shirt. As you can appreciate, I was thrilled when I found the t-shirt. In reading a book about someone who is quite successful, he says he does not even look at his e-mails until 1 p.m. because he does not want to be distracted or drained by something that may be in the e-mails.
While I understand the merit in what he has to say, I must admit I am not there. It does work, however, to limit yourself to checking e-mails twice a day or some similar schedule. Aloha. Janet
Hey Janet,
You described me perfectly. Focus for us (construction trade contractors) in this slow economy is vital. We are at a huge risk of loosing our place at the table if we don’t remain fully and continually focused.
I really needed to read this today, thanks!
Glad the timing of the article was perfect for you. So often we are busy being busy that we lose that all important focus. If at such times a Bright Shiny Object calls to us, it is oh-so-difficult to ignore its call.
I suffer from distraction; it’s made worse by being on the computer all of the time.
Lists do help me – if I can find them.
The thing that absolutely helps me the most is eating right and exercising. I haven’t been doing either, and I am all over the place lately. But when I am on track, my focus is much better.
No more junk food!
Tia, aloha. Let me begin my thanking you for allowing me to be a part of bizchickblogs. Though I just “discovered” you, I truly appreciate what you have created.
Like you, Tia, I spend a lot of time at the computer with exercise more being a thought than a reality. What thing I recently started doing is standing up and moving around while I watch a webinar and video clip. Just that bit of stirring around does help. Thx again, Tia. Aloha. Janet
Hi Janet!
This is such critical and excellent advice. There is so much power in focus. I think a big problem is that people are so worried they are going to miss something. They’re not. By being so distracted they are missing what is right in front of them – productivity & results.
Thanks for the reminder!
Well said, Marlee. I think a bit of the “grass is greener” comes into play as well.
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