Are you easily distracted? do you justify it with the old adage of – leave no stone unturned? Are you aware that the distractions cost you your money?
Distractions are delicious. They are. That is why they tempt us away from things that will make us money.
Distractions come in many forms. Unnecessary business purchases – do you really need 3 hole punches? Investigating opportunities that are not in alignment with your focus and goals – do you really need to contribute to another book that will never make it into the hands of your target market? Or how about spending excessive amounts of time on social media “marketing” aka liking cat photos and doing those quizzes – I already know which Disney princess I am, I don’t need facebook to tell me.
So here is what you need to remember – everyone receives the same 24 hours as everyone else. Successful people, unsuccessful people, happy people, miserable people, healthy people, unhealthy people. We all get the same amount.
How we spend those 24 hours impacts our money in a myriad of ways.
Are we easily distracted by convenience stores or ads of amazingly juicy burgers and fries that we spend our money on for instant gratification to then spend further money and time later trying to gain back our health or lose weight?
Does social media and Netflix chew away our time that we could be spending investing in ourselves and our family so that we can reap the rewards of healthy relationships without divorce lawyers eating our savings because we ignored our family, or charging higher rates because we provide greater value from further our skills and knowledge?
Do we flush our money making hours down the toilet by wasting time complaining, gossiping and spinning instead of resolving things, prioritizing and taking actions so that we can sow more seeds of success for a greater harvest?
The million dollar question is how do we discover our distractions?
It is quite simple really. We do not change a thing for 2 weeks and log everything that we do. Everything! No cheating. Then at the end of two weeks block off an hour and review where you chose distraction over creation. It will blow your mind.
I did this quite a few years ago and found that in one week I spent 15 hours listening to team members personal problems that did not work or job related. No wonder I didn’t have time for my kids or to work out!
When I find that deadlines keep slipping away, I will do this technique to gain clarity over what my choices are creating for me that are costing me time and money. 15 hours of listening to personal problems, that they never did anything about, by the way, cost me 15 hours of business time that I could have worked with clients, joint venture partners, created more advertising, worked on our website, took a class on how to be a better therapist, so much more that would have brought me abundance instead of costing me. Remember all of that was my choice.
It was a very simple change to direct those that were struggling to book in for a session, or read a book, or to seek their own inner reflection. What I received in return for choosing focus over distraction was priceless.
So does choosing distraction got your money?
