Are You Easily Distracted?
Here’s the deeper reason behind it.
Are you easily distracted?
Do you struggle to focus?
If so, then it means that you’re just like millions of other people on this planet. Like you, they find themselves pulled this way and that. So many things clamor for their attention.
Did you know that in a typical hour of TV, you get about 19 minutes of 15–30 second ads? That’s anything from 38–76 ads for one show, and that doesn’t count the trailers.
You get it in social media, too, even if you use ad-blockers. Ads that have nothing to do with what you’re watching suddenly appear in even the briefest of YouTube videos.
It’s almost impossible to avoid advertising online or off.
You see it on billboards and other roadside signs, hear it on the radio, read it on every package or container you look at in the grocery store, and you’re even forced to consume it in the restroom.
It’s hard to focus on anything without first being bombarded with visual and aural ads.
Distractions are a problem, but they’re not the problem.
What’s the real problem?
That’s a problem in itself, and that’s because distractions are a result; not a cause.
And so you have to identify what causes them before you can figure out how to keep yourself on task. In other words, if you don’t identify the underlying cause, then you’ll be chasing after something that won’t help you.
You’ll be distracted even more.
Distractions are a symptom of a much bigger problem.
What causes distractions?
Distractions are caused by the lack of a calling.
Think of it like this: Distractions are nothing more than a collection of possible activities — things that you could do.
Some of them are necessary, such as cooking and cleaning, and others are for fun, like looking at your favorite websites, watching TV, or reading a book.
You need time for work and play. You weren’t designed to work non-stop for your entire life. Then again, if all you do is play, then that, too, would become a drudgery because you wouldn’t have anything to rest from.
Distractions take on many forms:
- Social media
- News
- Washing the car
- Cleaning the house
- Doing the laundry
- Weeding
- Cutting the grass
- Rearranging your office
- Snacking or making something to drink
- Watching TV
- Phoning or Zooming with a friend
- Doing anything else
You may have noticed something about this list. It’s that all of those things are legitimate activities.
Distractions aren’t things you should never do necessarily. Instead they consist of pursuits that you engage in at the wrong time. And so in order to overcome the compulsion to do something other than what you should be doing right now, you need something else that transcends it.
What is that thing that overrides your distractions?
It’s a calling.
A calling is the pull — it’s much more than that — to do one thing over and above everything else.
It’s what makes getting to your desk exciting every day.
It’s the principal activity that you know you’ve been singled out to do, and it distinguishes you from all others.
Of course, if you want to have a calling, then you must also have a caller.
Your caller is the person to whom you’re accountable for how you spend your time.
Who is your caller?
There are three possible callers:
- God
- Spouse, partner, or friend
- Yourself
Why does it matter whether you have a caller or not?
Why is this such a big deal?
Why does having a calling or a caller matter?
It matters because without one, everything you do will seem to be of equal value. Nothing will be more important than anything else. You’ll have no criteria against which to compare what you say you’re trying to do to what you think might be a distraction. And that means that you will have no compelling reason to choose one thing over another.
To look at this another way, if you have no calling, then everything is a distraction. The thing that you choose to do may depend on your mood, rather than the responsibility you feel towards your caller.
On any given day, one thing might seem desirable, but on the next day something else will. Your mood could change daily and, for some, it does.
How can you discover your calling?
A good way to discover your calling is to find a cause that in your opinion is underserved and is important to you.
Akbar Sheikh, for example, is an international bestselling author, speaker, and family man. For most people, that would be enough. In addition to all that, however, he’s also a philanthropist who concentrates on helping orphans and giving the gift of vision to blind children. He once said that cataract surgery for children was so cheap that he wanted to hand over his debit card.
Akbar wasn’t always this successful. At one time, he was homeless, overweight, in a terrible relationship, and suffered from a crippling anxiety disorder. When he finally pulled himself out of his former life, he began to use his newfound wealth to serve others.
Candice Lightner is the founder of MADD — Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
In 1980, she quit her job to start this organization after a drunk driver in California killed one of her daughters in a hit-and-run accident.
The purpose of the organization was to put pressure on governments at the local state, and national levels to implement task forces, change laws, and criminalize DUIs so that accidents like that wouldn’t happen.
Between 1980 and 1985, 500 new laws were passed across the country on just this issue, and by 1987, the legal drinking age in all 50 states was 21.
There is now a MADD chapter in all 50 states of the US and the provinces of Canada. It has been estimated that 330,000 lives have been saved as a result.
Candice Lightner has a calling — a force that is so strong that nothing can distract her from it. She doesn’t want another parent to experience what she did.
What’s your calling?
What are you so passionate about that it makes you want to hand over your debit card?
What captures your attention so much that nothing can distract you from it?
If you’re easily distracted, then it’s because you don’t know what your calling is. That means that you have to make it your business to find out. If you have any doubts about what it should be, then ask your caller.
