Distracticking Time Bomb

After 4 days of intense writing and resentfully scrapping 40 pages, I found myself exhausted. As I sat in front of my laptop, time felt like it was accelerating with the clock ticking away seconds, minutes, and hours.
Within a few hours, I needed to hand in a document to my editor on “The Top 10 Reasons That Make You Lose Motivation”. My mind was racing through all the notes that no longer existed as all the evidence of the hard work I put in was scrapped.

Although writing is a skill that I continually try to master, blogging is something that I've recently gotten myself acquainted with and it appears to be a whole different ball game!

Two weeks ago I was happy with the progress, enjoying the process, and excited about what's next to come. Today, I'm approaching a deadline and I'm dreading the outcome.

It's unlike me! I never had a problem with deadlines if anything I've always been looking forward to it. What am I going to do?

In the midst of this internal push and pull in my mind, I was contemplating the idea of how can I tie in together the many aspects while still keeping a relatable approach so that everyone from a housekeeper, a job seeker, a self-employed start up business, to an employer and/or an employee can identify with it. It started to dawn on me that this concern would be the source of sabotage for my motivation as well as my energy.

Prior to this day, I had a reflective peer-coaching session around the resistance I was feeling towards this new task. The session alone did not instantly change my state but I did have a revealing moment when I combined it with a mini self-help exercise (which I will share with you further in this post). This is where I realized what's been slowing me down, stopping me in my tracks , and pulling the rein on the natural flow of my creativity: perspective.

I believe that I have developed a good ability to see situations from other people's perspectives in my day-to-day life, on the flip side, when I decided to try and consider all these perspectives for a larger audience it took a toll on my productivity.

To give you a better idea, the right hand illustration in the picture below is a visual demonstration of the inner works of my mind generating thoughts while taking into account the many ways that one can see and approach this topic. As a result, not only did the pages keep growing in numbers but I also ended up with multiple ideas compiled in half sentences and unfinished paragraphs.



Sometimes when such things go unrecognized, the world doesn't necessarily come to an end and it is minor enough that you can easily make course corrections but what happens when it's something that ripples into your day, your life, your relationships or your business?

In my case, I was potentially missing a deadline.

To compensate for the glitch, I had to work overtime hours that put my health at risk. Furthermore, being mentally occupied created imbalance in other areas of my life as it led to me not being fully present and engaged. For example, in my relationships with my friends, family, co-workers and even my pet.

Staying Focused

Have you ever experienced those moments where hours go by and you're just so in the groove of your work that you hardly realize the time is even passing?

This is the exact moment when your attention is on your intention. This results in your mind shifting gear into its most focused state. This is exactly when the gateway between your conscious and unconscious mind opens.

This is the moment where your mind is engaged on all three levels of thinking. Your mind creates an alignment between the two basic components of awareness, intention and attention which is necessary in order to get the result that you really want.

If you were to perceive your mind as your internal operating system, it's only when your conscious mind collaborates with your beyond conscious mind that you can generate new patterns, new habits, and new experiences.



If you struggle to an extent in one area or another it is most likely due to the fact that your subconscious mind is paying little attention to what your conscious mind is concentrated on.

Good news is, assuming there's no severe medical condition and that all other external conditions remain the same, the underlying mental filters, patterns, and mindsets are all controllable.

We are the only creatures capable of creating. Therefore, once we develop useful action-oriented strategies that expand the mindset and extend the subconscious mind, we start creating more alignment between the emotional, mental, and physical energy. As a result we can think, feel, and do things that matter to us most, in a timely manner.

Nevertheless, anything that goes against your typical habits requires time, focused effort, continuous practice, and a whole lot of patience. I guarantee that as a result you can gradually improve your productivity, consistency, and satisfaction.



Sometimes we’re in a transitional point in an area of our life. We may be starting a new commitment, such as changing careers, picking up a new activity, hobby, or skill set, changing routines, developing a new habit, and etc.

Here's what you can do to facilitate your progress:

Minimize Distractions

“Become an achiever by recognizing how every single step that you're taking is contributing to you achieving the bigger goal.”

By breaking the big task into small action steps, you are setting yourself up for something you look forward to.

This method is a start to help you build momentum and become more aware and present as it engages your mind in a process that connects you to the main objective.

Let’s take a look at one example that a lot of people often struggle with: punctuality.

For example, showing up for school/ work on time.

The steps that need to be taken for you to declare the task as finish and done could be something like:

1. Preparing your bag the night before.
2. Setting up the alarm the night before.
3. Going to bed.
4. Getting up in the morning.
5. Making the bed.
6. Brushing your teeth.
7. Making breakfast (in case you eat breakfast before going to school/work).
8. Eating breakfast.
9. Preparing your lunch for the day.
10. Putting it in your bag.
11. Choosing the clothes for the day.
12. Grooming your beard, combing your hair.
13. Putting on your clothes.
14. Closing the door.
15. Stepping outside of the house.
16. Walking to your preferred or available means of transport.
17. Commute time.
18. Making it to work/school on time.

Now that you have the list, assign a realistic time to each step. This is very subjective and personal.

For me, the task that requires the most time is actually choosing what to wear. I used to visualize what I like to wear the night before so that I could make timely decisions in the morning.

So now, you want to stick to the plan that you have in front of you.

You will need to bring your attention to your intention. This means that you need to focus on what will award you with your desired outcome.

First step is to articulate your intention to yourself. You could say something like:

“I love being punctual.” or “I am focusing on one task at a time because I want to get to school/work on time.”

After you have outlined what tasks need to be completed in order to achieve your intention, you can start checking these off of your list one by one. This is an effective method that can be applied to anything in which you want to develop consistency.

Caveat.

At first, it might be uncomfortable to do things a different way. In this case, doing things in a different way in order to achieve your desire in becoming more “punctual”.

You have no choice but to embrace the emotional discomfort and push your own limits.

Through each trial and error you’ll also be able to capture new lessons/insights and make adjustments until the connectivity of the new pattern stands stronger than the old one.

Because yes! You can absolutely reinvent yourself.

Replicate the Good Times

Try this simple yet very effective tool of anchoring yourself into a similar past positive experience. This can really help switch an unwanted feeling into a resourceful feeling in a matter of minutes.

In the story I shared with you, I saw red flags, I heard sirens and alarms go off. This resulted in an emotional overwhelm which then spiraled into discouraging thoughts. When this happened, I started searching for a relatable positive experience in my memory and I visualized a time when I was in highschool on the last day of finals...

It was a time when I had finished the 2 week exam period on a great note and went out to eat and hangout at the restaurant. I remembered all the hard work I had put in to get good grades so I’d be able to completely enjoy my day out with my friends.

Reflecting on these positive results and feelings from this experience enabled me to envision my success as I was able to interrupt this negative thought loop in my mind redirecting it into a more resourceful state. From there, I was able to kindle my desired writing flow to accomplish my goal in the pre-set time.

Eliminate Interruptions

Make friends with your environment by removing the things that take away from your attention.

Mind your attention and reel it back in everytime it springs off. This is accomplished by reminding yourself of the initial intention.

For instance, I noticed that I need to shut down my cell phone, close all the pages on my web browser, put on my earphones and listen to alpha wave study music to better engage in tasks that require my thinking and creative skills.

Now I want you to also list 5 things that interrupt your internal and/or external flow. With each of these I want you to devise one solution for each.

Final thoughts:

• The challenges we currently face as well as the solutions we realize are a function of our perception which are created by our cognitive processing habits!
• The internal conflicts that you might face stem from the way you invite your subconscious mind to engage with your conscious mind. This is because this goes against what your unconscious mind wishes to receive.
• Some people take faster steps and some move at a slower pace. Therefore it is necessary to identify and accurately assess the pace that's right for you. This means developing strategies that complement your natural perceptual thinking pattern.

What would you do differently?

What other ideas can you add to this list that I may have not mentioned? Do you have your own focus tips to add to this list?

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