In this blog I am going to talk about the 6 types of distractions that every entrepreneur should be aware of…
We all listen to lot of positive talks… motivational videos… we get pumped up… we are on high energy levels… we set out to accomplish or you know set out complete certain tasks or certain amount of tasks in a day…
But one hour into our work… our focus get diluted… and we get distracted… we are into something… and one notification on the phone… or one thought which suddenly pops up by triggering an event distracts us…
We are all aware of the generic types of distractions… you are into something… one phone call comes and you are out of the track… you are working at home … nagging from your kids distracts you… one normal conversation you have with your partner triggers an heat and we jump into heated thoughts… we may continue on the road of that conversation… or it is just that thought which irritates us or you know… creates heat in us…
So it is essential that you have a deeper understanding about the type of distractions we face … I have categorize them into 6 types… and you can categorize any type of distractions you face into one of these categories…
So lets jump in…
The 1st Type of Distraction
some thing that we are afraid of or something that gives us pain…
Let me share an example… lets say you set a task which needs to be completed today and you have set your time to complete that… when you are into that task… you discover that it needs you to push yourself out of the comfort zone… it might be a new code which you have to write.. or a new type of problem which you have solve… it might be reaching out to someone who ask for help but you are not comfortable talking to them because you feel they are rude…. It is basically a task which gives us that feeling that you know… I am not good in this… or I have never done this before … what will happen if I do this and things go wrong….
And this very thought distracts us and gets us into a sequential thinking… and we get lost… it gives pain… it hurts … so instead of taking this up as a challenge… you succumb to fear… the fear need not be a big one to be called that as a fear… it can be small day to day challenge also which stops us from taking that leap of faith… like I said it can be a new tool which we have to learn to complete the project or the given task… So the fear distracts us…
2nd Type of Distraction
something that gives us pleasure…
You know… an hour into work… you feel like you have burned out and stressed… and you want to take that short coffee break… or you know… you feel like “let me go and have a smoke” … so the story that we tell our self is I am stressed out… let me chill out for sometime… or you know.. it can be even you want to check out your phone and get into whatsapp or facebook conversation….
The things is… you do it to feel good… it is something that gives you pleasure… you are not doing it to relieve your stress… you are doing it to feel good… the goal is to derive pleasure rather than focus on getting the outcome…
If you take a break a to go for a short walk so that you clear out the cob web out of your head and get some inspiration to cool down the heat… that’s a different story… but when you take a break to indulge in an activity that gives you pleasure so that you can feel good… that is a distraction…
3rd Type of Distraction
demand created by other people…
Now… we might think that you know… other people are taking away your time… you are being demanded of your time more than which is available with you… but that is not always true…
The truth is… it is not others who keep demanding your time…. The truth is You are accessible to other people’s demand all the time… you make yourself available to other people demand all the time….
The thing that causes this state is… If you don’t know what you want in life… if you don’t realize that the task which you are involved in is must for you to achieve your goal… if you don’t have an action plan chartered out in front of you … you will allow yourself to be available for other peoples demand..
So set ground rules for yourself and promise yourself to set priorities and focus on your work… and stop being available to other peoples demand all the time…
Especially if you are an entrepreneur and your job involves doing lot of thinking and strategizing is the most damaging thing you can do to your business…
4rth Type of Distraction
focusing on what you don’t want in life or doesn’t mean anything to you in your life…
The typical example of this is… you hate something… you are not comfortable with a particular persons behaviour… and start focusing on that… that activity or that person…. It is actually you don’t want to focus on that person or event or activity… but you are thinking about it…
it happens and it is ridiculous right… so that’s why it is important that why focusing on yourself and your growth is the most selfless act that you can perform…
Because now what happens is… you are focusing on your growth so much… your are focusing on your business so much that you don’t have time to think about the things that you don’t want in life….. you give so much of importance to your growth … that you start attracting health, wealth and happiness which you are going to radiate, simulate and spread it to others…
So if you are someone who thinks that focusing on your growth is selfishness… not it is not… it is the most selfless act that you can do…
so don’t worry about others… don’t worry about the world… it can take care of itself…
if you want to really help others, if you want to really serve others… focus on yourself and become capable of helping others when they are in need…
5th Type of Distraction
focusing on things that you cannot control or you don’t have control…
let us take the example of the covid pandemic… it was something which is beyond our control… but I know people who were glued to the new channel for hours and days together… who were keep giving updates on social media channels on all the negative news which were populated on media…
I am not saying that you should ignore… but being glued to it… keep indulging in it… is not going to change anything… you have to take precautions… you have to protect yourself… but keep discussing about the earthquakes, natural disasters, wars, economic downturns, recessions, political debates, recessions, the policies taken by government for hours together which you don’t have any control is a distraction…
Focusing on negative behaviours, events and incidents is a distraction…
6th Type of Distraction
focusing on past mistakes, what you screwed up on messed up in the past…
Now this is a very serious one… we all are human beings and we all do mistakes… there is no one individual on planet earth who is perfect… who hasn’t done something wrong… who hasn’t messed up or screwed up something….
But keep thinking about that is only going to deepen your feeling of guilt… right? … past is past… whether it happed ten year ago… twenty year ago… or it happened last minute… what was done is done… it is past… it is like a corpse… a dead body….
Now… All that you can do is to cremate it or bury it with respect and take a firm resolve to not repeat that again by working on yourself…
So these are the six types of distractions that as an entrepreneur you should be aware of…
Now.. I have given the link to this mind map in the description of this video… download it…. and keep it for your reference and keep looking at it till you are able to identify your distractions instantly…
If you like this blog post… post your comments…
Once again this is vimalesh gopal here…. I am a growth entrepreneur and founder of fourth gen hub and I am on a mission to help 100 thousand people to become fourth gen digital entrepreneurs…
See you.. Have a great day… god bless… bye bye…