It's been fifteen minutes since I have been battling to finalise the title of this post. I have lost count of the number of emails and wandering thoughts I have shoved away within this short period. It will take a lot of willpower not to succumb to these distractions.
There we go again, an email just popped in. It is from an airline and its title seems catchy: 'Get ready for your trip to Durban' I kid you not, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I had booked my ticket for the wrong date as I was only due to travel in a couple of weeks. I then had to check the email to confirm my suspicion. In the process, I made an intentional effort to calm down and settle the worst case scenario in my head, which would be to pay a fee to reschedule the flight.
I was wrong. The email wasn't intended to 'get me ready for my trip', neither was it about my booking details. I was rather welcomed by unnecessary ads about the airline's other offerings. I then decided to filter through my old emails to check my ticket, only to realise my booking details were in order. I finally managed to hit the 'new post' button on my blogsite, after struggling with many other distractions and here I am.
My last post in 2019 was the first of a three-part series I started on "... how often overlooked relational cues in social interactions may have been influential in building character in this image-driven world." The first relational cue I reflected on was 'sarcasm' and the post was titled: "Guilty Until Proven Innocent".
In this post, I will reflect on the second cue which I have tagged: 'normalised distraction'. I define normalised distraction as whatever you would have considered unimportant or detrimental to advancing your development and growth, in the last five to ten years, which has now unconsciously become commonsense or topmost on your priority list.
I find these five questions important for gaining deep insights into developing a personalised Focus Barometer:
In this post, I will reflect on the second cue which I have tagged: 'normalised distraction'. I define normalised distraction as whatever you would have considered unimportant or detrimental to advancing your development and growth, in the last five to ten years, which has now unconsciously become commonsense or topmost on your priority list.
I find these five questions important for gaining deep insights into developing a personalised Focus Barometer:
- Who are you?
- What are you about?
- What do you want to achieve in life?
- What are the things that are truly important to you?
- What are your key responsibilities in terms of yourself, your family, the causes and people that matter, and your career?
This Barometer seeks to reveal and measure how top priorities, values and aspirations may have been obscured by competing and unimportant demands. This activity will not only enhance the ability to realign one's gaze on top goals and priorities but also channel one'e energy into living a purposeful life.
Mindfulness of these questions can be instrumental for revealing one's threshold on the Barometer. Of particular importance is how the majority of your current tasks and activities advance your answer to each of the questions posed.
Staying focused on one's highest priorities in a fast-paced and complex world such as ours is a full-time job.
Let's walk the talk.
