How to Stop Distracting Yourself in Order to Start Living a Life That You Truly Love

I used to be that distracted person, feeling like I was travelling to other people’s lives. Even recently. The one major thing I did to start living is to be present in each moment. When I started doing that, I realized I wasn’t actually happy just reading the blogs, news, etc. Listening to what I wanted to do and doing those things was the catalyst to deep-dive into life. For example, I stopped reading about starting a business and now I’m setting mine up. Woot!

A media fast is also a great trick! You don’t want to starve yourself of information, but bingeing is just as bad.

Great post Stephenie!

Great post lady! Sooooo guilty of this. I actually created a folder where all my “guru’s” blogs go into as soon as I receive them and when I find time I’ll read them (I haven’t opened that folder once in 3 weeks!). I still read my fav peeps like yours though ;)

@ColbyOhlhausen Thank you Colby! I really appreciate your comment, being present is SO important to living a fulfilling life. And yay for getting your business going! Also love this, “You don’t want to starve yourself of information, but binging is just as bad.” xo

@LizLongacre Ooooh, super smart trick! I do that too and it’s a great way to avoid the chance to distract yourself. And thanks for keeping me out of the hidden folder! ;D xo

I loved this post Stephenie! I felt like you were speaking right to me. I’m definitely guilty of staying too long on the guru train. And like you, I would organize, highlight, brainstorm and feel a temporary sense of accomplishment after listening to trainings etc, but would go to bed feeling like I had wasted another day.

I think in a lot of ways, I was covering up my fear of putting myself out there. Trying to be as prepared as possible, so I could get it “right” right out of the gate. I’ve realized this pitfall for a while now, but still have trouble eliminating distractions. But at least the awareness is there! It just seems like there are an infinite amount of things I could be doing to work on my business at any given time, and I want to do it ALL!

@Stephenie Zamora Great post Stephenie. It is sooo easy to get distracted. I still have the odd day when distractions appear to take me off course – yet each time I take something from it and learn. Now I plan for an hour or a day just for distractions – I try to schedule it in to my week, that way if something catches my eye, I either minimise the page (if on the web), print it and put it to one side, make a note and then come back to it when I have scheduled my ‘distraction’!In Gratitude ~ Jaki

uh, yes, i definitely delude myself into thinking I’m getting closer to my “dream life” just by planning. I daydream, make lists, plan plan plan! I could save myself so much time by just DOING, but doing isn’t as SAFE as planning. I’d like to make a list (there I go again!!) of some concrete actions I could take to get what I really want… maybe I should skip the list and just do them.

@helenkkopp YES!!! Just DO them without planning it out first. Plans are great, but it’s really important to just start doing so you can break that bad cycle! :)

@JakiBent That’s a really great strategy Jaki! Thanks for sharing. Sometimes I end up with a window full of tabs that I want to read… but I hadn’t thought about scheduling time just for that! xo

@AshleyGwilliam I totally hear you on trying to be prepared so you can get it right. I’ve definitely done that! I have learned that it’s so much better to just start moving yourself forward and getting things started, then figuring a lot of the details out as you go. If you’re a perfectionist planner (like moi) you’ll spend MONTHS and even YEARS planning everything out, and that’s just wasted time!

And yay! It all starts with awareness and small steps towards eliminating the distractions. A friend just shared a trick with me called “chunking.” You make a list of all the things that are MONEY PRODUCING that you need to do… then you spend 45 solid minutes working on those things (set a timer). Then take a 15 minute break to walk, watch TV, read something, snack, whatever… and dive back in for another solid 45 minutes. You can repeat this a few times. Sounds to me like an amazing way to plow through the important things AND allow yourself some distraction. :) xo

You’re right – it starts with awareness. And I should give myself a pat on the back for that! I have heard of chunking, just never heard that word before. I was actually experimenting with something called the Pomodoro Method, recommended by a B-Schooler. You use a kitchen timer to time block your focused work into 30 minute increments, followed by a 4-5 minute break. I think you’re allowed 2-3 cycles before you’re required to take an hour break – go for walk, eat, no work allowed! What I like about it is you pull the tasks for the day off your master to do list, and you put an X next to each entry to represent 1 pomodoro. You keep plugging away at that one task, no matter how many pomodoros it takes. If it ends up taking a lot, you can see that it should have been broken down into more than 1 pomodoro.

If it sounds confusing, it kind of is at first LOL But I really like it. Unfortunately, it does not work well for my 10-6pm job. The nature of that job requires that I constantly be interrupted and attend to customer needs as they come up – not ideal for focused work.

Looking forward to getting to know you better =)

Good stuff, Stephanie!! xoxo

Stephenie!! OMG LOVING this information and tips!!! I am going to totally implement in my own life and business! Thank you!

Thoughtful post! Really enjoyed it.

Wow, great post. Felt like it was written just for me ;)