Distractions

Even as I explore this topic, I can feel a heaviness over my body. Distractions, in my personal quest, are akin to getting shot. Each notification, each click on Facebook or slick deals, is like taking a bullet. The purpose becomes wounded and it requires a certain amount of time to recover and heal from each distraction. When I am all in on a task, I naturally and organically free myself from everything that is not related to the task at hand. This frees my senses, and my intuition to hone on the task at hand.

When it comes to introspection and examination of myself and the status quo, any distraction resets any observations that were made. As you peel back the layers of your beliefs, habits, and programming in your own life, each layer requires more awareness to understand the deeper levels. It is akin to diving into a deep ocean. The lower you go, the higher the pressure becomes. 

I have become very cognizant of the distractions in my life and found significant peace in freeing myself from them. Below I will share some tactics that I have adopted organically over the years. These are not meant as a how to, nor should you do them. These are simply an observation that I have made of myself over the last few years.

Besides text messages and phone calls, all notifications are off on my phone including WhatsApp and email. The notification is completely off, I do not even see the banner on my status bar.

Often I will leave my phone outside of my work area or put it in my backpack if my work is not directly related to my phone.

Use customized earplugs which are in a container attached to my keyring. I use them whenever I need to focus or go all in. Regardless of the location, especially at the gym, I will put them in my ear. Music and ambient sound are a distractor and I want to be all in when I’m accomplishing a task.

Tv, movies, YouTube are empty. Created to entertain without substance. Occasionally something meaningful is laced within them, but this is uncommon.  Organically I have grown to disdain these vices.

Politics is fundamentally a distraction from the truth. It is a theatrical act which hides the true intention and actions of the people in power. Everyone knows this but they still consume political news, have political discussions, ideologies and opinions. It is akin to studying and predicting a scripted WWE event. The winner and loser was chosen by a man long ago. What you see on TV is an act that has been practiced many times, a production designed to entertain you. 

The character of my existence changed when I was not attracted to distractions. I found the moment in front of me rich and complex. There’s so much to experience first hand, that I was totally oblivious to in the past.