Dear Burnt Out Business Woman,
Let's Kick Distractions to the Curb!
….wait, excuse me….my kids are arguing about whose turn it is to pet the cat. BRB
I’m here today to talk about distraction… Oh, hold on. Someone is texting me about our appointment tomorrow.
Just a sec. I’ve got to close the door, put in my earbuds, and put my phone on DND.
Now, let’s see if I can focus.
Some days it feels like the distractions are just waiting for me to sit down to give my attention to an important task. How about you? Does any of that sound familiar?
This month, I’m focusing on burn out. It’s a very real possibility that so many of us are struggling with it right now! We’re almost to the one year mark with this pandemic, and we’re feeling the mental, emotional, and physical strains. Mental fatigue comes hand in hand with burn out. This makes it more difficult to keep focus on one task, to zone out distractions, and to choose where to put our attention. And, these days, there are a lot of things vying for our attention!
You may be finding it increasingly difficult to prioritize your time and make space--both physically and mentally for the tasks and people that you’ve decided are the most important.
When you have fewer distractions, you’ll feel like you’ve gained the precious gift of time. Time to focus on that big project for work. Time to enjoy your family. Time to relax in a hot bubble bath...Ah….
My Top 3 Tips for Kicking Distractions to the Curb:
Visualize your Long Term Goal
I’m not talking about your goal for the week, or even for the year. Where do you want to be in three years? Ten Years? Keeping this long game perspective can make it easier to sort out which things are important to focus on NOW. When I know that in two years I’d like to send my oldest daughter to college with no debt, it makes it easier to carve out time for the budget planning today.
Practical Ideas:
Create a vision board or a dream board
Put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror
Use a meaningful picture for your phone wallpaper
Create a Parking Lot for Distractions
Parking Lot--a place to leave something for a time, knowing that you can come back to it when you’re ready
Did you ever think of creating a Parking Lot for your distractions??? Crazy, right?! It’s a place where you can leave a task, knowing that it will be there when you’re ready to get back to it!!
Practical Ideas:
A white board or cork board
A notebook
A client just shared the DO! app with me and said it helped with her swirling thoughts!
Time Block
Put simply, time blocking is reserving a section of time on your calendar for a specific task or group of tasks. Some people think time blocking means they have to schedule their entire day. Um, there’s no way that would work for me. I prefer to time block sections of my day, or my intent for a particular day of the week. I suggest that you experiment with it and see what works best for you!
Practical Ideas of WHAT to Time Block
Business
Open office hours--time when you WANT to be interrupted to build relationships, complete team tasks, “open door policy”
Do Not Disturb office hours--time for deep work--thinking, planning, involved projects
Only 1 or 2 sessions a day for email, voice mail, and/or social media message checks
Home
Chores or repetitive tasks
Date nights or Quality Time with the family
What do you think? Do any of these jump out at you as solving a problem that you’re currently facing? Just one thing that you can implement starting tomorrow?
I know you can do it!! Begin with just one thing and you’ll discover:
That you accomplish more important tasks during the day
That you’re taking steps toward your goals
That you’re spending less time on unimportant tasks
Comment and share what you think will be the most helpful!
PS - If the ideas I’ve shared here still feel overwhelming and like it’s just scratching the surface of what you really need, then let’s schedule a time to chat. Just you and me. 30 mins on the phone to uncover what your obstacles might be and how coaching can help you step into your power. You need control over your life. Stop handing over the reigns.
You can get on my schedule here.
Stop the path toward burn out today. Let’s kick distractions to the curb!
Coach Selena