If You Are Distracted, You Are Probably To Blame

I often complain about life’s little distractions; things like Facebook and a too-long to-do list and too many people to keep up with on more than a cursory level.  But here’s the problem with that: almost all of my distractions are my fault.

In almost every case, I have a choice as to what I give my attention to.  So if I’m distracted, then I’m to blame for not taking full responsibility for my life and choosing wisely, actively, consistently, where my attention goes rather than letting it drift passively from one shiny, noisy thing to the next.  This reality could be represented this way:

Distraction = Not taking responsibility for my attention.

Conversely, I could say:

Focus = Taking full responsibility for my attention.

Of course there are those of us genuinely plagued by things like Attention Deficit Disorder.  We may need extra help, manufactured or otherwise, to give us the chemical or emotional stability needed to choose wisely.  Nothing wrong with that.

But if we qualify as a self-aware person, then we have to admit our attention is our responsibility.  (If meds are needed to help us with that, then we still must choose whether or not to use them).

What tasks, people, objects, or feelings will you give your attention to today?  Are each of those tasks, people, objects, or feelings really worthy of your attention?  It might be helpful to make a list of the stuff that fills up your mind and take a good look at what’s actually there.

We’ve all got a finite amount of time, energy, and resources.  I want to use mine to attend to things that matter most.