Last week we had a sneaky 3 days in Cyprus visiting our apartment and sorting out some tax and legal stuff. So not exactly a holiday, but enough time for me to get some serious reading done.
I’m increasingly fascinated by how we get change to stick. How we get to make the important things a habit in a world that’s ever more complex, and where people have less time than ever before. Clients find it difficult to find the time to make changes, even though they know what they’re doing isn’t working.
So I’m working my way through a number of books to give me more insights into this area, because I know this is a game changer in getting the financial results my clients want.
Distraction – the enemy of success
Our brains are becoming hard wired for distraction. And it’s becoming such a big problem that there’s serious research being carried out at institutions such as Harvard and MIT because of the impact it’s having on us all. There’s evidence that this level of distraction is as addictive as crack cocaine! Just look at how often people reach for their phone – actively looking for a distraction. It’s like we just can’t focus on anything for more than a few minutes anymore. And because we’ve all come to expect instant replies, we’re living in a state of constant reaction.
The researchers believe that living in this shallow state of constant distraction and interruption is going to be hard to reverse, that we’re permanently reducing our capacity to focus long enough to get anything important done.
The problem with distraction
The average person is now spending 60% of their time on electronic communication; emails, texts and social media. That doesn’t leave much time left for actually getting any work done!
This means we’re operating at an increasing shallow level. We need periods of uninterrupted time to do the deep thinking and achieve the big things that move us forward. But if we’re not careful we face losing that ability altogether.
Marketing distraction – all the things we “must” do
If I listened to everything I’m being told I “must” do to make my marketing work, I really don’t think there would be any time left to see my clients. I’m told by the various experts that I have to: write my blog, be active on Linkedin – personal and business page, Twitter, Facebook –personal and business pages, Googleplus, Periscope, lead generation tools, do regular video and podcasts, be all over SEO, writing articles for magazines, PR and speaking. Blimey. Really?
Where I actually get my work is from just 3 things – referrals, speaking and my blog. Much simpler and easier to cope with, leaving plenty of time for the important work of being with my clients.
I say focus on the 20% of things you know give you 80% of your results. We worked out that between Sean and I were we spending between 3 and 4 days a month on social media – an activity that has never brought a single client in! So we’ve made the decision to stop using Twitter and vastly reduce our social media distraction time. There are SO many more things I can achieve with that time. I know for many of our clients that social media is critical to their marketing – so make sure you focus on what really is important to you.
How can we move away from the shallow world of distraction?
I took advantage of the 5 hour flight home to revisit my Vision for our life and for the business, and then got really clear on what precisely I needed to do to achieve it. I realised that although I had tons of things on my to do list, I’d never before taken 5 hours of uninterrupted time to really think through what were the most important things, and when exactly I was going to do them.
You need to be very clear on what you want for your business and your life. And I mean REALLY clear. So clear that you know exactly what you’ll allow your time to be taken up with. So clear that you take control of your diary and decide what the important things and when you’re going to do them. If you don’t you’ll find you’re living someone else’s life – reacting to their priorities instead of your own.
I can’t tell you how different this week has been with that level of clarity and focus.
Identify your distraction points
Try being really aware of what takes up your time and where you get distracted. I realised that whenever I got to something difficult I’d reach for my phone, check all the social media, and then check email. I also allowed incoming emails, calls and texts to take my immediate attention no matter what I was working on. My brain was wired to look for distractions when the going got tough.
Now I can see this I’m being ruthless about turning email off, the mobile to silent and the phone to divert. I’m blocking out time in my diary and I know what I’m going to get done in that time. It’s meant getting up at 5.30 every day this week, but I knew what I wanted to get done this week and my diary was already full!
I recommend turning off all alerts; anything than can take your attention away from what you’ve chosen to do.
Then choose what gets your attention
Once you know what you need to and want to focus on, build your days around this important work. Don’t just hope you’ll squeeze it in somewhere, and don’t let your inbox run your day and week – activity isn’t achievement.
Get the edge – be different
This massive trend of distraction and reduced mental capacity to focus gives us a massive opportunity. If we can be the smart ones who choose deep focus and achievement over distraction we can get important work done. We can stand out.