Seven Tips to Help Us Focus

The power of distraction is real. So today, I’m sharing seven tips to help us focus.

This afternoon my daughter sent me the cutest video of my eight-month-old grandson, pushing a toy on wheels, while trying to walk beside it. Yes, he is learning to walk at eight months.

He walked beside this toy across the living room, nearly missing the coffee table. But he was doing great! And then the power of distraction seized him. He stopped pushing the toy, gently sat down on the floor, and picked up the distraction. Want to know what distracted him from his original goal of walking across the entire living room floor? A makeup brush.

I watched that video twice and laughed out loud. Probably because I relate so easily to the power of distraction. In all honesty, many of the things that distract me are as insignificant as that makeup brush.

After watching the video, I remembered a blog post I wrote a few years ago. Since this is the November New Challenge, I did something new. I edited and updated that blog post.

I encourage you to read The Power of Distraction. It has some great stuff! I even got encouraged reading it.

Here’s another new thing I’m doing. I’m sharing seven tips to help us focus from The Power of Distraction blog post.

These tips help capture my mind’s attention to focus. Perhaps some of these will help you focus too when the power of distraction is strong.

Pray for focus. We need to pray that the Lord would help us to focus and to keep us from distraction. Ask friends to pray for you to focus too. When we admit we have a struggle, distraction’s grip lessens. We need a power more powerful than the power of distraction to set us free. His name is Jesus.
Set boundaries. For example, I created a 30-minute boundary to explore PowerPoint themes when I need to create a presentation. I enjoy exploring themes and colors, but I can get lost in the sea of choices. So, I set my alarm for 30 minutes and then just let myself explore all the possibilities. However, when the buzzer goes off, I must stop exploring and choose one. This strategy has worked for me for over a dozen years.
Set alarms. I set my alarm for many different activities, not just to wake up in the morning. Like in the previous example, I also set alarms for how long I can read, talk on the phone, or work on a project. I’ve made a commitment that when the alarm goes off, I stop.
Write reminders. I used to intentionally call my mom on Monday nights on my way home from work. I placed a post-it note on my steering wheel Monday morning when I got to work. When my distracted brain got into my car after work, I read the post-it note, “Call Mom!” Simple. It helped me ignore life’s distractions and focus on my purpose: to talk with my mom.
Remove technology. This is an effective practice for me. For example, I remove my cell phone from the room I’m in because it’s so distracting. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest easily lure me to check them. Before you know it, I’m lost in the sea of social media.
Reward yourself. Rewards can be powerfully motivating for me. Because fun is one of my personal core values, my rewards must be fun. When I have a task to do that I don’t enjoy, I risk embracing the power of distraction rather than the power of focus. So, I reward myself. Keep rewards simple like eat chocolate while doing the task.
Celebrate completion. When I complete something, I celebrate. I sometimes do a little dance by myself. Or I may whoop it up with others. Other times, I text my family with fun GIFs. Celebrations, like rewards, do not need to be big. They can be simple and fast. Celebrate when you capture your mind and focus on something to completion.

The Power of Distraction

The power of distraction competes for our focus. Our minds are the battle ground. The constant battle for our attention is fierce. The Devil distracts us to lure us away from what our minds should be focusing on, who we should be focusing on, and how we should be focusing to get things done.

Distraction is a form of temptation. We need to recognize it for what it is. There is a remedy. We need to renew our minds daily (Romans 12:2). When distraction tries to use its power on us, we get to activate our seven tips to help us focus. First up, pray. Always, we need to seek God first. Then everything else starts to fall into place, including our focus (Matthew 6:33).

I hope as we continue to search our lives for areas we need to renew, that we will be on the lookout for those distractions and fight back to win our focus again.

Blessing

May we choose to seek God first, pray for focus, and implement strategies to break the power of distraction.

Seven Tips to Help Us Focus