Quiet the Noise - Focus on the Essential!
A while back I wrote a piece called “Distraction Assassinators” and described what I considered the top 5 distractions in life and workplace and how to eliminate or in my case ASSASSINATE them ( you can get the pdf by going on my website, www.joshuagoldcoaching.com, and downloading it). It was a bit tongue and cheek with Lucy Lui as O-Ren Ishii, her character in Kill Bill, on the cover of the piece.
The other afternoon I was sitting at my desk trying to get some work done. My superpower time is before noon. So any Frogs that need to be consumed better happen then. So you can imagine that I was having a difficult time focusing on what I had wanted to do and the words came to me like an almost out-of-body experience, “quiet the noise — focus on the essential”. I imagine this is what Kevin Costner felt like when he heard a voice from afar say “ if you build it they will come”.
If I break it down, we are dealing with two very fundamentally critically important subjects. Distractions or as Steven Pressfield calls it so accurately “The Resistance” and Clarity of what is Essential.
We deal with distractions every single day of our life. I think we can even categorize distractions as the big O. O standing for Obstacles. If we believe that obstacles are the way and that they are opportunities then we are constantly being bombarded with opportunities. Opportunities to learn how to deal with these distractions. My obstacles have an ebb and flow to them. They are not always showing up the same each day or the same way when they do. These everyday obstacles are very tricky. They also have a way of adapting and overcoming our ability to assassinate them. So we are always learning new ways to deal with them so that we can actually focus on the essentials. I would suggest that anyone reading this now go onto amazon.com and order The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
To touch on the next vital function in regard to life is the ability to focus on the Essential. Once you are able to quiet the noise and overcome the obstacle that is distracting you, you need to know what to focus on. What exactly is “Essential?” If you don't have clarity around that then distraction will always win.
Each of these subjects deserves a book and many have been written about each of them. I am sure that I will be writing one of them this coming year as part of Contemplation to Completion. I take a deep dive into distractions, how to overcome them, and the ability to gain clarity and focus on those essential activities that only you can and should be doing.
