I reached a point a year ago where I realized: there is too much going on in my day to day life.
Not too much work (although maybe even a bit too much of that too), but mainly too much clutter.
Too many distractions.
Too many things competing for my attention.
There were just too many damn things happening on a daily basis, all day, every day.
Many of my friends haven’t yet reached the point that I have. I reached the point where I made an active, intentional, and conscious daily effort towards simplifying my life.
Maybe you can can relate to this day in and day out life of over-stimulation.
Everyone and everything constantly trying to distract you. It’s almost beyond me how anyone under the age of 40 can get away with not having attention deficit disorder.
The Most Common Culprits Of Distraction:
1.) Social media (namely: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Linked-In, and Tinder)
2.) YouTube
3.) Text Messages (Especially GROUP text messages)
4.) Phone Apps (and there’s always more and more and more coming….)
Then there are those that have been here already for several years:
5.) Email
6.) The Internet
7.) TV, Movies
Life is already somewhat short, pile on more and more distractions and now years of your life can fly by without you even realizing it.
The biggest one source of everything I’ve listed here, is so obvious that its painful:
Your Smartphone.
From your ever present smart phone you can (and usually do) access all of distractions mentioned on my list above.
It is the single biggest source of distraction and noise that we deal with.
Do you own your smart phone? Or does your smart phone own you? It’s an honest question.
For most people, its their smart phone that owns them.
”The things you own, end up owning you” -Tyler Durden (Fight Club, 1999)
And my friends, its even more true today than it was in 1999.
And as far as your smartphone is concerned, there are other issues with it that I haven’t even mentioned or discussed here yet.
The main one is RF (Radio-frequency) Poisoning. If you want to read more about this I would check out this article right here.
To be truly great in this life, to really accomplish great things and leave your mark on this world, you are going to have to break free from the same shackles that are confining everyone else. Those shackles are common and normal for everyone else, but not for you.
Not anymore they’re not.
Not for someone looking to build something EPIC.
The shackles that are confining everyone else can be summed up and defined by one word: DISTRACTION.
If hesitation will kill you, distraction will murder you and the dreams you have for your life.
The scariest part about distraction is (like the devil in sheep’s clothing), people don’t even realize they’re distracted.
It takes reading an article like this to even bring awareness to people of how many hours per day, per week, month, and each year, they are losing to their smart phone.
Years of their lives are flying by with their heads buried in their phone’s.
And if they aren’t distracting themselves with technology, they’re doing it in other ways. Like through their social life for example: time-wasting friends, endless dating, toxic relationships…..you name it.
I know you guys all know who these people are.
Then there’s the classic alcohol and drugs.
Alcohol and drugs are the age-old mind numbing distractions. Any way you slice it:
Distraction and a lack of focus will be the death of you.
Even if its spiritual death.
It will be the death of your ability to do what you were meant to do.
In this life (and especially in 2017), you have got to be EXTREMELY focused.
You have to turn off your cell phone when you’re creating or producing content.
- You have to eat foods that create and sustain your energy.
- You should look into juicing.
- You have to be going to the gym (ideally lifting weights and doing cardio both).
- You should probably look into taking productive performance-enhancing substances.
- You have to be getting enough sleep. The key word there is enough (you cant be getting too much sleep either).
- You should read this blog and others similar to it so that you’re reminded on a daily basis to stay FOCUSED.
Step 1: Eliminate or minimize the time you spend every day playing with apps on your smart phone. The easiest way to do this is by turning off your notifications in your phone settings.
Step 2: Integrate (one by one if you have to) each of the bullet points on the list right above.
Laser-like focus/concentration will be necessary to build an epic life for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to focus long enough on something to get very far with it. The distractions will ping up (like they always do) and will rob you of your attention.
It’s a vicious battle when it comes to your attention these days, there are many people and things competing for it.
Be in control of your life, don’t let your life control you.
Until next time,
Live intentionally
-Matt Mitchell
