We all need to cut out the distractions in our lives in order to be more focused on the task at hand.

Recognize:

A distraction is something that takes our attention away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We all will deal with it. So much time is wasted due to being distracted — hundreds of hours over the course of a year — by texts, emails, someone coming into our office or interrupting us at home. But I believe recognizing the distractions will help us eliminate them so we can remain focused and accomplish so much more with our time. Some are easily distracted, and for some working on a project or some task, when distracted it can take up to 25 minutes to refocus. I know for me it does. When I’m working on something, studying, when I’m interrupted it takes me a while to refocus my thoughts.

Prioritize:

So, how do we begin to eliminate distractions? One way is to prioritize our day, our tasks: begin to do the hard things first and work our way to the easier tasks or the ones we enjoy the most. Purpose during these times not to answer our phones, texts, not to answer any emails — until we are done; or schedule those throughout the day. So many things are vying for our attention, and if we don’t learn to prioritize, we will find ourselves feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

We must train ourselves to focus. When we do, we will find that our work is better and we really have more time in the day.

Just a thought,

PSS

Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting things off.

A bad habit:

Now we know sometimes there are legitimate reasons that cause us to delay, even important things. But many times, we use delay as a way to avoid things, people, responsibilities. If we are not careful, procrastination becomes our way of dealing with life. It becomes our habit. When this occurs, we will usually live with lots of regret.

Laziness:

We allow laziness to ruin our lives. Lazy people tend to be poor people. It’s the diligent who get rich or blessed, not the lazy or those who continue to procrastinate. We have to resolve to be more diligent and purposeful with our lives. When we procrastinate, it usually is because we don’t like, enjoy, doing some type of task. We tend to do the easy things or the things we like, but put off — avoid — the unpleasant, the hard things.

Missed opportunities:

When we live life this way, we will miss so many opportunities. People who constantly make excuses and put things off until tomorrow don’t realize that by doing this they may have missed an opportunity today. Procrastination will hurt us and our future. To get rid of this, we need to begin to take small steps to get things done, to push ourselves to do the hard things first, instead of the easy things and the things we enjoy doing. I believe if we would work on this, it would change our lives for the better. To identify this issue will cause our stress level to go down and our anxiety level to be less.

It’s the lazy who never prosper, but the diligent get rich.

Just a thought,

PSS

Self-talk is the act or practice of talking to oneself, either aloud or silently and mentally.

Be positive:

Positive self-talk is telling yourself you can do something, you can be something. It’s the script that we use to frame our lives. If we constantly give ourselves negative messages like: You can’t, You won’t succeed, You’re not good enough, this kind of self-talk will take you down, tear you down. Positive self-talk will help you reach your personal best; it will boost you up.

The true riches:

What would make you happy? A new wardrobe, a faster car? A new house? People often think these things are the key to feeling good, but experts say only about 10% of a person’s happiness is related to them. Much more happiness, 90%, has to do with your general outlook on life.

Think on these things:

Self-talk is the conversation you have in your head about yourself and the world around you. Changing how you talk to yourself can actually help how you see life — your life. What you meditate on is important. What you are thinking, how you talk to yourself can and will determine whether you are successful or not. Instead of thinking the worst, begin telling yourself you are important, you are somebody. If God is for me, who can be against me? If you are a Negative Nancy, begin to change what you allow yourself to think about. Think on these things: Philippians 4:8 — Fix your thoughts on what is true. Look it up.

Change your self-talk — change your life.

Just a thought,

PSS

Every one of us has a pain threshold. That pain threshold is the thing that can limit our lives. When something costs you too much, it seems too hard, the sacrifice is too great, that’s your pain threshold. We will never rise above it. We can never go beyond our pain threshold.

Life is not fair:

The Bible teaches that, while we are on this earth, we will experience trials and tribulations. In other words, we will all experience stuff that is not good and not fair. Our ability to process these things will determine the level of success each one of us will have.

Rejection:

Life is not always fair, and it’s not always going to be easy. Steve Jobs was rejected by more than 20 venture capitalists before one said yes. Thank God his pain threshold wasn’t 19. After 19 rejections, I am done. No, he wasn’t going to quit. His pain threshold was high enough that he could handle 20 rejections, and probably more than that.

No pain, no gain:

See, none of us will ever rise above our pain threshold. Some of us have very minimal pain thresholds. The first sign of a setback, and we quit. That’s why we won’t experience the success we seek. It’s not because of someone else: it’s because of us. The good news is: we can work on our ability to handle pain, setbacks, problems, and issues, by recognizing our attitude during times of trials, then beginning to grow in that area.

Learn to persevere and keep going, no matter what. Learn to endure as a good soldier, realizing setbacks and delays don’t mean we can’t — they are merely obstacles to overcome. Food for thought.

PSS

1 John 3:20 (NLT) — Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Greater is He:

We will all make mistakes, and fail at times. When we do, sometimes we will feel guilty. Hopefully, it will lead us to repent (change our minds). We shouldn’t allow guilt to keep us from serving, honoring God. Why? Because God is greater than our feelings. No matter how we feel about ourselves, we should keep doing what God has said.

Moving forward:

Guilt is defined as: a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined. When we do something wrong, we should feel remorse, or feel the emotion of guilt. But, instead of allowing that to destroy us, take us away from God, we need to realize God is greater than our feelings. We need to learn from our mistakes, and keep moving forward.

Forgiveness:

There is a healthy sense of remorse and regret, but we shouldn’t punish ourselves forever. Guilt, in a way, is our feeling we deserve to be punished, but for how long? Forgiveness of ourselves and others will help us to be accountable for our actions. When you have done something wrong, be remorseful. You may regret your action, but be quick to forgive yourself so that you can move on in life. Don’t sentence yourself to years and years of guilt. Recognize your wrong, mistake; take personal responsibility for it; forgive yourself.

No matter what, never quit; keep going. Why? Because God is greater than our feelings.

Just a thought,

PSS