and easy to feel that you are giving neither your work nor home life the full attention it deserves. It is then all too easy to feel overwhelmed, which easily leads to distraction. The number one way to lose sight of your goals is to be distracted or overwhelmed by your day-today responsibilities. How many times have you told yourself, “I’m just trying to get through today?” When you get that distracted, overwhelmed feeling, it’s difficult to focus on anything at all.
I was lucky enough to attend the Mobile Beat conference earlier this year in Las Vegas. On the last day the final keynote speaker was Bryan Dodge, author of books such as ‘The Good Life’ and ‘The Principles of an Unstoppable Family Business’ , who talked about the law of diminishing intent. As an example of this, imagine you’re busy in the office going through your daily routine – answering phone calls, sorting through your emails – when a thought pops into your head.
It could be the face of someone you have been meaning to contact, a final piece of the puzzle you have been working on, or an idea for a gift for a client or someone special in your life etc. The trick is to act on it straight away before it falls beneath the surface again. That’s diminishing intent. If you don’t act on an internal decision to do something quickly, the likelihood of it ever being achieved diminishes quickly.
Think of it like an inbox in your head. Somebody could bring you an important contract for you to read over in a bright orange envelope. When it’s on top of the pile, it’s easy to see, reminding you to take action. But if you ignore it, it gets buried by less important envelopes until you forget about it all together.
Some of the ideas that come into our heads can be business and life changing opportunities. However the idea is only one part of the puzzle, action is required to make them a reality. And if we don’t act quickly, just like the orange envelope, they will soon be covered in more thoughts and ideas, which means the chance of us ever taking action is rapidly diminished. Before I go any further, I think it’s important that I own up to the fact that when it comes to distractions and procrastination I am a gold medal winner!
Even writing an article for this magazine is something I do because I feel I need to, rather than want to, so any distraction is likely to lead to me finding new ingenious ways to procrastinate and not return to the task in hand of writing. This got me thinking. What is the difference between procrastination and distraction? For the purposes of this article I am going to focus on distraction, which can be very harmful for our productivity and overall DJ business.
However, I feel first it’s important to understand the difference between this and procrastination. Procrastination, as I see it, is a conscious decision to put something off for another time that we know needs to be done. This can be more harmful, in my opinion, for our business than a distraction as it’s a voluntary action which essentially asserts that the job in hand is not important enough for us to do right now. This can ultimately lead to the job never being revisited and a possible opportunity missed.
Procrastination can, however, also include a certain level of distraction. This is when we use distractions to avoid doing something; when we look for something else to distract us and occupy our thoughts rather than the task in hand. Ultimately, though, I think the real difference is that a distraction can be involuntary. The perfect example being the ‘Squirrel!’ running gag in the Disney movie UP.
In this article I will attempt to give you some reallife examples of how distractions can harm our productivity and therefore ultimately the success of our DJ business. I will then share some ideas that I have personally found useful for combatting distractions. As a DJ, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. After all, for many of us the running of a business and the actual job of performing at events has to be balanced with spending quality time with the loved ones who deserve our attention.
It can be difficult to achieve that elusive ‘work/life balance’ that we so often hear we should be striving for, "It can be difficult to achieve that elusive ‘work/life balance’ that we so often hear we should be striving for " 57DISTRACTIONS Recently a friend shared on social media about a bad review that had been posted about his business by a competitor. He was understandably troubled, unsure of how to respond and ultimately distracted from achieving his goals.
No one likes a bad review, regardless of whether it is founded or not. If we receive one, most of us will be drawn in to react or, at the very least, do some soul-searching as to whether it was justified or not. However, this can easily turn into a distraction. Now I am not saying we should avoid the review or ignore it, but the amount of time and thought we dedicate to it needs to be managed, to avoid it distracting us from our business.
Ultimately, a bad review on your social media can hurt, but the distraction that it can course to your business can hurt more! Reviews aside, social media is undoubtedly one of the biggest distractions of modern life. However, as a working DJ running a successful business, it can be a necessary distraction. After all, it is a useful marketing and market research tool, not to mention for some a very viable source of new business.
That said, with its addictive nature, it can be all-consuming. When we spend far too much time checking what others are doing it is all too easy to lose focus on what we could be doing. Facebook, to single out just one social media platform that I use myself and know is used by many of my peers, has another alltoo-tempting source of distraction: the group post. Like a soap opera, those contentious discussions draw us in to check what everybody else’s opinion is and, before we know it, the post has exploded out of proportion and hours have been wasted either arguing or simply being wound up by the view of others.
The antidote for this distraction can be found in turning off Notifications, so you’re not distracted any more than you choose to be. Before I finish with social media, and specifically Facebook, another distraction that lays below the surface and can waste a lot of time is the video content native to Facebook or linked to YouTube. If you’re like me, clicking on one video rarely stops there. Before you know it thirty minutes or more has passed by with nothing productive achieved.
It’s important to acknowledge that not all distractions are bad. Have you ever sat at your desk trying to figure out a problem that you just couldn’t see how to solve and then you stepped away, made a cup of tea, and when you returned your mind was clearer and you quickly found a solution? Sometimes being distracted is the healthy option! By allowing yourself to stop stressing and step away from the task in hand, you may find you return to it with a different focus.
A few years ago, I was working at a wedding and was there for the whole day. As anyone who does all-day weddings knows, there is often a lot going on at these events, which means lots of potential distractions for us, as well as the guests. When it came to the room being turned around and set for the evening, I had been distracted by the groomsmen who had decided last minute they wanted to do a routine for the bride and groom after the first dance. I was going to tell the story (The Love Story) of how the couple met and fell in love just before the first dance, proceeding the cake cutting, so I had a lot to think about and this extra distraction was not helping.
When I returned from chatting to the groomsmen, the photographer, eager to get going and finish (even though I had asked him to hold fire), had already arranged the cake and all the guests were waiting in anticipation, including the bride and groom. I quickly checked my script and started by announcing the cake cutting to allow those around the room to join the bride and groom. Due to the initial distraction from the groomsmen and then my frustration regarding the photographer instigating the cake cutting without me, I had missed the fact that there was no knife set for the cake cutting!
This became apparent to me very quickly as the couple looked back at me confused as to what they should do. What I needed was a positive distraction. Thinking on my feet I led with the love story first, which gave my assistant time to find a member of staff with access to the cake knife. In the end the Love Story leading into the cake cutting worked perfectly.
On this occasion, a distraction worked in my favour. "When we spend far too much time checking what others are doing it is all too easy to lose focus on what we could be doing " Avoiding distraction is tough and understanding you’re not alone in being distracted is a good start. Below are some ideas that that I have found useful when it comes to managing those inevitable distractions: • Focus Reduce the chaos of your day and the danger of being overwhelmed by focusing on two to three important tasks (even one is okay), but no more than that.
It’s all you need to take steps towards accomplishing your goals. • Plan They say, ‘anything is possible’ , but when life gets busy, it can be hard to move forward with your goals and it’s easy to be distracted or overwhelmed; having a daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly plan by using a journal can help keep you on target. • Control your internal distractions A good way to prime your mind for work is to have a dedicated workstation. If you always work in a specific area, then your mind will associate that area with work-related thoughts. • Remove external distractions This tip is straightforward, just get away from things that distract you.
Is the television a distraction? Work in another room. Is family life distracting you? Get up earlier and work before everyone wakes up.
Is the internet distracting? Turn off the Wi-Fi, Facebook will still be there when you switch it back on! • Schedule your time on social media Set a daily limit to the amount of time you will spend on social media. The best method I have found for this is to set regular times to check it each day; for example 30 minutes (no more) after breakfast, then 30 minutes at lunch time and finally 30 minutes around 6pm. As I write this I am in the process of trying to create a habit around clearing my mind in the evening by switching off social media, email and other distractions from 7pm onwards every evening until breakfast the following morning.
There are some real mental health benefits from doing this and it also helps with getting a good night’s sleep, which in turn helps with focus and productivity. • Avoid diminishing intent Commit to taking action within 48 hours of having a good idea! • Day of event plan Have a script or timeline for your event, so if you are distracted you can easily get back on track. Finally, one of the best ways to be less distracted and achieve more is to first acknowledge a distraction when it happens for what it is, and then move on.
Like a bump in the road while you’re driving doesn’t stop your journey, neither does a distraction need to stop you from being productive. "one of the best ways to be less distracted and achieve more is to first acknowledge a distraction when it happens for what it is, and then move on "
