The Habit of Victory in a World of Distraction

November 13th, 2007

I am reflecting on the book The Power of Full Engagement, by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (See below). Here is the second in a sequence of blogs that address some key points in the book and the thoughts they inspired in me.

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself. Marilyn vos Savant

If you don’t have the feeling of accomplishment at the end of every day, this article is for you! In our world of distraction, many of us get to the end of the day and feel overwhelmed with all the things that did not get done. And, at this point you may agree that multi-tasking is highly overrated. The distractions come in many forms; emails, phone calls, visitors, other people’s priorities, the list goes on. In many cases these things are part of our job; but if we don’t know how to manage or turn them off, they wash over us like a continual tidal wave; and while we may stay afloat, we drift further and further from our critical goals.

Here is a suggestion: develop the habit of victory for at least one of your priorities. This means that no matter what, you will have a sense of completion on something important to you. Once you have this habit, you can then apply it to more than one of your priorities and have a better sense of personal leadership and self management.

Here is how:
1. Pick a goal. Select an item from your list of priorities that are aligned with your key goals.
2. Break it down. Break it down into manageable parts and estimate the time required for each part.
3. Start at the beginning. Start with the first part and block out the time required. (Sixty-minute increments work well.)
4. Stay focused. Set yourself up to say “no” to all distractions. This can involve alerting others that you are not available, put your phone on silent, close your door, turn off your email alert, etc.. Give yourself permission to be in focus.
5. Write your intention. Write on a card or piece of paper these words, “For the next ______ (minutes, or hours, etc), I am completing ________.” Describe what your work product. Having the vision of the completed part is important. Again, Sixty-minute increments are a good rule of thumb for this approach.
6. Set a timer. Set a timer for your allotted time and place it on the intention you just wrote. The reason for this is to free your mind completely from even having to keep track of time.
7. Stop. Pause when the timer goes off. You may be surprised that the time went by so quickly and you may want to continue your project. If that makes sense, then do so. You will likely have accomplished far more in an hour than usual.
8. Celebrate. Once you stop working on your project, take a break. It can be a short one, but it is important to give yourself a moment of pause and quiet celebration; you are developing the habit of victory in a world of distraction.

Once you feel the confidence in this habit, you can use it whenever you need to. To your victory and the feeling of accomplishment that you will have at the end of the day!

Entry Filed under: Insights on OC