You’re Probably Distracted
Halfway through the month of August I stopped using social media. I stopped posting on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
It wasn’t because I was sick and tired from all the video recording, editing, and posting.
And it wasn’t because I was getting bombarded with messages from followers or fellow users of the platforms.
Even though I wish that were the case, I stopped using social media because of the that number I saw when I checked my screen time and phone usage.
You wouldn’t believe it, but my phone told me I was spending 8 hours per day on my phone scrolling on social media.
That’s right, I was spending just as much time scrolling on social media as I was working each day.
Honestly I feel sick to my stomach sharing that number with y’all. For someone who likes to think of himself as driven and high-achieving, my screen time was proving otherwise.
It’s hard to accept the reason you aren’t moving towards your goals is a lack of focus and discipline.
Accepting that was the reason I was failing, put all the responsibility on me on that hurt.
During the times of our lives when we are feeling hurt, we have a choice to make. We can decide to sit in that hurt and do nothing different or we can change behavior and work towards a different outcome.
I chose to change my behavior and work towards my dream outcome.
So what changes did I have to make to start moving towards my goals?
I had to take the time to:
Identify what the distractors are in my life.
Set boundaries with those distractors to limit their impact on your work. For me that meant (1) cutting out TV usage for any time other than date night and (2) setting a screen time lock that my wife only knows the password.
Tell someone else so you are held accountable to your plan.
The world we live in is driven by people in higher up positions creating as much distraction as possible.
I fell into and sometimes still do fall into the trap of social media distraction.
So when someone tells me they don’t have time to workout I ask them to break down how they are spending their time each day.
It doesn’t take more than 20-30 minutes to get in a good workout or walk and it only takes a little longer to track your food each day.
So the next time you tell me or yourself you don’t have enough time to take care of your health and fitness, be ready for me to hit you with this question…
What is distracting you so much?