Eliminate the Distractions That Are Keeping You Small

Have you ever noticed that it's often times the small things that occupy and drain much of our time and energy? It's those subtle things that unassumingly pile up - the lightbulb that needs to be replaced or the dress that needs to be returned or the parking ticket that needs to be paid or the call that needs to be answered - that often nag at us and take up more and more psychic space the longer they remain uncompleted.

Here's an example of what I mean: Recently, I was working with one of my clients on making her workday more efficient. She was having a lot of trouble meeting deadlines and returning all of her emails for her small business. When we took a closer look at some of the sources of her workday inefficiency, we discovered that her slow internet connection was eating up a lot of time. As a result, she was waiting long periods of time to log onto the internet, to send and receive emails, and to do research online. She had been telling herself that she didn't have the time to call her online carrier and upgrade her connection. In reality, however, this small distraction was actually costing her and her business both time and money! Once she took relatively small amount of time to call her online carrier and solve the problem, she was able to make her workday much more efficient.

Each of us has a couple (or a lot!) of subtle distractions that literally drain our energy so that we have less of it to devote to the important things in our lives and work. While it's easy to overlook these things because they appear to be "small" and "unimportant", it is vital to zap these distractions so that they do not hold us back from easefully and joyfully accomplishing our bigger dreams and goals.

Think about the distractions in your life for a moment now. Are they holding you back from some of your BIG dreams and goals? If so, I invite you to ask yourself if, on some level, you've allowed those distractions to come into being and get in your way.

Are you using distractions to keep you safe and small? If so, I invite you to eliminate them!

Soulful Call to Action! Eliminate the Distractions from Your Life

1. Make a list of the top 3 distractions that are draining energy from your work and the top 3 distractions that are draining energy from your life.

For work, these might include:
• Outdated or broken technology such as mobile phone, computer, internet connection or fax machinen • Unanswered emailsn • Outdated or inappropriate wardrobe

For life, these might include:
• Unresolved argument with a friend or partne
• Unpaid bills or ticketsn • Not having drapes on your windows

2. Make a list of what each top work distraction is holding you back from. For example: If one of your top distractions is an inappropriate wardrobe, this may be holding you back from:
• Networking events that will bring in new clients or opportunitiesn • Applying and interviewing for more satisfying and higher paying positionsn • Feeling confident enought to have a conversation with your manager about getting a raise

3. Acknowledge that you have been using each of these distractions as a subtle way of keeping you small.

4. Commit to eliminating one distraction a week. Take note of what opens up for you once you do so!

5. Repeat steps 2-4 for your "life" distractions.

Enjoy!