Infographic Thursday: Managing the distractions and disruptions in my life

This is one busy picture, but if you take the time you will see that it explains the reasons why we are running around doing lots of things and accomplishing...nothing.

Focus is essential in this digital era we live in. Email and social media and all kinds of other real life stuff, like dirty dishes, keep our minds spinning in all directions and yet at the end of the day (or week) we are exhausted and still feel as if nothing got done.

Does it happen to you?

Source visual.ly

It happened to me and for a long time before I realised that I can control what I do. Yes, there are distractions everywhere and disruptions all the time.

At work priorities need to be set so you can focus on getting the job done.

When a disruption occurs, make a quick decision: 1. will it prevent me from getting the job done today? 2. if important or serious, then yes, deal with it. 3. if not, add to the list of things that needs to be done after the important thing(s) have been completed.

Our own lives are much the same. What is important to you?

As a writer, my third novel needs to be finished and in my life that is important.

So what will distract me from doing what I want to do? Dirty dishes? Laundry? Dogs that need feeding? Family obligations? The party my husband committed the two of us to go to, three weeks ago?

Manage them. I try write for two hours everyday before I go to bed, if I cannot then half and hour or fifteen minutes will do too.

By then, what is not done has to wait until the next day, or the weekend. As you can see I am not an anal housekeeper, but my social life can be challenging, since my husband is more of a social animal than I am.

While saying 'no' is no longer a problem for me, I cannot alienate my friends, family and husband all the time, so I have to write around this. It works most of the time, and when things go wrong, there is always the fifteen minutes before I go to bed.