January 24 Focus Is As Much About Not Doing As It Is Doing.

If there were not so many distractions, I could keep my focus better. How about you? As a leader, do you get distracted easily? A contributing factor to distraction can be because we want to give our teams the attention they need.

But can we set appropriate limits to help us achieve focus and give attention to the team? It seems as if those shiny objects can get our attention. I remember people in a group meeting one time calling out “squirrel.”

They said it because the conversation had bounced around like a squirrel does when on the ground scampering about. The conversation had gotten lost at one point and just continued to scamper about losing effectiveness.

A leader can get temporarily distracted and not focused on what they want or on what they might do. Are we being productive in those moments? What can we do to be more intentional with our activities as leaders? One idea is to do a time audit by building a journal of your activities.

A financial audit is important to track and investigate for validation of what has occurred. It does not change that past, it just puts a perspective on it. Putting a reflective perspective on how much we get distracted will expose some of the causes.

When you diagnose the cause, it can be mitigated. If we can do it as leader, I think that our team just might follow our lead. What is the first thing you can do about it this week to achieve a better level of focus for you and the team? 

We have a great example in the disciple Peter of the Bible for a distraction story. It occurs in the story as Jesus is walking on the water, Matthew 14:28 NLT. Peter left the boat to meet Jesus but as soon he got distracted by the wind and the waves, down he went.

Notice the set of conditions here, focused: walked on water with miraculous effect. Then we see distracted: sinking and "save me" cry. Jesus taught us to focus. That focus challenges us to do. What will be your focus t his year and what are you doing about it this week?

I will share four do’s in the book that go along with the four gives that I will share also. I would suggest that the first do we might consider, to avoid distraction, is to pray. Perhaps you will join me in the prayer below to increase our ability to focus.

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, I want my eyes and heart focused on Jesus. But sometimes we get distracted. Help us to enhance our connection with you by offering our prayers. We know that having a state of doing in our lives, can bring us closer.

Carve away items so that of all the things that we can be doing, may the act of prayer be one of intentional focus. Make it the focus I need today to lead us to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,