A Small Distraction

My morning routine is pretty … routine. When I’m not traveling, I’m out of bed early, get cups of coffee for my wife and myself, and then settle into my chair to read my Bible and pray. I’ve often said that it’s the most important part of my day. On a recent morning, I decided to update my iPad. I had encountered a few problems and thought that the newest version of iOS would fix them. So I hit the update button and started reading my Bible. No problem, right. Except that every minute or two, I would look down at the progress bar to see the status of the update. And that’s when I realized: there’s no such thing as a small distraction when you’re working on something big. I only know a fraction of the people who read this blog, but I am confident in saying two things about you. You have big things to do in your leadership role (whether first or second chair, or some other chair) for your church or ministry or non-profit. You are doing important work that has a deep impact in the lives of people. Moving the organization forward requires your best thinking and best efforts. You also have plenty of “small” distractions. You have a constant barrage of emails and texts and phone calls. People stop by with “just ask a quick question.” The corner of your desk holds a stack of documents that need to be reviewed and a “to do” list that keeps getting longer, not shorter. But there’s no such thing as a small distraction when you’re working on something big. My distraction that morning was of the smallest variety – just a progress bar on a screen. And yet, it destroyed my concentration on something that was far more important. Your major leadership challenges require your best concentration, and that won’t happen with constant interruptions. It’s also worth noting that my early morning distraction was self-inflicted. I chose to hit the download button and to put the iPad next to my chair where I could see the progress bar. You can’t control all of your distractions, but you can manage many of them. Turn off the phone and email. Explain to staff that a closed door means no interruptions except for real emergencies. I’ve never known someone who said, “I choose to have a distracted life.” But plenty of us, me included, make that choice in a variety of ways every week. There’s no such thing as a small distraction … It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.  ]]>