Small, unregulated distractions can easily destroy your flow and cause you to spin out into ineffectiveness. Do you know where your most vulnerable spots are? They’re usually in the places of high uncertainty, and high value.
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If you want your team to do bold, creative work, you must take the first risk by giving them clear, precise direction. Here are a few ways to do so.
Let your team do what you hired them to do.
Your job as a manager is to unleash the brilliance of your team, not to showcase your own.
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Thank you for this! I started listening as I was about to “take a break” from doing nothing really and avoiding” what needs to get done.
Great! Glad it was helpful, Karen.
Thanks Todd, I was just having this same conversation with a few friends. Walls can be simple things. When I set up my latest work Mac I left the shortcuts to my favorite distractions out of my browser bar. The simple act of entering a URL or typing a search into Google versus the one click ease of a shortcut makes the act of flying off to these particular distractions much less common.
Great tactic – I’ll try that one myself. Thanks!
Listening to this while I was avoiding writing a sermon and two lessons for this upcoming Sunday
And now…back to work!
As an author and artist, this is territory I am intimately familiar with, and have to be vigilant about. I constantly write and refer to lists to keep me on track. Its much easier to focus when the next step is written down in front of me, and harder to do something irrelevant when a list is staring me in the face. This falls in the category of what you said to do: define the tasks. I also use a timer when I am in the midst of uncertainty: I make myself work for short periods (15 or 30 minutes) until I get to the point where the uncertainty is no longer frightening me to the point of distraction. This always works.
Just found your podcast and website, and really enjoy the content! This the first podcast I listened to. I’ve used this as motivation today (do the thing you need to do instead of giving in to distraction satisfaction).
Your example of sharpened pencils also took my mind in a different direction. How often do I try to sit down and do something creative with dull, broken pencils? Sometimes I’m trying to be creative but my brain is dull, on overload from work responsibilities, tired from lack of sleep, or not enough margin in my schedule.
Thank you for sharing and keep the insights coming!
Outstanding, Chris! So glad you found it helpful.