Avoiding Mistakes While Distracted

Sometimes you do ridiculous things when you're not paying attention.

Have you poured coffee on your cereal?  

One day I put deodorant on my face!  I had just touched the cotton round to my cheek before I realized what I was holding in my other hand wasn't my Clarins toner but my roll-on. (Oh crap!) Whew- that could have been worse. I would have wasted time washing my face again, and you know how precious every minute can be in the morning!

Fortunately I could just laugh at myself and shake my head in wonder. The weird thing is, I had 8 hours of sleep and was feeling fairly energized. But I wasn't paying attention. My mind was elsewhere...

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I am prone to always looking forward, thinking and planning on what's next, what's next, what's next -- that historically I didn't even know how to be fully present and mindful!

Can you relate?  That morning I was probably thinking, "Do I have time to take Jetta to the park, get a giant almond milk latte from the coffee shop, and still send that critical email before my early call?" While nothing bad happened that day, those kind of mornings generally led to me feeling more scattered the rest of the day, and unfortunately I was also far less effective in my business.

Now, however, I have rock-solid focus available to me whenever I want it.

Do you find yourself rushing through things, or do you worry about wasting time or making mistakes from not paying attention? It's easy to laugh at your silly oops when you stop yourself in time, but what about bigger mistakes where your lack of focus could be costing you? Pouring coffee is one thing; it's another to send a sensitive email to the wrong person!  Or...have you ever left your keys on the outside of the door all night, and been a little freaked out the next day?  Have you lost your client notes or completely forgot to follow-up with sales contacts?

You want better focus skills. You're not alone!

"Better focus" is one of the recurring answers from over a hundred women running businesses, when I asked them candidly which skills and behaviors they wanted to improve. They shared frustrations about not being able to concentrate for long enough, being easily distracted, and not always knowing which priority to focus on when sitting down to get work done.

These successful, talented leaders admitted being challenged by habits that lead to lack of focus, and that's because it is a problem for almost everyone!

(Read more about this in my upcoming book "Lead With Moxe: Accelerating Success for Women Running Business" - sign up here to get advanced notice, and free downloads.)

Let's face it: It seems like the world is moving by too fast with our modern lifestyles, the technology at our fingertips making things easier and faster, all the forms of media vying for attention and consumption...

Without some very purposeful habits, it is way too easy to get caught up in rushing around, putting your energy on getting things done ("doing"), and not enough on deliberately observing, being present, or focusing mindfully ("being").

Yet, as business owners making a positive impact, we MUST learn mastery of both Doing and Being!

If your business owner lifestyle isn't sustainable, you won't be able to make the kind of positive impact that you're meant to.

Being too distracted is a really sad excuse for not fulfilling your purpose. 

Where I used to be bouncing from one task to the next, I am now deliberately crafting my days with love.
Are you?

I did every one of these in the past week, and I am proud of myself. I don't mind telling you that. I've worked hard on learning to slow down, take action deliberately, and live more joyfully every day. (Plus, it is totally OK to feel proud of keeping promises to yourself!)

Consider what you've done lately to slow down, be calm, anything to counteract the frenetic pace of typical modern living and be more intentionally focused.

• What are you most proud of in the past week?
• Where would you like to improve?

Ready to learn how I can help? Let's talk!