APR 1-5 | What's Holding You Back - Distractions
When it comes to growth, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news is that you absolutely can grow as a leader. The bad news is that continued growth requires work to sustain.
Growth is never automatic or guaranteed. We don’t naturally drift toward growth. We drift toward complacency, complexity, and decline.
Below, let’s look at three forces fighting against your growth and give you practical strategies to fight back.
3. DISTRACTIONS
You will never accomplish big goals when you’re distracted by things that don’t matter.
Think of it this way: Your enemy doesn’t need to destroy you if he can distract you. If he distracts you, he can enjoy watching you destroy yourself.
So often, our most important choices in life aren’t between good and bad but between good and best.
A major example of this is social media. The average person spends about 17 hours a week scrolling and tapping. That will amount to more than seven years of your life.
Is social media a bad thing? No. But it’s not always what’s best for you.
A verse that speaks to the concept of eliminating distractions and focusing on what is truly important is Hebrews 12:1:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,"
This verse encourages believers to lay aside not only sins but also any hindrances or distractions that might impede their spiritual journey. It emphasizes the importance of focus and perseverance in the faith walk.
So what can we do to avoid distractions? Here are three strategies you can use today:
MOVE THE LINE
If a doctor is about to do surgery on you, you don’t ask him, How close can you get to my artery without slicing it and causing me to bleed out on your table?
Or, when I was studying to get my pilot’s license, I never asked myself, what’s the least amount of fuel I can put in the airplane and still not crash and die short of the nearest airport?
When it’s obvious there’s real danger, we stay away from the line of danger. We should do the same with distractions.
Rather than trying to stop watching so much YouTube, we delete the app.
We don’t just try to stop hitting snooze; we move the alarm clock across the room.
Why resist a distraction tomorrow if you have the power to eliminate it today?