Great Circle

I say to myself, ”I’ll just check my emails before I return to my morning meditations and journaling”. A quick scan of those emails shows me that one of my great friends Rosa Say has posted an interesting looking article on her blog. I go there. I notice that she references two other blogs. I open both of them in separate windows. I go to glance at one of them before finishing Rosa’s post (blog-article), and it gives me an idea for a post of my own.

I start on the post. Halfway through I realise I need to insert one hyperlink and two images, so I open those in separate windows too. Then I realise that this post-idea feeds into an article concept for a future Whetstone, so I open a Word document and start typing that. Ten minutes later, I remember my blog post and return to that, insert one of the images … then realise that the second image I located is actually from a very funny Humour website, so for a while I get distracted by its jokes and resources.

Suddenly another email comes in. It lets me know that someone else I respect has just posted on their blog and the subject matter looks helpful to the business goals I have this month. I open their site and I get thinking “I wonder who links to this site? If I could meet their community and clients, I might increase traffic to my site”, so I check their blogroll and open the 6 most interesting looking blogs that link to them.

As they are loading, my mind wanders and I realise that I still haven’t had breakfast, so I wander to the kitchen and make some. Eating my cereal I notice that the kitchen is a mess and possessed with an inexplicable and uncharacteristic urge to clean, I fill the sink with hot water and start washing – in between mouthfuls of cereal.

Hey look at me, I’m multitasking, I joke to myself…

The phone rings. I dry my hands and answer it. It’s one of my friends asking me if I have time for a coffee this week. I grab my diary and check and – while we are making a time - I notice that there is another friend’s wedding coming up soon. “Oh dear, I haven’t prepared that 5-minute ’sermon’ I’m delivering at the wedding!”, I think. When I put the phone down, I take out a clean piece of paper, sit at the table and try to get creative.

After a few minutes of my mind wandering, I notice my personal journal open on the table from when I was going to spend some time “getting centred”, then I remember the half-cleaned dishes, and then  the trail of other half-finished tasks: the article, the blog-post, the things I was reading, the emails I began answering …

…and I freeze.

It all suddenly seems too much. The feeling of “I have too much to do” starts playing its irritating song in my subconscious. I begin thinking about how few invoices I have sent out this month and how little income that translates to. I start to worry about this and about that. The negative self-talk I teach others to avoid starts to gabble away in my head and cascades through my consciousness like a litany of failure and impending doom.

And then I catch myself with a thought:

It’s ok Pete, breathe.

I take a breath. I realise where I went “wrong”: a lack of clear focus and the intention to not be distracted.

Like the times my PC has frozen because I had too many windows open, too many programs running – I have opened too many “windows” in my mind – and they’re causing system errors -  it’s time to close a few down, maybe even reboot.

I take another slow deep breath. I sit down and prioritise, plan what’s left of my day, “meditate” a little on what I’m trying to achieve big picture and what I want this day to contribute to that big picture. Then I decide that I’ll finish the dishes first – that gives me some time to flush the adrenaline from my system as well as a sense of having completed something.

I return to my morning meditations and journalling.

Later I come back to the computer and shut down the humour page, then finish reading the blogs I’ve opened, shutting them down as I do. I don’t click on any more links, no matter how intriguing they look. I answer my emails and then logout of Outlook. I finish my blog-post, then spend 20 minutes on the rough draft of my Whetstone article before making a note in my diary to spend 30 minutes on it tomorrow. 

I pick up my blank paper still on the table and drive down to a local coffee shop and order a strong flat white. Sitting at the table awaiting inspiration for my wedding-talk, I notice how much better I feel with only one thing in front of me, and a list of completed tasks behind me.

A Couple o’ Minutes’ Coaching:

1. If anything, what did you relate most to in my story?

2. In what area of your life are you most likely to “open too many windows”?

3. What are 3 major distractions that divert you from finishing tasks and projects? If you could find another word/phrase/image to describe those distractions, what would it be?

4. What’s a simple step you can take toward minimising chaos and distraction in your own mind and workspace? Ok, what’s another? And the next one beyond that?

5. What step will you start on today?