{"id":13254,"date":"2013-07-12T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T04:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=13254"},"modified":"2013-07-11T16:19:47","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T20:19:47","slug":"glorious-living-w-coach-megan-defeating-distractions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/12\/glorious-living-w-coach-megan-defeating-distractions\/","title":{"rendered":"Glorious Living w\/ Coach Megan: Defeating Distractions!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GL<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Coach Megan,<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I am so frustrated with myself because I have been so easily<\/b><\/em>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>side-tracked<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>by distractions lately and I just can’t get a handle on it! It is beginning to affect my job and my home life, and I could really use some direction on how to focus and let God take control back of my time! I hope you can help! ~LN<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear LN,<\/p>\n

I think we all struggle with distractions at one time or another and I am so happy you have reached out to get some guidance on this issue in order to make best use of your resource of time. I actually led a conference call on this very topic for Girlfriends Coffee Hour Leadership this past year so I will be using that as my guide to help you. I pray this is a blessing….<\/p>\n

\u00a0_________________<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. We all are guilty of succumbing to distractions\u2026. But God calls us to not to and it IS possible to keep them at bay!<\/p>\n

Do you know what the key to this is?????<\/p>\n

Oh yes friends, it’s all about being INTENTIONAL!!!!<\/p>\n

We all know that the more we are in line with God\u2019s word and doing things to further His Kingdom, the more fiery darts Satan will throw at us in his attempt to knock us off course. \u00a0We need to recognize distractions for what they are in order to keep them in their proper place and NOT give them center stage!!!<\/p>\n

Distractions as a whole are a huge drain on every aspect of who we are. They take our focus away from what we should be doing \u2013 our tasks, goals, and purpose. This is why we have to eliminate them from our lives, if possible!\u00a0 Personally, I find that if I\u00a0 indulge in a distraction, an hour could go by and before I know it, I\u2019ve blown away an entire block of time that God had meant for me to\u00a0use in another, more purposeful way.\u00a0 Generally, this makes me feel drained and disappointed, not just in myself for having let myself be distracted, but also about the lost opportunities and productive time I could have spent furthering His Kingdom in my home, in ministry, or in my community.<\/p>\n

There is a flip side to this too\u2026. When we succumb to distractions, not only are we<\/em> affected but, if another person is involved, they<\/em> are affected too!\u00a0 If Facebook takes up all your time at home, your family is affected; and all the lives that you converse with, they are affected because they might also not be good stewards of their time.\u00a0 If you bombard friends with private message after private message all day long, they are being distracted.<\/p>\n

Essentially, a distraction is attractive because of two reasons:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It gives us pleasure<\/li>\n
  2. It takes\u00a0pain<\/span>\u00a0away<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When we indulge in a distraction, we focus our time and energy on something that is inherently more pleasurable than what we are currently doing.\u00a0 Solving that problem is hard, so I\u2019ll just surf on Facebook instead, right? \u00a0Finishing this document is going to take some time, so let me squeeze in 30 minutes on the phone with my friend.\u00a0 Making that call to the customer will be challenging, so let me read the news first.\u00a0 The reason these things are attractive is because they either give us pleasure or take some pain away.<\/p>\n

    I would like to challenge you to record everything you do in one day and how much time you spend doing it.\u00a0 You can do this tomorrow.\u00a0 As a distraction comes into play, jot down the circumstances surrounding it and how you chose to respond. \u00a0BE HONEST!!! \u00a0You might be surprised at just how many distractions are being thrown your way all day long and what is triggering them!<\/p>\n

    Here is an example for you\u2026.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

    I get home from work and I need to get dinner on. I am on my way to the kitchen and one of my kids comes flying downstairs in a panic because he can\u2019t find his keys and he is going to be late for work. I have a choice to make whether his emergency is going to become my emergency, or not.<\/p>\n

    Remember those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books? I used to love those when I was a kid! Here\u2019s my chance to see the different ways this could turn out\u2026.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I could join his emergency and lose the time I need to get dinner started and then have to just order pizza because I am out of time and my family will eat unhealthy food and I will feel horrible about it.<\/li>\n
    2. I could say some mean words to him, scolding him for being so careless and continue on with getting dinner going. He will feel horrible about himself by the time he gets to work.<\/li>\n
    3. I could let him use my keys and no lesson will be learned but the panic will leave my house and I can stay calm.<\/li>\n
    4. I can prepare some food for him to take with him to work and cheer him\u00a0on, in finding his\u00a0keys, while I get dinner ready.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I don\u2019t know about you, but this is real life stuff in my house. Also, one thing I\u2019ve noticed is that the more I choose behaviors that make me feel bad like giving cutting responses or jumping to every rescue, that makes me want to spend even more time doing distracting activities because the last thing I want to do is dwell on feeling bad about myself.\u00a0 YIKES!!!<\/p>\n

      You might already know the areas in your life that you have a tendency to be the most distracted by and with. If that is the case, it is time to call the distractions what they are, move forward full speed ahead, and get them out of your way!!!<\/p>\n

      You need to overcompensate in the areas where you are the most distracted!<\/strong><\/p>\n

      What does this look like in real life???\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

        \n
      • If Facebook is a distraction, turn off the alerts to your phone.<\/li>\n
      • If the computer in general is a distraction, turn the parental controls on YOU!!!<\/li>\n
      • If people are a distraction, schedule\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0certain times in your day to answer phone calls, texts, emails, phone calls, etc.<\/li>\n
      • If YOU are doing all the parenting\/watching your kids while your spouse watches TV, make it a point to get out of the house and see friends at least one night a week to give your hubby that father time he needs!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        God calls us to give every aspect of our lives 110% of all we\u2019ve got.\u00a0 We owe it to Him and every single life we come in contact with to be our best and not let these fiery darts cause us to falter. When we are distracted our joy gets stolen and it becomes harder and harder to get it back. Things like Facebook, family time, helping a friend, and watching TV are not inherently bad things at all\u2026. But being undisciplined and unintentional about the time we spend on them is not honoring our Heavenly Father with our time that He has so graciously given us!<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Blessings,<\/p>\n

        Coach Megan \ud83d\ude42<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Dear Coach Megan, I am so frustrated with myself because I have been so easily\u00a0side-tracked\u00a0by distractions lately and I just can’t get a handle on it! It is beginning to affect my job and my home life, and I could really use some direction on how to focus and let God take control back of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":10750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1977],"tags":[217,218,2913,321,364,425,2073,2495,436,2915,675,2703,1489,740,2914,1375],"class_list":["post-13254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-glorious-living","tag-christian-walk","tag-christianity","tag-computer","tag-distractions","tag-facebook","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-glorious-living-with-coach-megan","tag-glory-to-glory-christian-life-coaching","tag-god","tag-good-steward","tag-megan-smidt","tag-megan-smidt-cclc","tag-pain","tag-parenting","tag-pleasure","tag-time","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/GL-header.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3rM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13254"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13292,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13254\/revisions\/13292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}