The distraction factor
On the road to wherever you might be going, isn't it often the case you get distracted or pulled in a new direction and turn off, stop, veer away, wind up not where you were headed?
Sometimes this is serendipity, the new direction or destination much more interesting and positive. But so often the change of course or pace results in a lack of progress or achievement. In this wired, social media, ad-driven, sensory age we have so many things pulling at us, infiltrating our consciousness, diverting and distracting us. Something of these intrusions are actual opportunities, but for the very greatest part they are not.
Whether it be in our personal lives or in our businesses, the result of distraction or diversion is so often that fancy business school word: Submaximization. Or, as is said when looking at a piece of property from a zoning perspective, not "highest and best use." Or, as we might say to a wayward teenager, "You are not living up to your potential!"
Some people and organizations seem not to be diverted easily, however; they are focused, driven even, to achieve what they have set out to achieve, no matter the obstacles and distractions along the way. Think of GE or Apple or your friend who has built success upon success, even while encountering some big challenges.
The only way I know to assure continued progress toward your objective is first to find the vision of what success - reaching your objective - will look like, to understand the benefits of continued striving to get there. And then you need to map your course to get there and get on the road and keep driving.
For a person this means gaining a vision of what a well lived life looks like and what accomplishments will result in that good life. For an organization this likewise entails understanding its purpose and finding a compelling vision of what success based on that purpose will look like. Then for both people and organizations, the strategies that will bring great progress to the vision need to be developed, committed to and acted on.
Otherwise, we will wander through life, with some modicum of success and, hopefully satisfaction, but hardly "living up to our potential." We need to challenge ourselves and our organizations to be the best we can and avoid being distracted on our way to much greater success.
