Day 2: Little Distractions = Huge Subtractions

Good morning to all of you! You're probably wondering why I have a picture of Troy in his armor up here, when my title doesn't at all correlate to it. Well, you just wait, we'll get to that. But first... I don’t know about you, but yesterday was pretty stressful! Work was crazy busy because I was down to the wire on a project I should have already completed and then I had class until 10:00pm. I know, night class during the summer, yes I am insane. But because of that class and my failure to plan ahead by making myself a dinner I could eat on the road, I ended up grabbing a sandwich at Subway… therefore, no fun recipes today. I know you’re heartbroken, but I promise your recovery time will be only seconds. In fact, you are probably already over it. Anyway onto my sermon, uh I mean lesson for the day.

As I mentioned before, yesterday was incredibly busy and a little hectic. I was working on finishing HUGE a landscape design and proposal for a meeting with a big client last night. I was down to the wire on time because it was a project I was supposed to have had completed the day before. Since I am on the “better your life” program designed by me, I began asking myself why I was still working on the project. As I was pondering that thought, I got a text message from a friend, so I stopped what I was doing to read it and replied with something clever and a smiley face. At that very moment while I was sitting at my drawing table and staring at my phone, I had an epiphany.  I was still working on that project because I had let little distractions divert my attention.

I titled today’s blog “Little Distractions = Huge Subtractions” because it’s the little distractions in life which we allow to get our focus off the goal that cause huge subtractions from our progress.  Yesterday, it was a distraction from work, but this lesson holds true for all walks of life.

Maybe you have a goal to get out of debt and get your finances in order. I promise you that super cute sparkly tank top at the mall is a distraction from your goal. Cute as it may be, financial freedom will be way more rewarding. Besides, you have 7 more sparkly shirts in your closet. You don’t really need it anyway.

Many times as unfortunate as it is, I find that I don’t feel connected to God. But when I start thinking about where my attentions have been, I realize I’ve let all the little stuff that I have to do and the everyday hustle and bustle in life get me distracted from the one thing that really matters: making sure I am in right relationship with the Lord and my heart is filled with his spirit and his love. I feel empty because I haven’t put aside the distractions and let Him fill me up. How can I be a light and pour into the lives of others when I haven’t spent time in the word or in prayer and allowed the Lord to fill me up. It’s impossible to give what I don’t have.

And yes, you knew we’d get there… little distractions create huge subtractions from our progress in weight loss too. In the past when doing whatever diet I was trying at the time, I would do great for about a week (maybe more) and then there would be a big family dinner, a party, or a treat that just looked too good to pass up. I would let that one little detour in the road be a complete road block for me. I would succumb to the temptation to indulge and then I would feel bad about it and then stop trying all together. Other times I would be doing great on a diet program, but then get busy. “Oh, I have 75 million things to do today, I can’t go the gym.”. “Oh, I really need to go grocery shopping for some healthy foods, but I really don’t have the time. I guess I’ll just HAVE to eat the whole bag of potato chips instead.”.

There is always going to be some kind of distraction waiting to get you off your course. And I promise, those distractions, IF YOU ALLOW THEM will certainly lead to huge subtractions from your progress. It doesn’t matter what your goal is, you have to set your mind on it and start running. If you do get a little sidetracked or come to a roadblock, don’t let that stop you from obtaining your goals. Your goal is worth working for and finding a way to get back on track. Everything in life truly worth having is worth fighting for, so grab your battle gear and go to war.