Question. What do a rainbow and a car crash have in common?
Answer: Both distracted me while I was driving yesterday.
Yesterday I had to take my son to the doctor. It was raining on the way there, and the roads were slick. I was distracted by a car that had spun off the side of the highway. On the drive home, the sun was shining, and a beautiful rainbow crossed the sky. I was distracted for quite a different reason.
This got me thinking. Life is full of distractions. Today more than ever. But not all are bad. Some of life’s distractions should be embraced as welcome detours. If I weren’t driving, I would have stopped everything I was doing to stare in awe at the rainbow.
How do you know if what you are doing is a distraction or a welcome detour?
It starts by knowing where you are headed. So plan your 2024 goals, make them clear in your mind, and head on your way. But don’t be too rigid. Achieving your goal is not what’s most important. The goal of a goal is to set you on a path. It’s like setting your GPS for the year. The purpose is not to rush to the finish line and miss all the scenery, nor is it about beating yourself up if you don’t reach the final destination. Goal setting is about who you become on the way toward the goal. Imagine setting a goal to lose 20 pounds and then being disappointed because you only lost 15.
This loosened mindset around goals allows you to evaluate the merit of a distraction. When something comes up, ask yourself if it is adding value to your journey or pulling you off course.
It’s not about what you are doing in the distraction but about the intention behind it and how it makes you feel. For a concrete example, I will use this blog post. I intended to write it yesterday, but a fun family opportunity came up so I intentionally put it aside. I took a detour, had a wonderful day, and returned to writing today. If I skipped writing yesterday because it was just too hard to sit down and chose to “busy” myself in some other way, then that is an unwelcome distraction.
If your distraction leaves you feeling good, embrace it as a welcome meander. If it leaves you feeling guilty or bad, it’s probably an avoidance distraction. Steer clear!
So as you set off on your 2024 goals, let’s reframe our distractions. Allow yourself to intentionally meander and then get back on track.
Because life is the journey, not the destination.
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