Distraction is the enemy of productivity. Since distraction is the enemy of productivity, targeted prayer, discipline, focus, and persistence in your goals help you win. You cannot stay in your lane when you’re easily distracted. But God provides an avenue to escape the distractions tempting you into a lack of productivity.
If you’re constantly scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook when you haven’t completed your work, it means you’re easily distracted. Distraction can creep up in the form of a person, place, or thing.
Distractions, even what’s perceived as good, rob us of pursuing God’s call for our lives.
Be cautious of any distractions, as they are the enemy of productivity.
Related:
PRODUCTIVITY
Productivity is the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the output rate per unit of input. (Oxford English Dictionary).
DISTRACTION
Distraction is a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else. (Oxford English Dictionary)
PRODUCTIVITY IN DAILY LIFE
Prioritize the Spiritual—we all need Christ. The Word tells us to walk in the Spirit so that we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Jesus prioritized His time with the Father (as seen in the Gospels). He’s our example of doing the same.
Prayer, reading and studying the Word, and meditating will align you to God’s will when you wake up and before you go to bed.
I encourage dedicated prayer times first thing in the morning and before bed.
Setting up our God-honoring systems and priorities will keep us from distractions and help us excel in our productivity.
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MEAL PLANNING AND PREPPING
Select a specific day to plan meals and take note of the ingredients. Take another day to gather the grocery items and an extra day to cook and portion the meals.
Meal prep saves time and guarantees you’ll have nourishing meals and snacks prepared. You can accomplish much when you fuel your body with the proper nutrients.
KEEP A SCHEDULE
Write out your daily tasks or to-do’s the night before.
Then place those tasks on a schedule to keep up with what you need to accomplish. Scheduling and planning the night before helps free up mental space and organize your thoughts by decluttering your mind. Knowing what to accomplish in advance decreases distraction—the enemy of productivity.
CLEANING AND ORGANIZING
Unfortunately, cleaning is a chore we cannot bypass. Cleaning and organizing go hand in hand.
When everything you own doesn’t have a permanent place, clutter will form in your living and work environment.
Once that messy look takes over, your cleaning routine becomes more complex.
Cleaning isn’t as daunting when you organize your mail, important papers, closets, clothing, drawers, equipment, electronics, kitchen, and workspace.
Additionally, if you create a schedule, system, and routines for the chores, life feels more effortless, and you increase productivity by eliminating time wasters and distractions.
PRODUCTIVITY IN BUSINESS OR SCHOOL
Productivity is factored in when you have a goal or target in mind.
For example, if you need to bring in $1500 by the month’s end with merch sales, how will you cut out the distraction and fluff and focus on what drives sales?
Firstly, you’ll need to create a system to increase production and fulfillment output.
Secondly, double down on revenue-driven activities such as marketing campaigns, promotions, and sales calls.
Distractions and low-value activities need to go.
Concentrate on driving revenue and results.
Systems are great for measuring success and cutting out unnecessary tasks.
In most cases outsourcing or hiring someone else gets you to the goal as it frees you up to work on what you’re good at—producing results.
So, what is your output rate, and how do you track it?
Do you have a system in place to help you succeed?
You can use this scenario to manage your college courses and job responsibilities and run your household.
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SCRIPTURES ON PRODUCTIVITY
Colossians 3:23-24 NJKV, And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Proverbs 4:26-27 NKJV, Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
SCRIPTURES ON DISTRACTIONS
Proverbs 4:24-25 NKJV, Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.
Ecclesiastes 10:15 NKJV The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!
Proverbs 21:17 NKJV He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
Hosea 4:6 NKJV, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Proverbs 29:18 NKJV, Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
DISTRACTION
Distraction is the enemy of productivity—I’ll yell it LOUD!
Again, distraction is the ENEMY of productivity!
Whether you’re spending hours shopping on Amazon for needless things, involved in the incorrect relationship or career, or working at the wrong job, —any person, place, or thing can be a distraction.
If you FAIL to plan, you are PLANNING to fail—Benjamin Franklin.
A GOAL without a PLAN is just a wish—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Your results are the outcome of your efforts, planning, or lack thereof.
The absence of planning causes all types of unnecessary pain and delay. You waste your time when you don’t plan.
Our excellent accomplishments bring glory to God.
Jesus had discussed with the multitudes of those following Him what costs were at stake for taking up one’s cross.
Not only must we be willing to follow Him wholeheartedly and trust Him for the outcome, but in some cases, we must forsake our mother, father, and other family members if they aren’t in agreement for the gospel’s sake.
Luke 14:28-30 NKJV, For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish?
God wants us to be attentive to our time and resources, so be sober and know that distraction is the enemy of productivity. Make a plan and commit the plan to the Lord.
PRODUCTIVITY EXAMPLE
Back to the productivity example with the T-shirts: Can you accomplish the sales target of $1500 by month end without a plan?
Where will distractions fit in if you’re serious about the vision God gave you to meet this goal?
Without a vision and plan, your business will fail.
I’ll go even further. I had a vision for my business in the past, but when things got challenging in the area of finances, I struggled to pull something out successfully.
I had a vision and plan but didn’t correctly adjust or stick to it when the business’s loss got extreme. I needed help from an expert or someone with more knowledge of how to pull in revenue quickly. My biggest miss is that I needed HELP! I was doing everything alone. It was too late when I got to the point of bringing in an assistant. I needed to focus on creating the product and selling it. Although I can do both, I couldn’t do them in a crunch.
We need people!
We need people we can go to when we can’t see past our circumstances. They are objective and can help us focus back on our vision and plan.
Faith is sticking to it no matter how bad it looks. If you must adjust and tweak some areas to get the results—do that.
But bring in people that can help you to fix the problem.
YOUR DESIRES WILL FAIL IF YOU DON’T PRODUCE
Your desires will plummet, and so will your marriage, home-schooling, children, and job if you don’t take them seriously.
Take distractions and planning for success earnestly, as failure has everything to do with the lack of vision.
Vision leads to FAITH, a plan, discipline, commitment, dedication, and faithfulness.
Results show up when you focus on the vision God provides.
Faith leads you to be productive with what he placed in your hand.
Scrolling endlessly through YouTube and social media, accepting random phone calls, and listening to bad advice and the latest gossip will all disappear when you have a vision.
DISTRACTION EXAMPLES:
- Worrying and stressing over things from the past.
- Gossiping and watching unrewarding reality shows.
- Giving yourself to unfruitful relationships and others with no goals or focus.
- Wasting time with things you don’t enjoy to please others.
- Noisy neighbors can cause your energy to move toward irritation.
- Constantly checking your phone when your work isn’t completed.
- Playing games on your phone.
The examples exclaim how distraction is the enemy of productivity.
An article on Lifeway Voices, How to Stay Spiritually Focused in a Distracted World, shares, “As Christians, we must be careful what we are giving our attention to. What we give our attention to is what we are being discipled by.
Another way to put it is what fills our minds ultimately fills our hearts. We need to pay attention to the voices we are letting speak into our lives. And here’s why: We become what we behold. What absorbs our interest, what we give our attention to most, shapes our thinking and fills our hearts.”
Beware! Distraction is a tool of the enemy to pull you away from the things of God. Some interruptions or delays can be the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention. Nevertheless, we need boundaries to keep us from messing up our productivity. It’s not always the devil—sometimes we’re our worst enemy.
Tips to Prevent Distractions:
- Create or prioritize a morning and nighttime routine for you and the kids. Patterns are great for building habits that lead to accomplishing necessary goals.
- Set a time to check your phone notifications, respond to messages, and make calls.
- Wear earplugs or noise-canceling headphones when studying or working.
- Schedule times to pray and read the Word, watch television, for personal activities, rest, self-care, cleaning, work tasks, and family time.
- Time-block your work activities. For instance, I schedule 30 minutes to 1-hour blocks of time on specific days to write. I block out other days and times for promotions, video editing, and revenue-generating activities.
CONCLUSION
A good thing doesn’t mean it’s a God thing.
Productivity will increase when distractions decrease as distraction is the enemy of productivity.
Vision takes you to the goal by faith.
We cannot allow distractions to rob us of doing what God asks us to do.
Please write down your goals, evaluate them, and tweak them as time passes.
Double down on your prayer time and ask God to protect your time so you can maximize it with productivity.
Everything good to do might not be the best use of your time. Prioritize your spiritual life above any goal. Obey God and follow the leading of the Spirit.
Note: I’m not discouraging you from using wisdom and taking time to help others when duty calls. Our relationship with fellow believers is of utmost importance. Love and be there when God would have you be there when someone needs your help. Be encouraged, Soulful.
Soul Actions
Look for common distractions that get you off your game (people, places, and things).
Plan your tasks and put them in a daily schedule.
Walk by the Spirit, get the job done, and ask for and pay for help if needed.
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