When you know what you want, go after it. The rest is just noise.
Most people spend too much of their waking hours either:
1. Searching for “their purpose” or “their calling” and taking way too long to find it. Meanwhile life passes them by. So sad.
2. Realizing what “their purpose” or “their calling” is, but just when they are about to grab a hold of it, they distract themselves with something else. Noise. They distract themselves with noise.
There’s an easy recipe to success – ready?
1. Picture your end goal. See it. Smile at it. Say hi!
2. Every time a distraction enters your life, your mind, your office, your inbox, your phone, your bed, etc., quickly ask yourself, “will this help me get closer to what I want?” If the answer is no, and it usually is, stay focused and ignore (or quickly say, “I’m sorry, no” to) the distraction. It’s noise.
This holds true on many levels.
How much faster would you have finished your work today if you didn’t check your phone five times in the middle of it, or sporadically – for some it’s every 10 minutes, you know who you are – all day long?
Want some irony? Ok, depending on the situation, some people may not have the luxury of dropping everything and going after that one thing they come alive thinking about. So you need to work in a job that you like but it doesn’t keep you up at night from excitement. I’ve been there. Yep, I definitely get it. Now, if you were to use this same philosophy that I’m speaking of and use it for everything in your day, even the little menial tasks, like sending out that long email, even then everything would just be noise. Lots of loud, offensive, annoying, noises.
Ready for the irony? Get done with the things you don’t like and you will have more time (spare time that is, even better) to do the things you do like. You’ll leave the office earlier, do a better job when you’re at the office and, who knows, you may even get promoted. Go after the goal and just cut out the noise.
This past weekend I discovered something I already knew.
I know exactly what I want. Know what I did? I cut out the noise. That included everything except for accomplishing what I wanted. Didn’t go out Friday or Saturday night (does my mom’s for dinner count?), woke up at 6:30am both days. Didn’t get together with the people I would have loved to see, shortened my workouts, ate in, etc. Know why? I’ll tell you: because I wanted to accomplish my goal more than I wanted to see my best friend, more than I wanted to go on a date, more than I wanted to play hockey, and more than I wanted to eat at a buzzed about new restaurant, and, lets not forget … more than I wanted to sleep! I said to myself, “what do I want more – to accomplish my goal or to go and party?” It worked. Saturday night at 11:45 pm I left my office and went home. Sunday night I asked myself, “what do I want to do more – to accomplish my goal or eat out?” It worked again. I ate something from Kitchen Table at my desk. You get the point.
If you’re one of the few that knows what they want, go after it. Cut out the noise. Enjoy the silence of knowing what you want and knowing that nothing will get in the way…except for the noise. It’s your choice. Once you figure it out, you’ll agree that the rest is just noise.
Julian Brass,
Founder and Publisher, Notable.ca