What have your distractions cost you?

So this week started off a bit urgh. Before I get into that, let me backtrack it to the week before. So for those who don't know, I have a job. It involves me investigating complaints and researching. I basically have to look at complaints made by people against businesses and then give my response on whether I think the business did something wrong or not.

Some of these cases are intense and people actually value the things they're complaining about. This means I have to be careful and considerate of what they've said and make sure I make no mistakes.

Anyways, I had this case that was super easy and obvious, it would have gone so smoothly if I hadn't been distracted. Anyways, while writing my view on the complaint (I didn't think the business did anything wrong), I made a mistake. It was so easy to write, but I'd used a template to start the view and then wrote the rest of it from heart. The issue was that I didn't remember to delete the part of the template I didn't use.

Before sending off my view, something told me to recheck what I'd written and I did, barely. Eventually, I sent it off and the person who'd complained pointed out my error. Guys, it was an easy case, one of the easiest ones I'd ever written and I made a silly mistake because I was distracted. Now the complaint has been moved up, when it could've easily been closed.

So my point is, what have your distractions cost you? I just gave an example of how my being distracted made a simple case put a bad pall on me. How many times have you had to go the harder road simply because you were too distracted to do what was right, or to do things well?

How many times have you blamed God for the things that were caused by your own actions? Sometimes, we're the reason for our hardships. Instead of doing things right, at the right time and in the right way, we've allowed distractions to take our eyes off the ball.

Don't get me wrong, we all make mistakes, but how often are your mistakes and what causes your mistakes? I think it's really important to search ourselves and make sure that we're proud of the way we handle things.

How many times a day do you look at social media when you should be working on that personal project that you've always wanted to do?

I was talking to my friend this week and I was asking him how he manages to do all the things he's doing. Guys! He's younger than me, but I get pushed to do more by just watching him do the different things he does. I'm super proud of all the things he's achieving and carrying. My point is that he has the same number of hours in a day that we all have. Yet, he does so much more in two days than some of us do in a week.

When we were in uni, my friends and I used to have different hang outs, this guy always came with his laptop and was always doing one job or the other. He utilised his time and didn't allow the rest of us to distract him. Best believe he also had fun, so hard work and focus doesn't remove fun from your life lol. Plix guys, this uncle still came out of uni with a first class. Guys! What are your distractions costing you?

I think one question we really need to ask ourselves is if allowing that distraction is worth it. For example, if you're about to pick up your phone when you should be doing something else much more important, ask yourself, "is it worth it?" evaluate it. If you believe that it's worth it and it won't affect you negatively in some way, go ahead and do it. This isn't just about social media by the way, social media is just an example.

You guys know the things that distract you. It could even be talking to that particular someone that isn't pushing you to progress, or going to some place or even just sitting down and staring. None of these things are bad, it's just a question of if they're distracting you from doing what you need to do.

I know it's coming late, but distraction has been defined as "a thing that prevents someone from concentrating on something else". See I'm preaching to myself, cause while I was writing this I picked up my phone and started responding to my messages, then opened Instagram.

Loool, so please believe me when I say I'm not judging you. The whole point of this post is to point out the fact that allowing ourselves to be distracted hurts us more than it helps us. The momentary pleasure, fun or even perceived peace eventually hurts more than it helped at the time you allowed it to distract you.

We can achieve so much more if we don't allow ourselves to get distracted. This is not me saying that we shouldn't have fun and be happy o. I believe in being happy and taking advantage of every opportunity you have to be happy. However, I believe that there's a time for everything. So while you're supposed to be working, work. While you're supposed to be planning, plan. Enjoy the process and make sure you have no regrets.

I'm currently writing this, but I'm also listening to really nice music. So I'm doing a little shimmy to @Happimusic 's song right now, but I'm also doing what I need to do. So no, it doesn't hurt to have fun, but it does hurt when you allow it to distract you from what's important.

I really hope I'm making sense to you guys. I know we can all do better and achieve much more if we allow ourselves to. After I made that mistake at work this week, I became super productive because I made sure that for the first few hours of my job, I wouldn't allow anything to distract me. I've achieved a lot more because of it and I'm proud of what I've been able to do. It was basically a kick up the butt to do better.

Sometimes, we're asking God to step in and then we mess up God's answer with our own actions. I think it's time we actually discipline ourselves and do what needs doing. So, I'm saying this now, I'm going to book my theory driving test before my next article is out. Hopefully, this will keep me accountable.

Anyways, as usual, I love you and God loves you!!

Esther xoxo