Ignorance Is Bliss! - How to Distract Yourself From Distraction
I bet you have heard this, one too many times; "don't get nervous it will be all right" or "don't be afraid I know you're ready, you can do it".
The person that usually tells you this is your friend or part of your family, and they use those terms loosely on occasions that puts you under a lot of stress or make you nervous, like a first date, or a very important test, or a speech in front of a crowd.
Their intentions are usually good but that doesn't really make a difference now does it, no it usually doesn't work because you still get nervous and probably make a lot of mistakes.
This is probably and mostly because you focus too much on the task ahead and always think you're going to fail at it so you put extra pressure on yourself without knowing it, because you want everything to be perfect.
By wanting everything to be just right you are putting great tension on what you want to do and subconsciously you're setting yourself for failure.
This could be one of the reasons people quit at things they like to do because it's not fun anymore and the pressure gets to them; here's what I do, when I'm in that kind of situation I get distracted.
I know this probably doesn't make any sense to you right now because you have been taught all your life to focus and not get distracted.
So let me ask you something, what is the difference between being focus and being distracted? Believe it or not if you really think about it they're just two ways of saying the same thing.
When you focus on something you are getting distracted from everything else so you can "focus" your attention on whatever it is you want.
Same thing happens when you get distracted, you withdraw your attention from whatever it is that you're supposed to be "focused" on and concentrate on something else, it all really depends from what point of view you're looking at it.
I say use them both focus and then get distracted; once you have focused and dominated something in particular get distracted to remove the extra pressure from yourself and that way perform even better.
Now we must be careful when we talk about distraction as a way to improve your performance in a stress related situation.
There is good distraction and bad distraction, good distraction is the one that takes your mind off the pressure and stress so you stay calm and cool on a difficult situation.
Bad distraction is the one that allows you to make mistakes by focusing on the wrong things.
Think of it this way, if you only focus on the problem you'll never see the solution, instead try to create "the illusion" on your mind that whether you win or lose it is still all good.
That way you reject any external pressure that might distract you from achieving your goal creating your own happy place, does that make sense? Alright take my example, I'm used to giving speeches all the time but that doesn't mean that I don't get nervous every once in a while; yes I still get nervous and that's ok.
So here's what I discovered a while back every time I denied to myself that I was nervous or worried about something it only made it worst, what I do now is embrace it.
Yes I embrace whatever it is that bothers me in order to control it, embrace your fears in order to overcome them, but of course never let them see a sweet.
After all you only need your own approval so it's ok to be nervous as long as it doesn't affect your performance executing a task.
In the end stress, frustration and anxiety are all a psychological battle, if you know the right way to distract yourself from those hassles you will focus on the actual goal and reject any external, un-healthy and useless obstacles out of your way.
The person that usually tells you this is your friend or part of your family, and they use those terms loosely on occasions that puts you under a lot of stress or make you nervous, like a first date, or a very important test, or a speech in front of a crowd.
Their intentions are usually good but that doesn't really make a difference now does it, no it usually doesn't work because you still get nervous and probably make a lot of mistakes.
This is probably and mostly because you focus too much on the task ahead and always think you're going to fail at it so you put extra pressure on yourself without knowing it, because you want everything to be perfect.
By wanting everything to be just right you are putting great tension on what you want to do and subconsciously you're setting yourself for failure.
This could be one of the reasons people quit at things they like to do because it's not fun anymore and the pressure gets to them; here's what I do, when I'm in that kind of situation I get distracted.
I know this probably doesn't make any sense to you right now because you have been taught all your life to focus and not get distracted.
So let me ask you something, what is the difference between being focus and being distracted? Believe it or not if you really think about it they're just two ways of saying the same thing.
When you focus on something you are getting distracted from everything else so you can "focus" your attention on whatever it is you want.
Same thing happens when you get distracted, you withdraw your attention from whatever it is that you're supposed to be "focused" on and concentrate on something else, it all really depends from what point of view you're looking at it.
I say use them both focus and then get distracted; once you have focused and dominated something in particular get distracted to remove the extra pressure from yourself and that way perform even better.
Now we must be careful when we talk about distraction as a way to improve your performance in a stress related situation.
There is good distraction and bad distraction, good distraction is the one that takes your mind off the pressure and stress so you stay calm and cool on a difficult situation.
Bad distraction is the one that allows you to make mistakes by focusing on the wrong things.
Think of it this way, if you only focus on the problem you'll never see the solution, instead try to create "the illusion" on your mind that whether you win or lose it is still all good.
That way you reject any external pressure that might distract you from achieving your goal creating your own happy place, does that make sense? Alright take my example, I'm used to giving speeches all the time but that doesn't mean that I don't get nervous every once in a while; yes I still get nervous and that's ok.
So here's what I discovered a while back every time I denied to myself that I was nervous or worried about something it only made it worst, what I do now is embrace it.
Yes I embrace whatever it is that bothers me in order to control it, embrace your fears in order to overcome them, but of course never let them see a sweet.
After all you only need your own approval so it's ok to be nervous as long as it doesn't affect your performance executing a task.
In the end stress, frustration and anxiety are all a psychological battle, if you know the right way to distract yourself from those hassles you will focus on the actual goal and reject any external, un-healthy and useless obstacles out of your way.