This afternoon as I was trying to illustrate to my students the importance of focusing on the main idea of a reading passage rather than getting bogged down with details I shared an interesting fact I'd heard many years ago. Lion tamers often use nothing more than a simple chair to keep an (understandably) angry lion at bay. For years I wondered why an animal that can easily weigh up to 480 lbs. didn't just attack the trainer. The lion clearly has the strength, speed, and ability to do as it pleases. At least one would think.
Apparently, the reason a lion tamer is able to manipulate the animal's movements is because when the lion sees the 4 legs of a chair it becomes completely overwhelmed. The lion doesn't know which leg to focus on and as a result zeroes in on none. He then becomes completely paralyzed with indecision, thus failing to take action against the trainer dictating its movements.
We are living in an age where we practically need to go to war against distraction. I read on average we're interrupted every 3 minutes and that it takes 11 minutes to regain our focus. See any problems with that math?
Make success easier for yourself. Create an environment where it becomes more difficult to fail. Have a tough time getting to the gym in the morning but know you have to? Leave your sneakers by your bed. Not eating enough fruit? Put them in a place you have to walk past several times a day.
Remember, it's easier to avoid distractions then to resist them. The better you get at cultivating an environment that'll help you thrive the easier it becomes to focus on the one thing that really matters.
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