Conversation Agent: Ten Hacks to Make your Distractions Disappear and Help you Meet Your Goals

First off, you need to have goals you're prepared to work to achieve. Do you have a formal process to set goals? After goal setting, you need to pay attention to how -- the process to get you there.

Many think they need to have the whole plan mapped out to succeed, step by step. Go with direction instead, and make improvements as you gain intelligence, while doing. Adjust the course, get there early.

In the tradition of lighter Friday posts, here are ten super useful ideas to keep you on course by embracing the obstacles:

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(1.) You miss the big picture -- you spend too much time in the weeds, and you're completely sucked in at the tactical level. We feel your pain. Ever wonder if what you're doing is the right thing for you?

Big picture hack: use Prezi to map out the whole ecosystem and context around your project and spend some time looking at it whole. A flip chart would do, except you want to have the freedom to make tweaks at tactical level.

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(2.) You become me centered -- it's all about you: your program, your book, your video, your success, your advice, your post, your everything. Flip positions, don't hide behind passion, use it.

Other centered hack: think about three things you can affect a week. It's not that difficult, just listen to the people around you and be helpful without expecting anything in return. That will refocus your attention. What can you do to make things better?

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(3.) You do community ass backwards -- ironically, when community becomes yet another buzzword and crowd sourcing is a great concept as long as the project is yours, you lose.

Community hack: find an existing group of people connected by a desire to share a common experience or find a need to connect people with similar challenges and interests and help them build a community without centering it around your brand or project. Or simply connect people in your network.

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(4.) You spend too much -- when you delegate attention, you also delegate the ability to see and fix cost overruns, or the fact that you may be working on the wrong side of the problem.

Budget hack: spot the first signs of overspend right at the time you vet scope of work. By being very clear on what you want (your goal), you can explore different and creative ways to get there. Find a team or agency that will present more options and let them do so.

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(5.) You're not connecting -- your networking and meetings are a succession of happy jumps from one place to the other. There's no moment like the present to connect. Businesses do this, too. When you keep shifting direction, you'll never get there.

Connection hack: practice this in your own home. If you live alone, find friends. Still your mind. Forget yourself and shift your attention to the other person. Start noticing how others express joy, stress, passion, interest, and so on.

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(6.) Your idea doesn't get done -- you discarded the best idea you ever had, because you were too afraid to flesh it out and make it happen. Tell the truth, you thought about something, and then talked yourself out of it more than once.

Idea hack: do it right away. From the trivial blog post that comes to mind while driving or reading something (call yourself and leave a detailed message), to the idea that you feel will get you to the big hairy, audacious, goal. Go from 0-60 while it's fresh.

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(7.) You miss the obvious -- they say common sense is not that common, after all. Do you take what you know today for granted? Have you lost the ability to unlearn?

Awareness hack: step back in time and find that place when you didn't know what you think you know today. Lose the information you think you have, and you will see something new.

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(8.) You chase the wrong people -- those who don't care, instead of building relationships with those who are giving you *their* attention. It's a common distraction, get over it. In business, they call it the pink elephant run.

Relationship hack: here's what you do, pay attention to those who are paying attention to you. Build from there. Relationships are long term, and when you start with those who care, you're at a tremendous advantage.

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(9.) You don't use distraction to your advantage -- this point was suggested by @SteveKoss on Twitter "some of our best innovations or problem-solving have come at times of distractions."

Intention hack: when you observe that you're trying too hard, let your mind wander for a few minutes. Have a happy or fun place for it to go rest. Notice how the best ideas come to you when you're not thinking so hard?

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(10.) You forget to be grateful -- can we agree that this is a grave sin? This is also another good way to shift attention from how difficult things are to you can do it attitude and problem solving mode.

Acknowledgment hack: cut yourself some slack and take the time to celebrate your accomplishments. You don't need anyone else to acknowledge them or you for the accomplishments to be real.

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It's easy to let events run their course. Use the power of intention to stay on track with the direction of your goals. Weigh in! What are your best hacks?

Comments

I love post like these. I need to visit them once a month at least because I find myself slowly veering off target. Great insight!

Oh and by the way, saw you tweet this: "note that best way to connect with me is by participating in content-based conversation at blog."

;)

Posted by: Jeremy Schooley | March 19, 2010 at 04:43 PM

Nice post! It also caught my eye from your tweet.

Posted by: Tom | March 20, 2010 at 09:23 AM

@Jeremy - we all have the tendency to follow what we're thinking about at the moment. Thank you for stopping by. It's true, easier for me to remember people here. Comments generally not crowded, so quality is way up all around.

@Tom - there you go. And I implemented at "favorite" button, if leaving a comment is too much work :)

Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | March 20, 2010 at 04:34 PM