Well, because we all get distracted at some point, and have attractions and aspirations. Both can serve as triggers that can cause us to be distracted. Either way, distractions, as well as attractions, can eat up your time if you're not mindful how to manage them.

Distractions are viewed as unfavorable, while attractions are seen as something favorable. But aren't they somewhat one in the same? One "takes" your attention away from what you're trying to focus on and the other "invites" your attention away to something you would prefer to be focused on. Isn't that still taking your attention away? To that point, I decided to Google the two terms to get a more formal definition:

1. Distraction - a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else
2. Attraction - a quality or feature of something or someone that evokes interest, liking, or desire

As you can see, we have the same general definition.

Whenever there is a problem or challenge, there is also a solution somewhere. Sometimes the problem can serve a dual purpose. It can be part of the problem and part of the solution. So, let's extract the "good stuff" out of some distractions and make them more attractive. If they can be used to achieve a "desired" goal, they become more attractive and useful.

A Solution: What do you need to know? You need to know what distracts you and determine if it’s attractive enough to help you achieve your goal. For example, set a short-term goal, a 90-day goal.  If your distraction is attractive enough to qualify to be placed on your list of things to help you achieve your goal in the next 90 days, consider it an "attractive distraction" and add it to your Achieve List of this to do. Otherwise, it has no useful purpose, which qualifies it as a distraction. Your achieve list can be planned in 90-day cycles. Giving the useful distractions a time and place makes it valuable and, therefore, not a distraction. Viewing it as such will allow for creativity and flexibility in your focus -- and allow some distractions to work in your favor.

At the end of the 90-days, repeat this Attractive Distractions activity. Before you know it, you’ll have fewer distractions to eat up your time. Therefore, the next time you're distracted, be sure to use this test to determine if it qualifies. If so, put it to work for you!

Tip:  If 90 days is too long, and you wish to experience success in shorter intervals, try doing it in 30-day intervals or less.

Check out this article: Why Distractions are Actually Good

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