Distraction is destructive.

TL;DR. Your words say you’re committed to building a better future. Your actions, driven by distraction, say you’re going nowhere—fast.

It’s true at all levels.

Being distracted from a TV show by your Facebook stream diminishes the value of the TV show.

Being distracted from your Facebook feed by the alert on your mobile phone diminishes the impact of the feed.

Being distracted from your loved ones at dinner diminishes your relationships.

Being distracted from your writing by the incoming e-mails diminishes the effectiveness of your words.

I’m watching you when you commit to adding content to your website. I’m also watching three months later as you hear the story of someone using advertising on Facebook to earn more money. I’m watching you drift away from your project of adding valuable words to your website so you can attend a webinar on how to run ads on Facebook. You decide to run a small advertising experiment, and you chase that idea for a few months.

The value of taking a small step each day toward your goal is tremendous. Distractions resulting in those steps not being taken leave you with nothing except that empty feeling of disappointment. Distractions are shiny, they’re engaging, and they’re exciting. But distractions are empty calories. They leave you with no sense of achievement, no list of accomplishments, and no money in the bank.

At the end of the year, you end up having a partially completed website and a partially completed Facebook experiment. You end up with pieces and parts instead of something that works. It’s like you’re assembling furniture from Ikea except that you open multiple items at the same time, spread them out on the floor, and then try to piece them together. Building one piece at a time makes far more sense. And, with the one-piece-at-a-time approach, you’re more likely to end up with something resembling the picture on the box.

Distraction is destructive. It’s often the explanation for your bad year. In retrospect, you didn’t have a bad year. Instead, you had a bad three months of failure to finish something. Then you did it again, again, and again. Four projects left partly completed. No projects finished. You had a great year if you count starting things. Your year only looks bad if you value finishing.

Finishing is important. We mostly get paid when we finish. Clients value finishing, and that’s when the clients are happy to pay. That’s when the marketing project generates business. That’s when the systems documentation gets work done by others so you can focus on what’s important. Starting projects might get an “A” for effort, but you won’t be feeling it on the bottom line if you don’t finish. Failure to finish means you get an “F.”

I understand the draw of distraction. I feel the pull. Multiple forces come into play:

• The last parts of a project are the hard parts. We do the easy stuff first.
• The project gets old. We get tired. Boredom sets in.
• The new things might be the better things. We’re uncertain. We have doubts. We’re constantly scanning the horizon.

But there’s always something new. There’s always a distraction. Some of us rationalize our decisions. We wear an “attention deficit” badge like it’s a good thing. We’re on the “leading edge,” yet we have no foundation. We’re “innovative,” “edgy,” and on the “forefront” unless someone checks our balance sheet. Many of us accept our inability to focus. But accepting that we’re distracted requires us to accept diminished results.

Focus is your friend. Finishing is the objective. You’ve got the energy, the intellect, and the enthusiasm. You can do whatever you set out to do. You can finish whatever you decide to finish.

Don’t start something new. Don’t buy something new. Don’t attend something new. You know what you need to know. You have what you need to have. You’ve got everything required to achieve success. Now, it’s time to do it.

The big results come from focus. They come from taking small steps each day toward the goal. They come from remaining focused, giving the goal our undivided attention, resisting distraction, and sticking with the project even in the face of uncertainty, doubt, the fear of missing out, and the need to dig deep to stay with your commitment.

My wife and I spent a decade working toward our goal of working from the road and visiting places like Myanmar (back then, it was Burma). We had to create the business, build a company culture around remote work, get rid of the kids, get rid of the house, sell the stuff, and on and on. Now we’re flying over Bagan, Myanmar in a hot air balloon. Getting here was neither quick nor easy. It required a plan, focus, and devoted attention to each step along the way. The big results come from focus.

Isn’t it time to make a decision, take action, and stick with it to the end?