Breaking Through the Distractions of Noise

The distractions are loud, even when I don’t care about them.

I Really Do NOT Care About Shaun King

. . . or Rachel Dolezal

. . . or that lady at church that you think is sneaking out on her husband.

I got sucked into the controversy this morning only because I had the opportunity to meet Shaun King a few months back at a local social media conference where he led a session on becoming deeply connected to your online fans and friends.

I felt like this particular controversy was personal because of that one meeting and so I got swept up in the current. It took me about an hour before I pulled the plug. “Nope.”

When Should “Current Events” Be Allowed to Affect My Current?”

The truth of the matter is that whether he did or whether he did not matters little in my scope of the world – as is the case for most of the things shared in the “news” today. It will not change the direction of my journey. It will not change the course of my community, state, country, or world. It is just something to distract me from what I am supposed to be doing.

Distractions in any form will keep me from my unique path.

Questions to Help Break Through the Distractions of Noise

– Will it harm me or my family in some way? From the little I have read about many of these folks in the “news” their stories are as individual as mine. They have good points and they have bad points and neither of those points will cause harm to me or my family.

– Will it change the immediate steps in my journey? So often the “news” tries to get me stirred up about something that will never reflect on my beliefs, my focus, or my journey – EVER – much less right now.

– Do I have all the facts? If the first two questions cause me to hold up a red flag then it is time to learn more. The internet has made it so much easier and at the same time so much more challenging. A surface search will get me into trouble. If I am going to get out of the pull of the current then I have to invest enough to go in deeper.

– Can I affect a change? There are too many things that I need to be doing to take the time to know something for the sake of knowing. If I am going to dig down then I also need to be willing to dig in. Change will never come from words. If I am concerned then I need to show that concern through change driving choices of action.

Be wary of the “news” that seems important. Remember that the distractions will always keep you from focusing on the important things in your journey.