Thank you for reading this week’s Operation Melt update.

Operation Melt started as a blog to share my personal transformation and weight loss story. After achieving success with that goal, Operation Melt has evolved into a platform to help inspire, motivate and equip people to achieve their own personal and professional goals so they can live their best lives.

I am trying to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.

This week’s post isn’t part of any of my normal series of topics. Instead, it is something that is impacting my life and my goals and I am guessing it is impacting your life as well.

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Focus

Lots of brilliant and accomplished people have written about the value of focus and how it can help us achieve our goals.

“Always remember, your focus determines your reality.”

George Lucas

“I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.”

Venus Williams

No matter what you think of George Lucas’ efforts to destroy the Star Wars franchise that I grew up with by remastering, adding prequels, etc. (there, I said it!), these people all have a point. If we set our minds to it, we can accomplish anything and achieve greatness in our own lives.

Focus on our goals is one of our secret weapons to success.

2021 is in Full Swing

We were all excited to see 2020 come to an end after the challenges of that year. Well, it is over now and we are a few weeks into 2021. Let’s reflect on what has happened so far.

• Coronavirus/COVID19 is still raging and more than 3000 people are dying in the US per day. There is a vaccine now, but it is going to take a long time to get everybody vaccinated. There are still people resisting wearing masks to protect each other from COVID. Some people are resisting getting vaccinated. Meanwhile, lockdowns persist, and life as we knew it is still nowhere in sight.

• There was a domestic terrorism attack on the Capitol building to try to stop the certification of the presidential election. There are stories about how this might have been enabled by some congresspeople or their staff and several police officers are under investigation for helping enable this attack.

• These terrorists, emboldened by this attack, are planning even more attacks. There are alerts that there are planned “protests” / attacks for all fifty state capitals and the US Capitol building through this coming weekend and the days leading to the inauguration. Governors across the country are flooding their states with National Guard troops to protect from these “protestors” setting up a ticking time bomb. The Ohio state capitol building is just about two miles from my house.

• The president of the US was just impeached days before the end of his term. This makes him the first president to be impeached twice.

Outside of these national events, I have a series of personal things happening too. This is crunch time at work as we are in a mad dash to go-live. My kittens are having surgery this week. I have several increasingly important home repairs that need to happen ASAP. I am working on launching a new Operation Melt series, running behind on PM Believer posts and trying to figure out my three-year plan. And the list goes on.

Distractions

I am more distracted and feel more anxious about the events unfolding around me than ever before. This is just a rough time and I have it better than many who are less fortunate than me. I am also quite certain that you aren’t feeling the level of focus and productivity you would like either.

We are all in a time of intense levels of distraction which has a real impact. Distraction causes reduced quality of work, it causes increased stress levels which lead to severe health issues and it keeps us from being able to focus on our goals.

With the barrage of events around us causing tons of distractions, this is a very dangerous time for goals.

I can tell you first hand that I am already lagging on my 2021 goals. I am not sleeping as well as I would like. My resting heart rate is higher. None of us are exempt from the impact of our distraction culture.

My hope by sharing this today isn’t to share some foolproof approach for avoiding distraction – I don’t have one. If I did, I wouldn’t be distracted. I want to let you know that you aren’t alone in feeling distracted. We are all in this together, so make sure to give yourself a little space, patience and forgiveness to work through the distractions.

I am also going to share the approach I am starting to experiment with to manage my own distracted mind. I am going to turn to something that has worked well for me over the past few years: diet and exercise. But it may not be what you think.

Diet

Much like my weight loss, I am starting with diet. I am going to manage my consumption of the things that are the source of my distractions. But, also like my weight loss, I am not going to give up anything along the way.

• I am still going to watch cable news, just not binge watch 24×7.
• I am still going to allow myself some multi-screen time, but I am going to do less multi-screening when I need to focus.

Like the consumption of food, I am also going to focus on increasing the consumption of healthy things. I am going to keep reading affirmations, reading good books and seeking out positive and inspirational items.

Exercise

The other half of my weight loss success and I am hoping my distraction management success too, is exercise. This takes many forms, traditional and non-traditional. I will share a couple.

• I am going to continue spending at least an hour per day walking, running and working out in the gym. Sweat is a good antidote to the distracted brain.
• I am also starting a meditation routine of sorts. I am working to spend at least five minutes per day, usually in the morning, sitting in silence and just focusing on breathing. When thoughts pop into my head, I will note them and put them aside.
• I am going to continue my daily journaling practice with a few upgrades. I start by reading my “2021 Playbook” each morning which includes lots of items I want to remind myself of daily: 2020 lessons learned, my vision, my practices, my affirmations and others. Then I am going to be less structured in my journals and explore my thoughts a little more.

Again, my hope today is to share a struggle I am having and what I am trying to do to manage it. I want you to know we are all in this together. Plus, if you have other ways that you are managing the distractions and maintaining your focus, I would love to know them. I am willing and anxious to try new techniques.

I Need Your Help

Before you go I would like to ask you for a favor. I can’t build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness on my own. Please consider helping your friends find today’s post by following me on Facebook, on LinkedIn or via Instagram and sharing today’s post to your feed.

While you are at it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s post, your goals or anything else on your mind. Send me a note via my Contact Me form,

Thanks again for reading today’s post and here’s to achieving your most important goals!

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