Are You Running Life, or Is Life Running You?
This week, my mind has felt lost in the chaos.
Exploding thoughts, distractions, and endless interruptions. It’s been hard to focus or prioritise what matters most. Every time I try to concentrate, I'm yanked in a different direction. A WhatsApp message about my kid’s sport, an email, a reminder for a party, a news notification. Doing a job, cooking, my kids asking me a question. It’s felt like I’m not fully present anywhere. Wait, text has just come in...
Where was I?
Right, OK, Do Not Disturb is now on, and my deep-focus playlist is on. You’ve got me... I promise!
This morning, I had a conversation with someone I deeply admire, and it turns out they’ve been feeling the same way. They, too, feel agitated, like their focus is being hijacked by all the noise. If you own a phone and live in the 24/7 world of instant notifications, there’s every possibility you are in the same boat—pulled in all directions, never able to give your full attention to one thing. Agitated. Left wanting.
This brings up a big question: Are you making your life happen, or is life just happening to you?
I’d like to think I have a reasonable handle of my phone, ensuring it doesn’t pull me away from what matters and what I care about. I’ve read the books, had the conversations, and tried multiple hacks: turning off push notifications, hiding alerts, setting "Do Not Disturb," and leaving my phone in the office while I’m at home and when I sleep. And, when I’m intentional, those tricks work. But this week, I was not intentional. I just let life pull me along, and now I feel scattered. My mind is stretched too thin, like there’s 20 tabs open in my browser. I’m reminded of how natural it is for life to pull you into its busy matrix of all-consuming distractions.
This all came to the forefront this morning. I was chatting with someone about how irritated I’ve felt this week. I said, "I just want to do what I know works for me—start my day with routine, then spend a couple of hours mid-morning, my most creative part of the day, hyper-focused and in the zone. Just me and one task. Fully emgaged, fully present. I love this space—it makes me feel alive." And then it hit me: I can create this space, but this week have not been intentional about it. In today’s world, focus doesn’t just happen by accident. We have to design it.
So, here’s my challenge for myself as much as anyone else. What do I need to do to protect what matters most? I know what I want, so how do I get there? How can I carve out space to eliminate distractions, even if it's just for a part of my day? This isn’t just about productivity. It’s about protecting one of the most precious resources we have—our minds. It’s about making life, not life making you.