(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
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Have you ever sat down at the end of the day and wondered where your time went? You were busy. You answered emails, returned texts, helped people. You handled problems and checked things off your list.
And yet, somehow, the thing that mattered most never happened. The proposal didn't get written. The podcast didn't get outlined, much less recorded.
The business idea didn't move forward. Or maybe that difficult conversation just never happened. If that's familiar, then today's episode is for you.
Welcome to Goals in Grace with certified high-performance coach, Rev. Dr. Juliet Spencer, where we build habits that help you do meaningful work with a joyful heart. Ready to lead with love, not depletion? Let's go. We're continuing our Decision Fitness series, and today we're talking about a decision most of us make dozens of times a day without even realizing it.
Every distraction is a decision. Let me say that again. Every distraction is a decision.
Every notification, every interruption, every, I'll just check this out really quickly. And the problem isn't that we don't care about our priorities, of course. The problem is that we rarely protect them.
Years ago, I thought my biggest challenge was discipline. If I could just try harder, focus better, or become more organized, everything would fall into place. But eventually, I realized something important.
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My priorities weren't failing because I lacked commitment. They were failing because I hadn't created conditions for success. I was expecting important work to survive in an environment designed for distraction.
That's like planting a garden and then acting surprised when rabbits eat everything. Your dreams need a fence. Your priorities need protection.
Your best work needs a habitat where it can grow. And that's exactly what we're going to build today. One of my favorite passages comes from the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah has been called by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It was not a small project. It was physically exhausting, politically controversial, and spiritually really important.
The future of the city depended on that wall being completed. Not everyone was happy about it, and that's worth noticing. Sometimes, faithfulness requires disappointing people, not because we mean to or because we're unkind, but because saying yes to God's priorities occasionally means saying no to somebody else's expectations.
Several influential opponents kept trying to pull Nehemiah away from the work. Four different times they sent messages asking him to come and meet with them. On the surface, it sounded reasonable.
A conversation, a meeting, a chance to talk things through. But Nehemiah recognized what was really happening. The meeting wasn't the mission.
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The meeting was the distraction. His opponents weren't trying to help him accomplish the work. They were trying to keep him from finishing it.
So, Nehemiah sent back one of the most powerful responses in scripture. He said, I am doing great work and I cannot come down. I love that.
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I am doing great work and I can't come down. Notice he didn't say, I'm too busy. He didn't say, maybe later.
And he did not apologize for protecting his time. He simply recognized that saying yes to those requests would mean saying no to the assignment that God had given him. Some of us need that same clarity.
Now, let me be clear. It is not because every task on our to-do list is critical or ultra holy. And it's not because every interruption is evil or that people are necessarily out to see us fail.
And it's certainly not because people don't matter, but it is because there are seasons when protecting the work, our work, is the most faithful thing that you can do. The reality is that every distraction asks the same question. Will you leave what matters most for what feels urgent right now? Nehemiah's answer was no.
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And sometimes, probably more than we feel comfortable admitting, ours needs to be too. Sometimes we need to borrow Nehemiah's words. Maybe not forever, but let's just say for the next 50 minutes.
I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. If you don't protect your priorities, then somebody else's priorities will gladly consume your time and your calendar. So, let's talk about how to build a focus block that actually works.
The first thing every focus block needs is a place on your calendar and a finish line. Most people schedule time, but few people schedule outcomes. And there's a difference.
Don't just block 9 to 950. Name what gets finished during that block. This is something I absolutely swear by.
So, for example, you might say, this 50 minutes drafts the podcast outline, or this 30 minutes, if you don't have 50, and if you don't have 50 minutes, then block what you can. This 30 minutes creates 5 email subject lines, or this hour finishes the client proposal, but be clear, specific, and finishable, because vague work creates vague results. You know, that's so common sense.
And yet, until you hear it or say it out loud, most of us don't spend any time actually thinking that through. But it is true. Vague work usually gets vague results.
And vague goals invite distraction. Which, when you think about it, really does make sense, doesn't it? Once you know what you're finishing, prepare the environment. Your surroundings are either helping your focus or they're hurting it.
Think about that. How many times have you sat down to write only to notice an email notification, and then a text, then a headline, and then 20 minutes have disappeared? Your environment is always teaching your brain what to do. So, create spaces that support the behavior you want.
If possible, separate your communication space from your creation space. For me, I have a little bit of bleed-in, of overlap, but when I'm really wanting to create, I move away from my desk into a really comfortable chair. Or, truth be told, I sit on my bed, propped up with pillows.
Which, for now, is easy to do because I work from home. But whatever space you can find, if possible, separate between your tasks, your work, if you will, and your creation space. And then, when it's time to create, create.
When it's time to communicate, communicate. Don't invite your inbox into the room where your best thinking happens. Another trick of the trade, do as much of your creating in one day as you possibly can.
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And that allows your brain to stay in that creative space. So, for me, writing more than one podcast episode at a time is the most efficient way for me to create. And then recording more than one podcast episode at a time is the way to keep my brain focused on that kind of task.
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And then another day is set aside for editing. You get the idea. And while we're talking about distractions, let's discuss the biggest one, your phone.
The engineers who designed your favorite apps are brilliant. Their job is to capture your attention. And they're very good at it, which means this is not a battle of willpower.
It's a battle of design. So, put the phone in another room or turn off notifications. Put it in a bag if you need to, or in a drawer.
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I think I've mentioned before about a client who sets her phone completely out of sight because she knows herself well. In other words, do whatever you need to do. Every time your attention fractures, it takes time and energy to rebuild focus.
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That's not just the world according to Juliet, by the way. It's backed by research. And I suspect your own experiences if you're anything like me.
If you can't find your phone for an hour, congratulations! You just bought your brain back. But now, let's deal with another common problem. The random thoughts that show up the moment you start working.
You sit down to write and suddenly remember you need to order dog food or return a call or schedule an appointment. Don't follow the thought. Instead, capture it.
Keep a notebook nearby and write it down. Or, if you're working on your computer, use a computer sticky note. But whatever it is, capture it so that you can let it go and return to the task.
Remember, parking is not pausing. Parking is protecting. You're simply telling your brain, I won't forget this, but I'm not going to do it now.
That one habit alone can save enormous amounts of mental energy. Next, create a simple first minute ritual. Elite performers in every field understand the power of transition.
You don't go from chaos to focus instantly. You cross a bridge. My bridge looks something like this.
Sit tall, take 10 slow belly breaths, set an intention for how I want to show up, visualize finishing the task, and then repeat something along the lines of focus, serve, finish. It takes less than a minute, but it changes everything that follows. But we also need to talk about stamina because focus isn't just a productivity issue, it's an energy issue.
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I like the rhythm of 50 minutes on and 10 minutes off. And if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you know how much I swear by this. When the timer ends, stand up, move, stretch, get water, breathe.
If you can go outside, even better. That'll add to your sense of calm and peace and refresh. Sometimes I'll sit at the piano for a few minutes just because it clears my brain and it taps into a different part of it.
We already know that refreshed minds do better work than exhausted minds. And if you lose focus halfway through a block, don't be hard on yourself. Certainly do not immediately assume something is wrong with your character.
More often than not, it's an energy problem and energy can be managed. One more thing, protect your focus block with people. It's true that most interruptions are not malicious, they're simply unclear expectations.
Be sure to tell your family or your team, your co-workers, even your clients. Let them know I'm focused from 9 to 950 finishing X project and I'll be available from 10 till whatever. Most people I know respect boundaries that they've been told about and staff members respect them if they have a clear idea of the project you're working on.
The problem creeps in because we often expect people to honor boundaries that we haven't actually communicated. And finally, give your week an anchor. I do what one of my mentors, Brendan Burchard, does and I call the anchor my Friday Finishers List.
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At the beginning of the week, preferably on Sunday night or early Monday morning, choose three to five meaningful outcomes that must be completed before the next weekend begins. Then schedule the focus blocks required to make them happen. For many of us, myself included, finishing creates peace.
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It certainly does for me. Unfinished priorities have a way of following us into Saturday and Sunday and Monday morning, don't they? And when they do that, they steal your peace. This topic is actually one of the reasons I love week five of my Purpose and Peace Pathway Coaching Program.
We spend time exploring productivity, focus, and follow-through because so many capable people aren't struggling with ability. They're struggling with protecting what matters most. The coaching tools I use come from the High Performance Coaching Curriculum, which has helped thousands upon thousands of people become more intentional and effective.
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What I add is the faith component, bringing scripture, prayer, and reflection into the conversation, if invited, so that productivity stays connected to purpose. Honestly, it's one of my favorite weeks because these ideas helped me tremendously. For years, I thought I just needed more discipline, but what I discovered through my own coaching was that I needed better systems and better boundaries around my intention and my attention.
Once I learned how to protect what mattered, I made more progress with less stress and a lot more peace. So now, let's make it practical. Suppose your priority is next week's podcast outline.
Wednesday from 9 to 9 50 becomes Draft Online Version 1. Put your phone in another room, only necessary tabs open, a sticky note visible, introduction, two to three points, call to action, and then you breathe. Set your intention and start the timer, and then write. It's probably not going to be perfect, but chances are that it will be a faithful use of your time, energy, and focus.
At 9 48, you review what you've written, bold the key ideas, and type Version 1 Complete, and it's done. Momentum created, progress is achieved, and that's what matters. Before we finish, I want to challenge one final belief.
Most people say, I don't have time for focus blocks, but the truth is exactly the opposite. You don't have time not to. Let's call a thing a thing.
Whatever isn't scheduled gets replaced, and whatever isn't protected gets postponed. So here's your challenge. Right after this episode, identify tomorrow's single most important deliverable and put one focus block on your calendar.
Give it a finish line, prepare your environment, and communicate the boundary to the people who need it. And then when the time arrives, remember Nehemiah, I'm doing great work and I cannot come down. You're not avoiding people, you're doing what God or your boss or your own commitment to yourself has placed before you.
So protect it. Next week in our Decision Fitness series, we'll talk about recover, don't rationalize, how to rest intentionally so you don't burn out your mission, or excuse away your ambition. Until then, remember, you don't need more willpower, you need better boundaries around what matters to protect the block and finish the work.
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And trust that small acts of focus create extraordinary results over time. And would you do me a favor? If this has been helpful to you, would you leave me a review? It would help others to find it more easily, and I would be most grateful. Until next time my friend, may God bless you with goals and grace.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
