Kathleen appears to be having a bad day. First, her car wouldn’t start and she was late for work. Then, she got called into a surprise meeting where it was revealed that she lost a new account. Finally, she found out that her wedding dress was not going to be ready on the date promised – the new date was pushed to a week before the wedding. How could anyone cope with all of this bad news in one day?

The answer is distraction. Purposeful distraction.

As adults living in a world of chaos, we get distracted all the time. Someone is always trying to get our attention, whether it’s some company’s marketing team or the person on the other end of our ringing cell phone. From our perspective, this is not purposeful distraction. It’s not something we set out to do. That’s something someone else set out to do.

Purposeful distraction occurs when we shift gears for a little while; when we get out of where we are and go to a more neutral space. It’s the space between problem and solution, issue and non-issue. When we want to shift from the problem to the solution, there needs to be the space in-between the two – the space where we can think. That’s where we use purposeful distraction.

Kathleen is an expert at using purposeful distraction. When she got home, she called her favorite massage therapist and made an appointment for later that evening. In the meantime, she went to the health club to work off some of the tension. On her way home from the health club, she stopped at the store to buy food to make a healthy dinner. By the next morning, Kathleen was ready to take on the day. She had a fresh perspective on how she would handle yesterday’s events.

By the end of the week, she had a new car, a solid lead on a new client, and a much more manageable date for her wedding dress. Because she took the time out to put everything into perspective, she was able to turn her luck around in a swift and efficient manner.

Sometimes we forget that we need time and space to think or to just “be”. When we remember to take time to step out of the daily necessities, we see what’s happening with new eyes. Here are some ways to shift gears with purposeful distraction:

· Take a nap. (Yes, you can!)

· Do something nice for someone and don’t tell him or her. This makes you feel good and makes him or her feel good.

· Laugh – or make someone else laugh. This is one of the best ways to shift your energy.

· Throw a dinner party. Invite all of your favorite people and have fun for the evening.

· Volunteer for something you are passionate about. Anyone feels good when they are working for a purpose.

For more ways to shift gears using purposeful distraction, contact Wendi Moore-Buysse to order her book “Shifting Gears: Get Moving in the Right Direction”.

Wendi Moore
www.wendimoore.com