Avoid distractions
Over the last ten years, we have built a number of tools, now known as 'social media,' that make it very, very easy to focus on what other people are doing.
A mere click away, there's an endless scroll where you can look at the choices that other people are making. Not just the choices of the people that you know, either — but the choices of the people who you look up to, or who you envy, or who wish you knew. You see their breakfasts and outfits and career milestones and break-ups and journal entries and vacations and music recommendations.
It's not necessarily our observation that's the problem. It's the response that it creates within us.
That response is an instinct, the result of thousands of years of evolution that have taught us to constantly evaluate one another and our place in the world.
We feel inadequate: "Why is their life so much better than mine?"
We feel judgmental: "That's the completely wrong thing to do."
We feel alone: "Everyone else has it all figured out. Why don't I?"
The next time that you find yourself focusing more on other people's decisions, and less on your own, say these words to yourself:
"Those aren't my choices. That's not my business. I don't need to focus my limited energy there. My energy belongs here, with my choices, with what is within my control. Now, let's focus: :what matters to me right now?"
