Discard Distractions - #18

“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice: ...So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

We drift. We lose focus. We walk endlessly just to be in motion.

The problem isn’t walking. It’s walking without a destination.

A goal gives direction. Without it, every distraction is enough to pull you off course. And the worst part? You don’t even notice how far you’ve wandered until you look up one day and realize you’re nowhere near where you wanted to be.

Distractions aren’t harmless. They compound. They don’t just waste your time—they slowly drag you off the path entirely.

Clear Distractions

Some distractions are obvious.

• Mindless scrolling.

• Another “just one more” episode that turns into a full-season binge.

• The endless refresh of emails and notifications.

They give you nothing but a short dopamine hit, and they rob you of the chance to put time into something that actually matters.

The fix isn’t complicated, replace them. Trade 30 minutes of scrolling for 30 minutes of reading, writing, training, or simply being present with your family.

Clear distractions are obvious, but they’re seductive. They only lose their power when you consciously swap them out for something that aligns with your goals.

Hidden Distractions

The harder enemy to fight is the distraction that looks like progress.

They often masquerade as opportunities. A side project, a new initiative, a request for help. They feel useful in the moment, but in reality, they’re just diversions.

As a CPA, I often get asked tax questions, but the problem – I am not a tax focused CPA. I could spend hours digging into answers. Would it make me feel helpful? Sure. Would it move me closer to my real goals? No. That time is better spent directing people to an expert while I double down on what I do best.

This kind of misalignment scales. Whole companies collapse under the weight of hidden distractions. Look at General Electric—spread thin across too many ventures, eventually losing focus on what made them great in the first place.

The lesson: just because something is good doesn’t mean it’s yours to do.

The Role of Rest

Not everything outside your primary goals is a distraction. Some things exist to recharge you.

Rest. Recovery. Passion projects.

If they restore your energy or sharpen your perspective, they’re not pulling you off the path—they’re fueling you for it.

Don’t confuse genuine rest with wasteful distraction. One builds you back up. The other slowly tears you down.

Final Thought

Stay focused. Stay aligned.

Your path only matters if it leads somewhere you actually want to go. Every choice is either carrying you close or pulling you further away.

Discard distractions. Choose deliberately. Keep walking the path that matters.

Additional Resources

• Book: The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler – [Buy here]

• Podcast: Modern Huberman Lab: Science & Health Benefits of Belief in God & Religion – Dr. David DeSteno – [Listen here]

• Stoic Quote of the Month: “It’s ruinous for the soul to be anxious about the future and miserable in advance of misery, engulfed by anxiety that the things it desires might remain its own until the very end. For such a soul will never be at rest—by longing for things to come it will lose the ability to enjoy present things.” —SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 98.5b–6a

  • The work is done. The decisions are made. Now just worry about living life and don’t be anxious about what you are unable to control.