If you’ve ever wondered how not to get distracted in your work or business, this article can help you figure it out.

Distractions keep us from doing our best and being our best. Distractions are interruptions that change our focus which in turn stops us from moving ahead on our current path to success. If you give in to distractions you won’t attain the healthy, strong and successful business you want.

Distractions can be caused by a multitude of things: technology; boredom (what you’re doing is boring so you take any distraction that comes along); doing what you’re doing has no short term reward (what’s in it for you?); and even the feeling inadequacy – if we don’t feel we can do a good job, we look for distractions so we don’t do a good job.

Distractions can be external things such as flashing lights, beeps from your smart phone, pop-ups on the computer, the phone ringing, office clutter, people or pets in your peripheral view. The list goes on and on and includes sounds, sights, smells and kinaesthetic (temperature fluctuations in the room, body functions, pets seeking your attention) distractions.

Distractions can also be internal – distractions of the mind – things like our negative self-talk (also known as our ego) that doesn’t want us to do things that make it uncomfortable; the tens of thousands of thoughts we have every day that are swirling around in our heads; and our inability to separate ‘urgency’ from ‘emergency’; and multi-tasking.

How can you keep distractions – internal and external – from ruining your business? There are some obvious ones: move the Smartphone out of sight and hearing distance, turn off the electronic notifications, close the door so the pets don’t bug you, etc. But learning to separate Urgency from Emergency will help you pay attention to your business.

If the distraction is important, maybe even necessary but not life or business threatening, it’s an urgency. Urgencies can be scheduled to be accomplished and paid attention to at a later time or day even if you want to do them now while you’re thinking of them!

If, however, the distraction is sudden, unexpected, something ONLY you can do and is life or business threatening, it’s an emergency and needs to be dealt with immediately.

Learning to differentiate between urgencies and emergencies and then pay attention only to emergencies will keep distractions away from your business and help you have a healthy, strong and successful business. Using these tips will help you understand how not to get distracted from your goals and help with positive outcomes in your business.