7 Keys To Getting Rid Of Distraction So You Can Accomplish Great Things

I think when things linger, that’s when they become a distraction. I don’t want any distractions.

Derek Jeter

We all have hopes and dreams.  We all want to accomplish great things in our lifetime.  We all have important things to attend to on a daily basis.

And we all get distracted.

Distractions sidetrack us from achieving our hopes and dreams.  Distractions derail us from the things in life that really need our attention.

The world is full of distraction, and I am guilty of falling into the traps of distraction.  This is not my intention, but it is the predicament I find myself in more often than I care to admit.

What can I do to get rid of distractions in my life?

It’s time we make a change.  It’s time we deal with the distractions that derail us from doing great things.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

7 Keys To Getting Rid Of Distraction So You Can Accomplish Great Things

1. Step away from the phone.  Let’s be honest.  The latest smartphones are pretty amazing.  They send and receive e-mails.  They send and receive text messages.  They give you access to the internet.  They let keep you busy with stupid games (I just have to get to the next level of this game!).  And oh yes, they even take phone calls.  They are great, but smartphones are a major distraction.  In order to get a handle on this, we must learn to put boundaries on our phone time.  Maybe this simply starts by having a “No Phone At The Table” rule during mealtimes.  But maybe you need more phone related boundaries, so you can concentrate on what needs to be accomplished next.
2. Turn off the television.  It’s easy to get sucked into the next show or series.  And perhaps a little TV isn’t a bad thing.  But what happens when you HAVE to get home on time to watch this show, or you put off something with great importance because you are glued to the television?  I don’t know the statistics, but I know the average American watches way too much television.  Imagine if what we could accomplish if we used those hours more productively.
3. Make a to-do list.  I’m a huge list guy.  Lists help me keep track of what I need to accomplish, and it also shows me what I’ve completed so far.  When we have so many things to accomplish, we sometimes don’t know where to start.  We suffer from a type of paralysis, because we can’t clearing define what needs to be done.  Taking time to write down the things you need to do is a great way to clarify what really needs your attention.
4. Learn to prioritize.  You’ve made your to-do list.  Now you need to prioritize.  What things need your attention first?  What is urgent and important?  This is probably where you should start.  What is important but not urgent?  This should probably be next.  What is urgent but not important?  Maybe this shouldn’t even be on your list.  What is not important and not urgent?  This would definitely be something to consider removing from you list.  Dealing effectively with distractions improves dramatically when you learn to prioritize.
5. Focus on one thing at a time.  Sometimes we have to multitask.  I get it.  Moms are especially good at multitasking.  The reality though is we aren’t as effective when we are focusing on more than one thing at a time.  Taking time to focus on one thing produces a better product, and it helps to alleviate the distractions that come from focusing on too many things at the same time.
6. Ask for help.  Get someone to hold you accountable to staying focused.  The power of accountability is underrated.  If you are easily distracted, tell someone about it.  Tell them what you are trying to accomplish.  Ask them to hold your feet to the fire as you work towards this goal.
7. Pray.  Prayer is often overlooked as a solution to anything.  I believe there is tremendous power in prayer.  If you are struggling with distractions in your life, start by praying about it.  God cares for you, and I’m confident He can help you deal with your distractions.  In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells His followers to ask and they would receive:  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8

What distracts you?  How do you deal with distractions in your life?  What is one thing you can do today to eliminate distraction from your life?

Book Review: QBQ! The Question Behind The Question (John G. Miller)

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

How’s that for a statement?

Seriously, I just finished reading QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life by John G. Miller, and I thought it was great.  I had heard about the book from several people before, but I didn’t pick it up until recently.

I read a lot of books about leadership.  I’ve read books which tell me how to lead my team through this situation or that situation.  I’ve read books which tell me how to handle difficult team members and team members with different types of personalities.  These books are good, but this QBQ! took it to another level for me.

QBQ! is all about leading myself.  The book is not terribly long, and it’s broken down into bite-sized chapters which make it easy to get through.  I’m a slow reader, and I read through QBQ! in a few sittings.  It kept my attention and left me with lots plenty to ponder.  I underlined and highlighted many parts of this book, and I’ll be referring to it again and again to help me become a better leader and a better person.

QBQ! challenges readers to stop complaining, procrastinating, and blaming.  It stretches readers to practice personal accountability by asking the right questions.

Here are some of the questions I took away from QBQ!:

• What can I do to make a difference?
• How can I support my team?
• What can I do to help out?
• How can I provide more value?
• How can I adapt to the changing world?
• What could I have done differently?
• How can I learn from this experience?
• How can I let go of what I can’t control?
• How can I appreciate people’s gifts and strengths just as they are?
• How can I practice the principles I espouse?
• How can I set a better example?
• How can I set good boundaries?
• How can I be a more effective coach?
• What can I do to better understand each person I manage?
• How can I build a stronger team?
• How can I be a better leader?
• What can I do to show I care?
• How can I communicate more effectively?
• What can I do to be more productive?
• What can I do to develop myself?
• How can I become more engaged?

I learned so much through QBQ!, and I would recommend this as a resource for anyone who wants to take their leadership and their relationships to the next level.

Have you read QBQ!?  If so, what was one of your biggest lessons learned?

If you could ask any question of yourself, what would it be?

(Please note:  I received a copy of QBQ! for free as part of a giveaway.  I was not required to provide a favorable review.  I truly believe this book can be a helpful reminder to any reader in helping them to take steps to become better leaders – at work, in the community, at church, and at home.

Also to note:  There are affiliate links in this post.  Should you purchase QBQ! by clicking one of these links, I receive a small percentage of the purchase.  These funds are used to support The Stretched Blog and to extend ministry and missions to Guatemala.  Thank you!)

Lost and Found

Yesterday, I went to Island Beach State Park in New Jersey with some great friends.  We traditionally go camping as families, but we had to settle for a day trip this year as we are all dealing with busy schedules which seems to come with growing children.

It was a very enjoyable day.  The temperature was perfect in the low to mid 80s.  The water was a little cold, but the sun was out.

Our kids quickly came up to speed and started to play together making sand sculptures and splashing in the surf.  Our kids now range in age from 9 years old (almost 10) to eighteen years old.  It’s hard to imagine.  When we started this tradition, two of the kids hadn’t even been born.

The kids kind of take care of each other with the older kids keeping an eye on the younger kids.  Naturally, the adults enjoyed talking to each other as the kids played.  I was talking to one of my friends when he suddenly popped out of his beach chair and ran towards the shore line.  He had seen his wife looking up and down the shore line and into the water for their son.  After a minute, the rest of our crew began the search for their son.  We stretched out northward and southward looking for this young boy.  The mother spoke with a life guard who immediately radioed all the other life guards with a description of the lost boy.

Within minutes, they found the missing boy a few lifeguard stands down the beach.  My friends quickly ran down the beach to retrieve their son.

Their panic turned to relief as they discovered their lost boy had been found.

There are several stories in the gospel of Luke about the search for things that are lost – The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10), and The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7).  These stories are worth reading.  In each story, Jesus tells about the all-out search for something lost.  He uses these parables to describe the Father’s love for His children who are lost.

My friends would have done anything to find their son.  They love him so much.  They would have turned over every blanket on the beach just to find their little boy.  This is the same way God feels about you.  He is willing to conduct an all-out search mission just for you.  And this is why He sent His Son – to seek and save the lost.

When have you lost something very important to you?  How did you go about searching for the thing you lost?  How did you feel when you found it?

Raining On Our Parade

Here we are in Skippack getting ready for the parade. The forecast is a little wet, but the streets are lined with eager spectators.

Happy 4th of July!

What are your plans for today?

Published via Pressgram

Ice Breaker – In The Movies

Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas.  If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com.  If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question:  If you could be in the movie of your choice, what movie would you choose and what character would you play?

My Answer:  First, I would go with Field of Dreams.  This is my favorite movie of all-time.  I love the story and how it encourages viewers to dream crazy dreams.  If I were to choose a character from the movie to play, I would go with Archibald Graham.  If you remember the story, he played baseball as a young man.  He played in the minor leagues for most of his short career.  When he finally got the call to play in the big leagues, he never had the opportunity for a plate appearance.

He ended up going into medicine, and he became a small-town family doctor.  His dream of getting a big league hit never came to fruition.  In the movie, he is given another shot had fulfilling this dream when a crazy farmer in Iowa (played by Kevin Costner) invites him to his field where “ghosts” from baseball past gather to play a game in a field surrounded by corn.

I don’t want to give the whole movie away for those who haven’t seen it yet, but there’s another point in the movie where Archie Graham has to make a decision about baseball and medicine.  Through the decision, we discover an incredible love for others.  This is the way I want to respond when presented with such a decision.  For this reason, I think it would be a great experience to play his character in the move.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.  Click the link below to get your copy today.

As a reminder, I am offering a FREE pdf copy of the interior of the book to subscribers of The Stretched Newsletter.  Head over to the main page of the blog and sign up on the right hand menu bar to get your copy today for FREE!

What A Difference A Bed Makes!

Where do you sleep?  What kind of bed do you have?

If you are like most Americans, you have a pretty comfortable bed.  You probably have a bed frame with a box spring.  You probably have a pretty decent mattress with pillows, sheets, and a bed spread.

I sleep on a king size bed in a house protected from the elements.  These past few days, we’ve had the air conditioner on which makes sleeping conditions pretty nice during the hot summer nights.

When I was in Guatemala two summers ago, I slept on a collapsed folding table on top of a roof protected by a plastic roof.  It wasn’t ideal, but I still managed to get some sleep after hard days of working in the village of Xenacoj.  Last summer, I upgraded to a small bunk bed.  The bed was probably two feet too short for me (I’m six feet six inches tall), but it was still better than sleeping on the ground (or on the roof).  I’m not sure what our sleeping conditions will be like this year, but I’m not too worried.

This is the bed we saw last summer where a widow sleeps with her three children. The picture is dark and so is the room itself.  It was made up of a sheet of plywood on top of a few overturned five gallon buckets.  Pieces of fabric serve as a “mattress” and sheets/blankets for this family.

While we were serving in Guatemala last summer, we visited the home of widow in the small village of San Antonio.  She lived in a very small house with her three kids.  The house had a dirt floor and corn-stalk walls.  The roof was made of sheets of metal.  The inside of the roof was covered in black soot caused by the open fire used for cooking.  Inside the walls of the house, there were four overturned five gallon buckets on which rested a sheet of plywood which was covered with scraps of fabric.  This is where the widow slept with all three of her children.  This was their bed.

Earlier this year, a team from the United States went down to Guatemala to help widows and orphans.  During their trip, they build a new house for this family.  They now live in a house with a concrete floor, wooden walls, a solid metal roof, and electricity.  The team was also able to provide bunk beds for this family, so each person has a bed with a mattress, sheets, pillows, and blankets.  Can you imagine the difference this made for this family?

In just over two weeks, our family will be heading down to Guatemala where we will build two houses.  One house will be the home for a widow and two family members, and the other house will become the home for a widow and five of her family members.  Thanks to generous donors, we will be able to build both of these houses.  This alone will change the life of these families.

But what if we could do more?  What if we could find a way to provide beds as well?

Yesterday, our missionary friend, David Sgro, posted the following on his Facebook timeline:

I’ll be visiting Guatemala later this month and we’ll be working with the Jon Stolpe family to build two houses for two widows and their families. The cost for each house is approx $2,000. That money has been raised. The widows and their children also need bedding and a bed and mattress cost $100. We need a total of 9 beds. If you’d like to donate towards buying a widow or an orphan a bed please visit www.goministries.info, scroll down and click on “Paypal Option 1” to donate. You can add a note saying “Widow/Orphan Bedding” and those funds will be used to buy the beds! Thanks a lot. If you buy a bed I’ll send you a picture so you can see the family enjoying their bed.

This was not a cost we were aware of when we set up our trip and fundraising budget.  I suppose it’s not essential, but it would be a great way to put a bow on the gift we are providing to these families.  I know it’s a big ask, but would you consider helping out?  Maybe you can get together with your family or a group of friends and pay for one bed.  If we get nine people to do this, we would be set.  (Or if we get eighteen people to pay for half of a bed, we would be set.  You get the idea.  Any amount would be appreciated.)

How do you think a new bed might change the life of one these families?

What is the nicest bed you’ve ever slept on?  What is the worst sleeping condition you’ve ever endured?

The second half of the video below shows the home of the widow mentioned above before her house was rebuilt.

And this video highlights the construction of her new home.  This will give you a small glimpse into what we will be experiencing in a couple of weeks while we are in Guatemala.  (Go to the 9 minute mark to fast forward to the house construction and completion.)

Book Review: HeBrews A Better Blend (Leah Adams)

I have the privilege of being part of the book launch team for a new project by Leah Adams.

HeBrews A Better Blend officially launched yesterday, and I’m honored to share it with The Stretched Community today.

HeBrews A Better Blend is more of a workbook than an actual book.  The book is set up to study the book of Hebrews in eight weeks.  Each week, readers are provided five days worth of study material designed to help you better understand Hebrews and to help you grow deeper in your faith.

Leah Adams writes in a way that encourages you to go deeper.  She uses stories from her personal journey along with her knowledge and understanding of Scripture to push readers along.  Leah uses the coffee metaphor throughout the book in hopes of bringing readers to a better blend in their faith walk.

Each page provides readers with space to write down notes and answer questions.  The book reminds me of a Beth Moore workbook.  You’ll work hard as you go through the pages, and you’ll arrive at the end of the book with a new perspective on Christ and His role in your life. HeBrews A Better Blend is perfect for individuals or for small groups who want to learn more.

If you’d like to know more about HeBrews A Better Blend, click here.

Or pick up your copy today by clicking the link below.

Do you drink coffee?  What’s your favorite kind of coffee?  What ingredient do you need to add to your life to create a better blend?

Out Cold

After a long, hard day, it’s time to relax.

How was your day?

Published via Pressgram

June 2014 – Top Posts and Commenters PLUS BOOK GIVEAWAY

Here are the highlights from June 2014.  Thanks to everyone who read along and commented.  Your readership and participation in the daily discussions are what make The Stretched Community.  Thank you!

Overall, traffic was up from May (16.14%).  Traffic was down 16.07% compared to a year ago.  The top 10 posts included one post from 2012 and one post from 2013.  If you missed any of these posts, I hope you’ll go and check them out now by clicking below.  The post with the most engagement was a post related to my book project from June 6, 2014 – Ice Breaker – Last 5 Songs You Listened To.

Top 10 Posts:

1. Ten Things Every Aspiring Book Author Should Know  June 9, 2014 (94)
2. I’m Losing My Patients – 6 Ways To Rediscover Patience  April 2, 2013 (76)
3. Ten Things Every Small Group Leader Should Know  March 7, 2012 (69)
4. Milestones  June 19, 2014 (41)
5. Ice Breaker – Last 5 Books You Read  June 20, 2012 (40)
6. Honor Older People  June 3, 2014 (39)
7. 3 Ways To Respond When Someone Is Unkind To You  June 18, 2014 (39)
8. Ice Breaker – Last 5 Songs You Listened To  June 6, 2014 (38)
9. Summertime Blogging – Request For Guest Bloggers  June 24, 2014 (38)
10. Ice Breaker – Last 5 Movies You Watched  June 13, 2013 (36)

Top 10 Commenters:

• Larry Carter (47)
• Steve Y (37)
• David Stolpe (22)
• Leah Adams (8)
• Ryan Biddulph (6)
• Dave Arnold (5)
• Heidi Bender (5)
• Jon Stallings (5)
• Bill (cycleguy) (4)
• Caleb (4)

As promised at the beginning of the month, I have randomly chosen someone from the top commenters list to receive a copy of A Train Called Forgiveness by Dan Erickson.  The winner of this book is…(drum roll)…Ryan Biddulph.  Congrats to Ryan!

For the month of July, I’ll be giving away a copy of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life by John G. Miller. This month, the winner will be chosen randomly from the top 10 commenters.

Thanks to each and everyone for reading and for commenting.  I’m looking forward to July with The Stretched Community!  The month of July will include more STRETCHING posts and will feature several guest posts while I am in Guatemala.  If you’re interested in guest posting here, leave a comment to connect with me.  July should be a spectacular month!

How was your month?  If you’re a blogger share a link to your top post in the comments?  What was your favorite Stretched post this month?  How were you STRETCHED in June?

In case you’re interested, here are a few other interesting stats about June (based on Google Analytics):

• Users – Increased 4.74%
• Sessions – Increased 12.76%
• Pageviews – Increased 14.61%
• Pages Per Session – Increased 1.37%
• Average Session Duration – Increased 39.58%
• Bounce Rate – Decreased 0.83%
• New Sessions – Decreased 5.85%

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.  Click the link below to get your copy today.

As a reminder, I am offering a FREE pdf copy of the interior of the book to subscribers of The Stretched Newsletter.  Head over to the main page of the blog and sign up on the right hand menu bar to get your copy today for FREE!

QBQ – Summer Reading

I’m excited to start reading QBQ. Thanks to author, John G. Miller for the autographed copy.

What is on your summer reading list?

Published via Pressgram