It seems like the faster our world moves, the harder it is to get anything done.  Maybe I’m just particularly susceptible.  After all, a co-worker once told me I had the attention span of a fruit fly.  But I don’t think I’m the only one.  Our world is increasingly littered with distractions.  There’s always something trying to pull us away from the truly important.

I’ve realized the only way to accomplish my goals and be faithful to what God is calling me to do is to wage war on distractions.  I need to consciously, systematically and brutally battle against them.

Here’s just a sample of the distractions I’m warring against these days:

• Email.  I only check it at three designated times per day.
• Facebook and Twitter.  Two designated times per day for these.
• Mindlessly surfing the internet. I use Google Chrome as my browser and Stay Focused to limit my amount of time online.

Here’s some distractions I’m trying to avoid all together:

• Unresolved conflict.  It’s hard to be productive with a low-grade conflict grinding away in your mind.  The Bible is on to something when it says, “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” (Eph. 4:26)
• Gossip.  Why are you wasting your time with someone who has nothing better to do with theirs than gossip? (Prov. 20:19)
• Comparison & Envy.  Shouldn’t we be so busy doing what God told us to do that we don’t have any space to worry about why and how He’s using someone else?  (John 21:22-23)

There are a number of practical strategies to fight each of these distractions.  Most of them involve removing temptations from your situation or removing yourself from a tempting situation.

But what really works is focusing your heart on something greater than these petty little distractions.  You were made by God.  We’ve been given the privilege of knowing Him, relating to Him and being used by Him.  He’s given us work to do and fruit to bear.  Focus on that and all of the sudden distractions seem to matter less.

Your call.  You can spend all of today on your Facebook newsfeed envying people you hardly know who are on vacation or you can plunge yourself into everything God has for you today.  You just can’t do both.