Do You Quiet The Noise?

Do You Quiet The NoiseThere are distractions galore today and much more than before! Do you quiet the noise? Here is the reason for this question… when you are working do you silence your cell phone, sign off of all social media, sign out from any email accounts, turn off the TV and in essence create a bubble of silence around you for a period of time?

A number of my clients enjoy working with music on – from their Spotify Account or Apple Music. They tell me it is a form of relaxation to them and the absolute quiet is almost as distracting as too much noise.

There are others who work in an office environment where numerous TV monitors are preset and on all day long to anything from CNBC, MSNBC, CNN among the options. They tell me that they actually tune it out to the point where they are not hearing any of the specific stories. It is almost a version of their noise cancelling device.

How about you? Go to the comment section of this article and share. Let us know What do you do about the noise?

There are other folks who take a different approach.

One personality utilizes the complete ear plug insertion. Yes, they actually place earplugs into their outer ear canal in order to shut out the noise. Did you know there are different levels of ear plugs available depending upon how much sound you may wish to allow in? You may see this at work and at play. Look around next time in your spin class or other workout room where some feel the music is too loud. You may see this as well at a club or even a rock concert.

Another personality is best described as the always plugged in person. No matter where or when they always have headphones or earphones connected to a device playing some type of music. Always as in while working, eating, sleeping and often during a meeting or a first date. Yes, this is true, sad but true.

Are you one of these two personalities? Tell us your story in the comments section of this article.

It is my suggestion to do what works best for you with one caveat. Be respectful and be a social person. Be aware of your performance. It is possible too much distraction going on may cause a drop off in your performance and/or productivity.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified coach, trainer and professional speaker based in Stamford, CT.

Are you in career transition or in a rut? Did you know that Mitch specializes in one-on-one coaching with clients in person, on the phone and on Skype? If you are in a rut and are ready to get out isn’t it time? Contact Mitch here.

Are You Distracted?

DistractionsYou are at a cross street and there is another car in front of you. The intersection is a four way stop sign intersection. You see the car approaching from the left and the driver is clearly looking down at their phone. The car coming from the left continues on through the intersection without even slowing down. Each of the cars at the other stop signs are each shaking their heads in disbelief. The driver of the car which went through the stop sign never looked up from their phone. Do you see this taking place often where you live and where you drive? The term we hear to describe this behavior is distracted driving.

My question to you is, are you conducting your business as a distracted business owner? An easy way to test if you are is to ask a few simple questions of yourself. Are you focused on one or two specific areas of expertise or products to market? This focus means you are spending your time selling and marketing directly. You are not yourself creating web sites, logos, looking up trademark rules and regulations, running personal errands throughout the day. You are clearly focused on the one or two specific items.

Do you know the value of one hour of your time? Do you delegate or hire in people to conduct the work you are not of the expertise to handle or to conduct the work which you should not conduct? Based upon your answers to these questions it should be clearly obvious to you or anyone else if you are a distracted business owner.

It is critical to have a clear and unobstructed focus on your business direction. There should be written down goals and objectives for your business for the year. These are then placed into goals to achieve each month, each week, each day to support the objective for the year. You and your team should hold yourselves accountable by checking in often to see if you are on track or off track. If you are off track, understand why and establish what must be done to get back on track. If you work alone you must have a business coach or a trusted advisor working with you to at the very least hold you accountable.

In the driving example it was obvious and very clear to the other drivers that the distracted driver was distracted. Did the distracted driver ever recognize they were distracted? The same example holds for your business. People around you are able to see you are a distracted business owner. The problem is you do not recognize that you are a distracted business owner. Take action steps now and pay attention. Find a business coach to work with. Get focused today.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.