When was the last time you spent the day running back and forth to your mailbox every five minutes to check and see if the mailman had arrived?

That’s funny to think about, but the reality is that many of you are checking your e-mail that frequently, logging in and out of Facebook and twitter to see what you’ve missed, and wondering where the day went.

Email, voicemail, ringing phones and social media alerts make us feel busy. They make us feel important. In reality, those things have no relevance to who we are. Technology does not make us important. More often than not, technology makes us scattered, overwhelmed and distracted.

Harness the power of technology by using it as a tool to stay connected or do business, but don’t let it distract you from doing the things that are important to you.

How to Eliminate Distraction

• Mindful Email. Email is a powerful way to communicate for business and pleasure with people around the world. If you want this piece of technology to be useful instead of counterproductive, then manage it. Choose 2-3 times per day to log into your email. Use that block of time to send and respond to email.

• Unsubscribe. If you are receiving promotions from companies that you don’t do business with or people that you don’t care about anymore. Please, break it off. Stop deleting and reacting to things that are not important to you.

• Twitter & Facebook. Even if you are using Twitter or Facebook in the name of business, sitting on either one, checking in all day long and responding to alerts is not helping your business. Remind yourself what you do, and why you do it…then go do it.

• Alerts. If your computer or phone alerts you when someone emails, tweets, please turn that off. No one that is emailing you NEEDS your immediate attention. Respond during one of your planned email sessions.

Imagine what you would accomplish if you stopped reacting, stopped searching, stopped jumping from blog to blog and site to site.

• If you want to read, just read.
• If you want to write, just write.
• If you want to clean, clean.
• If you want to play with your child, play with your child.

One thing at a time will always be more productive, more fulfilling, and more meaningful than attempting to multi-task your way through the day. Do you want a busy day or a meaningful day?

The objective of eliminating distraction is not to control your day or predict your every move, but instead to work on things that you care about, spend time with people that you love, and live your life on purpose.