Last night, I needed to focus on a task — one that I had been avoiding.

To help me stay on track, I took two minutes to list all the things that were not more important than that task.

The list included my usual distractions: news, email, social media, internet browsing, streaming media, televised sports, and checking things like account balances and tracking numbers for shipments.

None of that was more important than the task at hand.

And just by naming those diversions, it added enough tension that I was able to keep distraction at bay. The temptation was still present, but my resolve was stronger. I think I'll keep the list handy for the next time I need to use it.