I had to copy this from Michael Hyatt's blog here since it tied in with my earlier distractions article!

Who Else Needs More Mental Focus?

I can’t imagine living in a more distracting time in human history. Hundreds of cable channels, millions of Web sites, and the constant pinging of email and social media all compete for our attention. It’s enough to make anyone A.D.D.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/urbancow

But if you are like me, you still have to get real work done.

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A few weeks ago, I had to prepare for a board meeting. I really needed an extended period of time to review the material and prepare my presentation. In doing this, I realized that I go through a similar pattern whenever I need to increase my mental focus and get a lot of work done in a short period of time.
Here are ten tactics I use that may help you:

1. Block off time on your calendar. I schedule time on my calendar for special projects. Following Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s recommendation in Rework, I call this “The Alone Zone.” If some asks if I am available, I reply, “I’m sorry, but I have another commitment at that time.”
2. Isolate yourself in a quiet place. I try to eliminate all the distractions I can. While I generally practice an “open door policy,” I close my door when I have something important to get done. This signals to my colleagues that I am in project mode.
3. Turn the room temperature down. If the room gets too warm, I get sleepy and lose my edge. As a result, I intentionally turn the thermostat down to 69°. After years of testing, I have noticed that this is the temperature at which I am the most productive.
4. Get comfortable. When I need to get a lot done, I dress comfortably. For me that usually means jeans and a loose shirt. Even in the office, I kick off my shoes. I don’t want anything constricting my blood flow or distracting me.
5. Take email and social media software offline. When you are constantly checking email and social media, you can fool yourself into thinking you are working. Therefore, I take my email software offline. I also shut down HootSuite, my Twitter client. I do leave my browser open, because I have to use it for research.
6. Put on music that helps facilitates concentration. Certain music really helps me concentrate. When I wrote my first book, I created a playlist of instrumental music that moved me. Listening to it became a powerful ritual. It got me into the writing zone quickly and made me more productive. It still works for me today.
7. Drink caffeine in moderation. Various studies have shown that caffeine can have a positive effect on your mental focus, provided you consume it in moderation. Personally, I do better with a product like AdvoCare’s Spark. In addition to caffeine, “the neuroactive amino acids … help increase your mental focus and alertness by supporting your brain’s ability to receive and send messages to and from the nervous system.”
8. Avoid high glycemic carbohydrates. Nothing makes me sleepy faster than foods containing white flour and sugar. Breads are the absolutely the worst. Low glycemic carbs—darker vegetables, for example—are fine, because the sugars are released slowly. But high glycemic ones spike my blood sugar, and then I get sleepy.
9. Set mini-goals. I try to focus on one project until I am done. If it’s a big project, I break it into smaller goals. This usually means something I can finish in three hours or less. I personally get a rush from accomplishing a task and checking it off my to-do list.
10. Set a timer and take predetermined breaks. I am competitive by nature. If I set a timer on my iPhone and determine in advance how much time I will spend on a task. I will work hard to beat the clock. Not everyone is like this, but it works great for me.

In a world of distraction and competing demands, mental focus is a scarce commodity. If you want more of it, you will have to be intentional about getting it.

A Distraction Challenge!

Has anyone else noticed of late how distracted our society is becoming?


Has anyone noticed that in spite of being the most "connected" culture in the history of mankind, we are isolating ourselves via the same technolog that is supposed to be "connecting" us?


I had given some thought to this concept in times past, but it really lept to the forefront of my mind on numerous occasions over the just passed Christmas and holiday season.


While enjoying time with family and friends during the holidays, it was my observation on more than one occasion that the majority of people in the room were far more enthralled with what was taking place on their smart phone, Ipad, laptop, tect, etc. than what was taking place in the room they were currently supposed to be fellowshiping and conversing.


Whether it was checking emails (guilty here!), text messages (guilty again!), or the latest buzz from the around the world via the internet (also guilty!), the very technology that was supposed to be "connecting" us, was instead isolating us from the ones that we love most, and are attempting to spend time with during significant moments in our lives.


When was the last time we carried on a complete, in-person conversation with another person we love or value, whether it was for an hour, or for an evening out without one time "checking in" to see what else was taking place around the world?


When we gather with someone dear, whether a friend or family member for a dinner, a reception, or some other type of social in-person event, we are saying by our attendance and by the requested attendance of others, that this particular person is important and significant in our life and in our individual world. Yet, many times, by our actions, or  via the "distractions" of the technology at our finger tips, we tell them they are not near as important as the text we just received, the lastest Facebook posting or update, or any other sundry of distractions that technology affords us at any given moment.


Am I the only who has been guilty of this? Is there anyone else bothered by this constact "distraction" in our world of individual communication and conversation?


This "distraction" manifests itself many times in verbal over the phone communication as well, when we in our attempt to "multi task", actually only "distract" away from the person we should be speaking with.


I invite you to take a "distraction" challenge! The next time you schedule a dinner, a date, or evening with dearly loved family and friends, make a concerted effort, to for a specified period of time, lay aside your "distractions" of technology and enjoy the powerful and extremely enjoyable tool of verbal conversation, shared in person!


You might find topics of conversation yet un-covered. You might discover mutual interests! You might even get the enjoyment of friendly debate and dis-agreement over some late bit of news in politics or religion that will challenge your view points and serve to challenge those to whom you are communicating!


A Scottish Proverb says, "When all men speak; no man hears"


How about it!? Anyone else have thoughts along these lines!!??


Fire away!! :-)


Thanks for reading the ramblings of a pair of Cheeks in Owasso, OK today!!

Just Do It!

By grace.........I will do today what others will not do, so that tomorrow, by grace.........I can do what others cannot do!

Why Are You Afraid?

Jesus posed this direct and probing question to his disciples in Matthew 8:26, when in the midst of a ferocious storm taking place all around them, he simply asks them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

We live in a time of great fear. We live in a time when psychiatrists tell us that ordinary children are more fearful today than psychiatric patients were in the 1950s.

Fear has the ability to grip our hearts, to rob us of our joy, steal our happiness and take precious relationships away from us.

Fear however, never accomplished anything. It never composed a great symphony, it never built a great nation, it never pulled a family from the depths of despair and poverty. Courage and faith did that.

Jesus poses this very probing question in the midst of a storm that Matthew sought to describe as simply being “great”. It was no ordinary storm, it was epic, it was massive, and it was in the Greek described as “seismos”, meaning it was of earthquake proportions, it was a storm that was shaking them to their very core.

Yet Jesus had chosen this particular time to find a place to lay his weary head and take a nap! This wasn’t, at least in the eyes of his disciples, exactly the best time for the master to be laying down somewhere sleeping.

You see we all live lives, that at times causes situations and circumstances to conspire together and create the atmosphere for fear to seize our heart and grip our senses.

Jesus would warn us in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation”.

Life will cause you to question everything, life will cause you to question every circumstance, life can cause fear to overwhelm your heart, however it is not the absence of storms that sets us apart, it is who we discover in the storms of life, an unstirred Jesus Christ.

You see fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness. Fear creates spiritual amnesia. It dulls our memories of the past victories God has wrought. It tends to make us forget what God has done and how great he truly is.

Fear is dreadful. It sucks the very life out of your soul, causing one to curl up in a fetal position waiting on the proverbial shoe to drop, but Jesus responds to fear by simply saying, “Fear not”.

If Jesus had an oft-repeated phrase, it was “Fear not”. 

“Don’t be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows” Matt. 10:31 NCV

“Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matt. 9:2 NASB

“Don’t be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well” Luke 8:50 NCV

“Take courage. I am here!” Matt. 14:27 NLT

I could go on and on, with passage after passage, but I think we get the point. 

Paul admonishes Timothy in 2 Tim. 1:7, "for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control."

The reason we don’t have to fear is he is near, and if he is near, he is still the master of the wind and the calmer of the seas!

Just a few ramblings from a pair of Cheeks in Owasso again!

Thanks for reading today!

Merry Christmas from 4 Cheeks!

We want to wish all of you 2 people that happen on our blog a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! We wish you and your family the happiest Christmas season, and a blessed New Year! May God richly bless you!

More Reasons to be Thankful!! God is good!

                                 Brother "Festus" and his wife ministering.

                                 God's wonderful people.... God is good!

                              Kids seeking God with all their heart! God is so good!!

                                More of God's wonderful people........God is so good!

                       A few of the children in church today to hear Brother "Festus"!

A Reason to Be Thankful

It is the end of the year.

This is always a time for reflection, a time for evaluation, a time we set aside to express thanksgiving and a time to celebrate the holidays with friends and family.

As I reflect back upon 2010, my mind is filled with thanksgiving for the wonderful blessings God has bestowed upon me and my family.

Time and space would not permit me to list each and every friend, colleague and family member who has meant so much this year, but suffice to say, I am an extremely blessed man.

Life and circumstances can, if allowed, rob you of a thankful heart.

The original sin in the Garden of Eden was un-thankfulness, so it is with a thankful heart that I write such seemingly insufficient words, a simple thank you.

You see, I have so many reasons to be thankful!

Thankfulness originates from the heart and then opens our eyes to the beauties of nature and the richness of friendships we hold most dear.

I am so thankful for every person God has allowed to walk into my life.

I am a blessed man and a thankful man for the many influences I have had.

I am blessed with a wonderful family, both immediate and extended, I am blessed with wonderful friendships and relationships, I am blessed to know God and to be allowed to walk with him, and I am blessed and overwhelmed by his mercy, by his grace and by his love.

You see, I really do have so many reasons to be thankful!

Do you have a reason to be thankful?

We ALL have so many reasons, more than can possibly be listed.
To every person in my life, I say thank you.

Thank you for being who you are, thank you for being what you are. Thank you most of all for being a part of my life and for allowing me to be a part of yours!

Thanks for reading the ramblings once again of a pair of Cheeks in Owasso! God bless!