Refocus Cloud
PURPOSE
The purpose of the refocus cloud is to learn how you can make more time for your passions and dreams by minimizing distractions that are not enriching your life.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Modern society has a million distractions built to keep us from ever being alone with our thoughts. Most people don’t realize it because they are never bored anymore. We have replaced boredom with Cable TV, Instagram, Texting, SnapChats, Facebook, DirectTV, Myspace…. I’m just kidding -- no one uses MySpace anymore. But, in all seriousness, if we start to replace our “time fillers” with positive “dream actions,” then our dreams will be achieved sooner than we realized. When we take a hard look at our time fillers, we quickly realize that they don’t make bring us happiness. Even minimizing our distractions to a small degree can be life changing.
DETAILED DIRECTIONS
Build a bubble chart that has all of your distractions, obligations, passions, and focuses. List everything you juggle day to day.
- Focuses/Obligations: List out everything you juggle day to day. What are you focused on? What is coming up in these next 3 months? On which dreams/projects are you going to focus? (Family, Career, Household, Fitness, Quality time with ___)
- Passions: What excites you and fires you up? What are you passionate about? What hobbies make you super happy? What did you love to do as a child? What activity do you love to do now that you rarely make time for?
- Distractions: This one can be the hardest. List out the things in your life that distract you day to day. What are you thinking about, spending your time on that isn’t serving you? You can keep it surface level, or you can dig deep into your inner thought monologue. Common distractions in our culture are...
o Facebook
o Cable TV
o Internet Entertainment – Netflix, Hulu
o Instagram, Snapchat, gchat
o Partying
o Talking about what other people do
o Analyzing Text Messages
o Focusing on what you don't have
o Focusing on what you cannot control
I don't think that all of the above "distractions" are necessarily "bad." Nor do I claim to have it all together in any way! I am not trying to tell you that you are doing anything wrong. I fall into distractions all the time, but I can testify that I have found so much joy and amazement at what is possible when you remove or minimize a distraction! Taking breaks and stepping away from cultural distractions gives you freedom to do more of what makes you happy.
Our culture doesn’t call these distractions; it calls them “escape.” Things we do to get away from it all and relax. But, have you ever found yourself in front of the T.V. with the purpose of “relaxing,” and once you turn off the screen, you don’t feel very relaxed or recharged? Me too! I encourage you to “escape” into your passions! If you don't actively plan your schedule, society will do it for you.
FINAL STEPS
- Draw a star or a heart next to the things that make you really happy!
- Stop and let it soak in how joyful these things make you feel from day to day.
- Look at the passions you have not touched in a while.
- Take a look at the distractions that are plaguing your free time (margin).
- QUESTION: What Distractions do you want to cross out and replace with a passion over these next three months?
- QUESTION: If God were in charge of your schedule, what would He erase?
- QUESTION: For what passions are you going to make more time?
Don’t beat yourself up over your distractions. I believe when you write these distractions down you are declaring power over them! This is an exciting time to transform your life with God. Let’s make margin for God to do amazing things in your life. We are rooting for you! Share your refocus cloud on IG with the hashtag #RefocusCloud
You are so loved.
Love,
Polly and The Planner Crew
