If you live in North America, you are doomed until November to suffer the racket kicked up by the reality show Presidential Elections produced by the Ringling Bros.
In France and Germany, it’s your turn next year.
This is about as much distraction as a human can bear. A challenge each of us will have sooner or later is to not let it divert our attention. As a public service, here are a few coaching suggestions that you may find helpful.
Understand what is important. There will be lots of distractions. Some may truly be important to you; others, just confusing. Don’t get drawn into long conversations without understanding it is happening.
Focus. Don’t let the noise of politics distract you from what is really important. Most of us will spend some time keeping up with what is happening, based upon how much time we believe reasonable. There are still things that we need to accomplish in the next few months and we have to keep them in the forefront.
Understand what is in your control. If you spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about political issues, how can you do what you believe is really important – whether running a business or finding a job? Be mindful of how you spend your time – you do control this. You make the decision to involve yourself in conversations or watch a news program. You control the power button! Know when to use it.
Walk away from it. Political discussions can consume a great deal of energy. This election-heavy time frame has the potential to generate more emotions than any within recent history. Understand when it is important to move on, not winning or losing, or even getting a point of view accepted, but simply because you have invested all the energy that is currently prudent.
Keep things in perspective. The above points should help you be productive during this next few months, perhaps accomplishing more than many.
Move on!