4 Keys to Prioritizing God for the Solopreneur ParentНамуна

Limit Distractions and Create More Free Time

Do you recognize this? There’s an email in your inbox that’s been sitting for days. You know it requires work you dislike, so you’ve been postponing it. Just when you’re about to open it and work on it, big sigh, you grant yourself one more minute to check your WhatsApp or social media. Before you know it, ten minutes have passed.

What could you have done in those ten minutes? A lot! Distractions. They come in many forms, notifications, incoming calls, binge-worthy TV series, social media accounts, news sites, etc. Even though there wasn’t advanced technology in Jesus’ time, He also experienced distractions that wanted to demand His attention, like when His mother and brother stopped by as he taught (Matthew 12) and He chose to continue speaking to the crowd.

Or in Mark 1 when Jesus went to pray to God and was gone so long that everyone was looking for Him, expecting something from Him. Once found, Jesus simply responded, “Let’s go to other places to share the news since that is why I came” (paraphrase of v. 38). Jesus knew what He needed to do and ignored everything else that didn’t contribute to the cause. If you didn’t know what focus looks like, now you do.

To recognize distractions, you need to have vision, of course. But I assume that when you’re a solopreneur and a parent, you do have vision and a good idea about what needs your focus. That's the first step to guarding yourself against distractions.

Other practical things you can do are to place your phone in another room while working, turn off all notifications, or delete your Instagram app, to name a few. I promise you that as soon as you cut out distractions and begin to limit time spent on your phone, you will find more time to seek His kingdom. You’d be surprised how much time you spend texting, scrolling social media, or watching TV.

You can start with small changes. For example, you can begin by limiting your time on social media to fifteen minutes in the evening, ignoring it the rest of the day. It might sound silly or unimportant, but in an ever-demanding society while raising kids and managing a business, this is how you find time; and not only that, if you cut out distractions, you cut out images, opinions, arguments, and thoughts flooding your brain, leaving room for more of God.