No matter how focused a person is on his or her daily tasks, he or she is still prone to distractions that lead to unproductivity. Distraction is especially inevitable now that we are in the age when technology and innovation are commonplace, and everyone can get easy access. 

In my daily life, as someone who works at home and without a boss, my time is my own. I do not need to report to anyone. Nobody will reprimand me if I do not do my tasks. However, I have to follow a routine and complete tasks to continuously work on my mission. Yet, given that I have freedom of my time, I tend to succumb to distractions. Here are the most common things that distract me. 

1. Social media is not something I can avoid because it has a vital role in my business. However, a disadvantage is that I also tend to get carried away and linger in it unnecessarily. To prevent me from wasting time on it, I consciously assign a specific time to check social media for essential purposes. 
2. Minor troubles that happen in my personal life from time to time are also one of the causes that I get distracted. Instead of focusing on the essential tasks that I have set beforehand, I usually divert my attention to the sudden challenge that also causes me stress. To get back to my focus, I ask myself whether the current challenge needs to be attended to first or if it is more important than my other tasks. I make sure to add it to my list of tasks based on their importance.
3. Every time I scroll my social media timeline, I usually find news and controversies that, more often than not, manage to catch my attention. Because of it, I tend to read more or research more about the issue, which mostly does not even concern me or my business. To address this distraction, I make sure not to check my social media timeline before completing my routine and tasks. 
4. When engrossed with tasks, ideas would suddenly pop into my head, such as concepts for new training programs or new projects. These ideas would usually trigger my focus to be diverted to working on them instead of completing the tasks at hand. To manage my time well, I take note of the idea and go back to it once done with my priorities. I always tell myself that such sudden ideas can wait and are not as crucial as my current activities or tasks.
5. Conducting training sessions almost every day causes me to always think about my delivery of each presentation. I tend to repeat the training sequence in my head and think if I delivered it the right way or not. For me, it is not helpful if I spend more time overthinking. However, I made this habit into something beneficial by taking note of what didn’t work or what I can improve next time and use the information to make my subsequent training sessions better. 

Instead of indulging myself in all the distractions of my daily life, I do my best and do whatever it takes to help myself turn away from them. If we condition ourselves that we have to focus on the essential things, we can have the determination to fight such temptations. If we can’t avoid it, we have to find a way around it at the very least. 

How about you? What usually distracts you from doing your tasks? Are you able to manage it? 

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It would be hypocrisy if I’d say I wouldn’t want to change anything in the past if given the opportunity. There were actions, decisions, and occurrences in the past that made me feel regretful – that I do not deny. 

On the other hand, no matter how seemingly convenient time-turning could be, it could actually be fatal for people. Why? We, humans, learn through experience and especially from mistakes we commit. We can grow and develop our personalities and characters, which allow us to survive the ever-changing world because of all our experiences, good and bad – without exception. If we can go back in time to correct mistakes or avoid certain events from happening, we would definitely not grow. And, would life be fun that way? I don’t think so. 

It is not entirely wrong to feel regretful about the past, nor is it a sin to wish for time to be revisited. We are entitled to have such a feeling and desire. However, obsessing over that regret by constantly thinking about it is definitely not good. Instead of focusing on improvement, our minds become busy with unnecessary thoughts. We can use those incidents, though, not as material for a pity party, but for making a plan and improving ourselves. 

For instance, one of the things I regret the most is not spending more time with my grandparents. Needless to say, if I could go back in time, I would definitely give them more time, learn more from their life experience, and show them my love and care. This shortcoming made me realize that we may suddenly lose the people we love, so we must make sure to make them feel our love before it’d be too late for us to express our feelings. Through this experience, I decided to put in extra effort to be closer to my family and friends amidst my busy schedule. 

Another decision that I would have wanted to change was spending time doing meaningless things. There had been many times when I lost focus on my studies and my work. Because of those, I lost several opportunities. After regretting my actions back then, I decided to always focus on the essential things and avoid distractions so that I wouldn’t regret missing opportunities. 

Besides previous actions and decisions, I would want to turn back time to choose who I surround myself with. A lot of my mistakes in the past were caused by bad influences. If I could go back in time, I would choose to be around people who have a positive mindset to make sound decisions as well. Yet again, through this experience, I learned that I need to stay away from toxic people. 

Indeed, if I could go back in time, I would correct all of these choices and more. Indeed, I regretted making all those decisions and actions. Indeed, I could only wish. Yet, I embrace this feeling of regret because it opened my eyes to many lessons about life. Therefore, I am and will always be grateful for those past experiences. Besides, if I go back to the past and change one thing, I will not be where I am today.

How about you? If you could go back in time, what would you want to change?

Among all aspects of a person’s life, I believe that health should be given the most importance. Paying attention to our health does not necessarily involve complicated and expensive actions like regularly going to the doctor for a checkup. What we can do to help ourselves have good health involves simple steps that we can definitely fulfill on our own. These steps can even be considered as prevention from contracting a disease rather than cure.  

1. Drink lots of water every day. Who doesn’t know that every human being and other creatures need water to survive? It is not something that should be included in trivia. However, do all of us know why we should be religious in drinking water daily? Its function is more than just to quench thirst. It helps in making our brains and other body parts function correctly. Have you noticed what happens to your body when dehydrated? Right, we cannot function properly. Besides that, water also helps the body clean itself of waste inside. 
2. Eat healthy meals on time. The food we consume matters a lot. We do not only eat to satisfy our hunger. We eat to give our body the proper nutrition to function correctly, so we need to give our body the right food to provide us with those nutrients. Consuming healthy food is not enough, though. We should also maintain a proper eating schedule to make sure that our digestive system works properly. 
3. Exercise regularly. Exercise helps us not only in strengthening our muscles but also in burning calories. Through exercise, we help our body get rid of fats and reduce the risks of heart-related diseases. In addition, it can also help our body in taking out the toxins from within through perspiration. 
4. Have a healthy sleeping habit. Why is sleep important? Sleep is essential naturally because it’s the opportunity for our body to rest. During sleep, our body repairs itself and recovers from weariness. If we do not allow the body to have adequate sleep, we wear it down quickly, and it becomes more susceptible to diseases because it becomes weak. 
5. Feed your mind with positive things. Positive thinking is critical if we want to protect our health. Why? Because thinking of the opposite will only give us stress and worry. When we are stressed or worried, our brain refuses to function correctly, affecting all the other parts of our body. 

At times like this, it is much more necessary for us to be cautious in maintaining our health to ensure that our immune system is at its peak. All the ways mentioned above may seem very normal, but all these significantly impact our body’s health. We need to be reminded of these from time to time because we also tend to neglect them. Are there other tips that we can add to this list? 

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