Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences:

We already have enough standing between us and the things we say we want without allowing the phone we carry everywhere to become another barrier. When so much of our time and attention is being absorbed by this little device, we have to ask how much more progress we might be making if that attention were going towards the things we say we want.

---

I read an article today, about reducing screen time and began thinking of how addicted we’ve become to our phones. I wondered how much are phones getting in the way of those things we say we want:

A healthier body. A stronger more profitable business. More money. A book written. Developing a new skill. A different life.

Getting there seems hard enough.

There is work involved. There are setbacks. There are responsibilities. There is uncertainty. There are days when we do not feel like doing what needs to be done. And now there is the phone – this new appendage – that is with us ALL THE TIME.

Research continues to show just how disruptive our phones can be to attention. Even a notification we do not respond to can interrupt concentration. In one recent study, people who blocked mobile internet on their smartphones for two weeks showed improvements in sustained attention.

I think, though, that there is an even simpler way to look at it.

Every hour spent scrolling is an hour that could have been devoted to doing something else.

Would you have read? Exercised? Worked on the proposal? Made the call? Thought through the problem? Practised the skill? Started the thing you keep saying you want to start?

We tend to talk about phone use almost as if it happens to us.

• I found myself scrolling.
• I got distracted.
• I ended up on Instagram.

Yet every time we pick up the phone, we move away from that thing we really want, or that thing that’s supposed to matter.

Achieving anything worthwhile requires us to stay with things and spend the time necessary until we start to see results. During this time we get to tolerate boredom, and work in the present even though the reward is in the future. As we journey we acknowledge that we must resist those things competing for our attention that take our eyes off of the prize.

Our phones however provide a ready, at hand, easy alternative.

• A video instead of writing the difficult paragraph.
• A notification instead of completing the task at hand.
• Someone else’s life instead of the one we are supposed to be building.

And perhaps there is something else we need to consider.

People have always had distractions.

Napoleon Hill was writing about having a burning desire almost ninety years ago. The world he was writing in was hardly free of difficulty or interruption. But the person pursuing a goal then did not carry around, every waking hour, a device capable of offering something more interesting the moment the work became difficult, boring or uncomfortable.

That changes the environment in which desire has to operate.

What happens to ambition when desire has to compete with a device that can reward us instantly, endlessly and at almost no effort?

You may genuinely want to write the book.

Build the business.

Get healthier.

Learn the skill.

Change your circumstances.

But the reward attached to those things usually sits somewhere in the future. The phone offers one now. And another one after that. And another one after that.

So perhaps the issue is not simply that we are spending too much time on our phones. Perhaps our goals now have far more competition for our attention than they once did.

Every difficult part of pursuing something has an escape route sitting in our hands.

The moment we are bored, uncertain, frustrated or required to stay with something that is not immediately rewarding, we can leave…and increasingly, we do. Which makes me wonder whether the modern challenge is becoming bigger than wanting something badly. Perhaps we also have to protect the conditions that allow us to keep pursuing it, because desire can point us towards the life we want; but consistency in attention and focus is what allows us to build it.

Life already places enough between us and our goals.

Perhaps we should be more mindful of this small, yet powerful device and consider whether it is partly responsible for holding us back. You need to ask and answer this truthfully

How badly do you want what you say you want, and is that handheld device, getting in the way?

Strategic Reflection Prompt

What do you keep saying you want, and how much of the time and attention that could be moving you towards it are you repeatedly giving to your phone instead?

About Giselle

Most costly decisions begin with a wrong read of the situation.

I’m Giselle Hudson — The Pre-Fixer. I help leaders see the real problem before they act, in my writing and in my work. I don’t fix; I pre-fix. Most advisers jump to solutions before they’ve found the real problem. I find it first — the part that isn’t fully visible yet. Once we see that clearly, everything else falls into place, and confident, right action can follow.

Through my daily Strategic Alignment Journal, I explore leadership, decision-making, and the patterns that shape organizations — helping leaders make sense of complexity before they commit significant time and money to the wrong thing.

What’s the one thing about your business that frustrates you most — the thing that, despite your best efforts, you can’t seem to resolve?