Looking away by looking toward something else

The last two weeks we’ve looked at “looking away” here and here.

This week the theme continues!

Looking away sometimes looks like looking toward something else.

For example, you want to call that person you met networking earlier this week to set up a coffee meeting next week.

But then you remember these other things that have to be done before next week and you get to work.

Suddenly, it’s too late to make a phone call (I call this productive procrastination).

Did things get done that needed to get done?

Yes.

Did the phone call happen?

No.

Sometimes we distract ourselves with tasks – with those important to-do’s that simply must get done.

And when we take a step back, take a higher level view, we realize that the phone call probably would have taken under 5 minutes to make (maybe 10 if you prepped for it) and we certainly could have squeezed that time in (after all, how much time did you spend looking at unimportant emails or checking Facebook?).

While this example includes procrastination, looking away by looking toward something else doesn’t always appear that way.

It might be more subtle – reading or jumping into a conversation instead of taking some time to yourself to contemplate or changing the subject when a difficult topic comes up.

What do you find yourself looking towards when you might actually be looking away? Share in the comments below.