Ever been distracted? What was it that distracted you? What was the consequence?
It is one of the easiest things in the world to become distracted. To not pay full attention to what we are doing at any one point in time. We have other things on our mind. Something catches the corner of our eye. We are preoccupied with our preconceived beliefs. We are not paying full attention because we don’t value the act/action in our schema. This ‘noise’ can have an impact on our behaviour and ultimately our success.
Harry Houdini was a talented escape artist. A performer who was very concerned with putting on a show for his audience. It might surprise you to learn that not only was he a magician and escape artist…he was also the first person to fly an aeroplane in Australia, to create a new diving suit, to start a movie company…and he was the man that was so impressed by how az certain Joseph Keaton managed to fall downstairs that he called him ‘Buster’.
You would think that a man with these talents wouldn’t let his guard drop. His concentration must be complete. Yet when he suffered from stomach pains, he refused to go to the doctor. Distracted by not wanting to let his audience down, keen to continue with his performances. Then, in his dressing room, a student punched him in the stomach. Houdini had long prfessed his abiltiy to withstand blows but he was not prepared for this one. He didn’t have time to tense his muscles. A week later, he collapsed on stage. Six days later he died from peritonitis, caused by appendicitis and the stomach punch.
The ‘noise’ that distracted Houdini comprised of the desire not to disappoint his audience, his fear of losing his popularity, his keeness not to return to the poor situation of his childhood, his drive, his ambition…his male thoguht processes that told him to ignore the stomach pains, to not go to the doctor…and of course, not paying attention to the student who decided to test the magician’s claim.
What ‘noise’ distracts us from giving complete attention to our actions? How does the ‘noise’ that distracts us impact our behaviour and ultimately our success?
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