Focus, Focus, Focus! Learn to say "no".

I cannot seem to stay focused on one task at a time lately. Between the kids trying to get my attention, the books piled high (once again) on my counter, the pop-up alerts for email, Twitter, and Facebook, and my constantly running brain, my day is a scattered mess. My life needs to be focused, and learning to say "no" is a big part of that.

Just this morning, I got an email, responded to it, then left it open so I could follow up with an offline action, only to get distracted by the morning. I would have completely forgotten to follow up with the time-sensitive offline action, if I hadn't received a response back to my email response. Realizing that I need to take care of it right away, I jumped up and did so, only to leave another task partially completely and probably forgot to do six other things.

Isn't the same thing true about our lives? When we have so much going on it becomes so easy to lose our focus on Christ, forgetting to spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer. When we take our eyes off the goal (Philippians 3.14), we start looking around and we end up in spiritual chaos.

A practical application of this is choosing the best over the good. I've been learning that sometimes I need to say "no" to some really good things in order to keep my focus on the best things.  

It's not easy.

Just this week, even, I've been asked to come on-board of some AWESOME new projects that I would LOVE to be a part of. However, adding these good things to my plate would take away from the focus I need to have on some of the best things that God has given me right now. Saying "no" has not been easy, as I whole-heartedly believe in the projects and would love to get involved with them. It has definitely been a test of my faith to trust that God has called me to a specific focus and that I need to run hard after that goal.

What have you had to say "no" to recently? What good things are vying for your attention? What best things do you need to focus on this week? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!