Daniel Comp posted on February 05, 2010
A master archer was in the forest with two students. As the students prepared to shoot at a distant target, the master interrupted them with a question; "what do you see?"
The first archer said; "I see the sky and the clouds. I see the field and grass beyond. I see the trees of the forest; the oak, beech and maple. I see their branches, the leaves and I see the target with its colored rings. I see..."
The master stopped him mid-sentence and said; "Put down your bow. 
You are not ready to shoot today."
He then questioned the second archer; "what do you see?"
The student replied; "Nothing save the goal at the center of the target, Master".
"Then let your arrow fly", directed the instructor. And it flew - dead-on to the very center of the target.
Application:
Cash flow, payroll, supply problems, employee benefits, taxes, risks, market changes, labor issues, recalls, marketing failures... The forest is thick with distraction. Your team must learn to focus, each to their target. Not in perpetual blindness, but, for a period each day.
I work best in the mornings. Angelina has three spurts of attention spread across the day. We've learned to allow tunnel vision for the other by not interrupting during those periods. It helps to shut the door, turn off the phone(s) and get off Skype, Facebook, Email and such. Sometimes I turn on light instrumental music or ‘white noise’ to drown out the conversations going on in the background.
When my kids were young, I learned to put a flag above my computer monitor when I wasn’t mentally or emotionally available. I thought they’d know that I needed to be in a creative cave each day. I later learned to EXPLAIN BETTER what I meant to accomplish, which was falsely interpreted by them to mean “you’re not important now”. Now that they are adults, we usually get through to each other on the first try, and none of us gets upset if we have to wait a day or two.
Clients can wait for your ‘creative time’ to be over. Mine know that when I AM available, they get my entire being focused on their issue, so they don’t mind waiting an hour or so. Go ahead… focus.