The Pick Was the Distraction | Why You Keep Falling Behind

Most people don't lose their dreams overnight.

They lose them one distraction at a time.

In basketball, a well-executed screen—also called a pick—isn't designed to stop the defender completely. It's designed to delay them just long enough for the offense to create an opportunity.

What if distractions work the exact same way?

In this episode of Articulated Illustration, Dwane Richardson Sr. explores how seemingly harmless interruptions, comfort, poor boundaries, and everyday habits quietly separate us from the future we're trying to build. Through one powerful basketball illustration, you'll discover why feeling "stuck" may actually be the result of being screened.

Together we'll examine:

• Why distractions don't have to be evil to be effective.
• The hidden cost of lost momentum.
• How delay often does more damage than destruction.
• Why accountability begins with awareness.
• Practical ways to recognize and fight through the "screens" in your own life.

Featuring a biblical reflection from Hebrews 12:1, this episode challenges us to lay aside every weight—not just obvious sin—and ask an important question:

What's really standing between you and the person you're trying to become?

If this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who may be feeling stuck. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective to change someone's direction.

Always remember to do what's absolutely necessary every day... and keep the pen in your hand.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know what's funny? While I was recording this episode, I got pulled into the exact thing I'm talking about. Now, I was supposed to be recording, but I started thinking about a custom shirt designed for articulate illustration. Then I started talking about where the patches should go, what should be on the back, and then what should be on the sleeves. Then what color the letter should be, and before I knew it, an hour and 15 minutes had gone by. Now, mind you, I was supposed to start recording this at 3 p.m. And it's past five o'clock. So this lets my illustrators and new viewers and listeners know that I am susceptible and not impervious to this. The key is being aware. You did not quit. Now let's be clear about that. You didn't walk away and you didn't give up. You didn't look at your dream and one day say, I don't want this anymore. You just slowed down. And then you slow down again. And then one day you looked up and somehow you were behind, or you felt you were behind. You were behind where you said you would be. Maybe behind the timeline you set for yourself, behind the version of you that told people that you were becoming. And now you cannot figure out what happened. Because nothing happened. No tragedy, no failure, no moment you could point to and say, That's where I lost it. No, you can't pinpoint it. Just a thousand small interruptions. A thousand moments where something stepped right in front of you. Something small, something harmless, something you even liked, and you kept running into it. Over and over. And I want to talk about that today. Because what slowed you down was not an accident. In basketball, they call it a screen. And in your life, the pick was the distraction. Welcome to Articulated Illustration, where we see things from unusual angles. I'm your host, Dwayne Richardson Sr. This podcast is sponsored by me. But if you want to invest in purpose and build something together, let's make it happen. And today we're talking about something that I think is going to hit close to home for a lot of you. Because this is not about people who gave up on their dreams. It's about people who are still chasing them, but keep getting slowed down by things they never fully identified or understood. And here's the short version before we get into it. In basketball, a screen is designed to slow a defender down long enough for the offense to get what it wants. In your life, distractions work the same exact way. It doesn't always stop you completely. It just knocks you off your route long enough for the moment to close. And let's get into it. Word of the day. Interference. Interference is anything that obstructs, disrupts, or gets in the way of forward progress. And here's why that word matters for today's conversation. Because we tend to think of interference as something so dramatic, something obvious, and something we can point to and say, that's what got in my way. But a lot of interference doesn't look like interference. And this is where we get mixed up at. Some interference comes dressed like entertainment. Some interference comes dressed like comfort. Some comes dressed like a person that you genuinely enjoy being around. Some of it comes dressed as something completely innocent. And that's scary, my illustrators. But if it keeps interrupting what you are trying to build, if it keeps delaying the version of you that's been trying to emerge, then it is still interference at the end of the day. Even if you like it. Even if it makes you laugh. Even if it feels completely earned. Interference doesn't need to be evil to be effective. I'm gonna repeat that one more time for emphasis. Interference does not need to be evil to be effective. It just needs to be in the way. My goodness. Okay, so let me set the picture for anybody who may not be familiar with basketball. In basketball, a screen, sometimes called a pick, is one of the most elegant and simple plays in the game. And here's how it works. One offensive player positions himself in your path. That's it. That's the whole move. Simple, isn't it? But so effective. He's not scoring. He's not shooting. He might not even show up in your box score at the end of the game. But his job is not to be flashy. Want y'all think about that part now. His job is not to be flashy. His job is to create separation. His job is to create delay. And his job is to create enough confusion for just long enough to give the offense the room that it needs to do what it came to do. Now hold that image. It's not flashy. It's not flashy at all. Because that's exactly how distractions work in real life. They don't always come in a flashy form. A distraction does not have to look powerful, and it does not have to announce itself. It does not have to be catastrophic. It just has to alter your path. It just has to interrupt your rhythm, break your focus long enough for the moment to close, stifle your momentum. And here's the part that most of us keep missing. We're looking for destruction. When we should be paying a lot more attention to delay. Because a lot of us are not being destroyed. We are just being delayed over and over again until the delay stops feeling like an actual interruption and it starts feeling normal. And that's a sad commentary, people. Now here's something that should make us a little uncomfortable. A screen in basketball usually lasts only one second. Maybe two if the screener is moving in what we call a moving pick. And that's all it needs. One second late and the shooter is wide open. Picture Steph Curry. One second late and the lane has completely cleared. One second late, and the entire defensive structure breaks down. Well, my illustrators, guess what? Life works in the same exact way. You do not need to waste an entire day to lose momentum. Sometimes 20 minutes is more than enough. Sometimes it's one phone call, one emotional conversation. You know, the kind that leaves you mentally scattered and drained. That's enough. And sometimes the one, just let me check this out real quick, is more than enough to pull you off track completely. Matter of fact, let me give you a real example from my own life. Not long ago, I had a day off. And I told myself I was going to record three episodes. Three. Then, of course, I got distracted by something else. Then something else. And before I knew it, the day was gone. And if you are paying attention and listening, I keep saying something else. And the reason is I do not remember what distracted me. I just knew the day was gone. So here's what bothered me. Nothing bad happened per se. Nobody attacked me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's rewind. I just said nobody attacked me. If we're gonna be real like we do on articulated illustration, somebody did attack me. I attacked myself from not being focused. But that's another story for another day. Nobody sabotaged me. Nobody stood in front of the studio door and told me I could not record. And that's why I almost missed the lesson. Because I was looking for a visible enemy. But there wasn't one. There was just a screen. The pick was the distraction. And what cost me wasn't the distraction itself. It was the momentum after I lost it. Because anybody knows once you lose momentum, it is so hard to regain it. And I'm pretty sure all of us realize it is so much easier to destroy than it is to build. So once I broke my rhythm, I had to try to find it again. Once I lost focus, I had to rebuild it. Once I delayed the work, I had to fight my way back into the mindset that was already there before I got distracted. But here's the bad part I think nobody ever talks about, or maybe we don't realize it. When you lose momentum, you lose focus, and you lose your rhythm, and you try to get all of that back, you use so much emotional bandwidth that is crazy. And that slows you down also. That wears you out. So this is when I realize distractions are very expensive. And not just because of the minutes they take, because of the momentum they steal. They steal your urgency. They steal your emotional readiness. And they steal the version of you that was about to move. In basketball, a good screen is set when the defender isn't looking. Hey, Kwan, next time you see train, tell him I say what's up. Hey, y'all pay that no attention. That's an inside joke. But anyway, that's what makes the screen effective. You can't guard what you're not watching for. But in life, honestly, the situation is a little worse than that. Because the most dangerous distractions in your life are not the ones that surprise you. They are the ones that you already know. I'm shaking my head. You know the person is long-winded. You pick the phone up anyway. You know the app pulls you in deep every single time. You open it anyway. And you know the show never stops at one episode. Now, how many of us have said, this is the last episode, and I'm going to bed or I'm going to do such and such? Ha! Hilarious, isn't it? But you press play anyway, knowing that the episode will not stop at one. You know the nap becomes four hours. Hey, look here, man, I'm about tired of stepping on my own toes. But you lie down anyway. You know the wrong environment weakens your discipline every single time. But we still choose to step into it. And then after the fact, we look up and say, I don't know what happened. Yes, you do. Yes, we do. We ran right into a screen that we already knew was there. Now that's not combination, that's awareness. And awareness is exactly where accountability starts. Because once you can name the screen, you lose the right to act like it surprised you. But this is where accountability loses its power at times. Because a lot of times when we get distracted and we get screened, we don't want to take accountability. We always want to blame it on somebody or something else. But grown folks, we take full accountability around here. That's what we do at articulated illustration. We take full accountability, no excuses. Now, here's the deeper layer of this illustration. And I want you to sit with this one. In basketball, the offensive player uses the screen to get open. He's moving. He has a destination, and he's trying to receive something. But in your life, your dream is the one thing that is trying to get open. Your health is trying to get open. Your purpose is trying to get open. Your discipline is trying to get open. And most of all, your future is trying to get open. It's there. It's not going over, it's not running. It's available. Ready. Waiting for you to make the pass. But distractions keep stepping into the lane. A craving, a notification, the relationship that costs more than it gives. A comfort zone that feels like safety, but functions like a cage. A move that you decided to follow instead of override. We are all guilty of that. And I want to say something right here. Because this is bigger than productivity. The enemy does not always need you in sin. Sometimes he just needs you occupied. That hurts. That truly hurts. But let's think about that. He doesn't need you destroyed. He doesn't need you to be in rebellion. He just needs you busy enough, distracted enough, delayed enough that you never fully step into what God called you to do. And eventually the question becomes simple. Are you going to fight through the screen or are you going to let it take you out of the play? Are you going under the screen or over the top of the screen? Picture your dream running a route. It's cutting hard toward open space. It knows exactly where it's going. It's looking back at you. Hands up, eyes locked, saying, I'm here. I'm open. Give me the ball. And you're about to make the pass. You can feel it. You're dialed in. You're about to commit to the moment. And then something steps into the lane. Your phone steps in. Your appetite steps in. Your feelings step in. The old you and your old habits step in. Your desire for comfort steps in. And now the pass is late, the window has closed, and the defender has stolen the ball and went down the other end of the court for an easy basket. But guess what? In the midst of that, the moment has moved on without you. Your dream was open, but you were delayed. And that's how a lot of people lose. And not because they never had a chance. And not because the dream was impossible. And not because the odds were against. But because they kept getting screened by distractions that they refused to guard against. So let's talk about what to actually do about it. Because the illustration is helpful. But if I don't give you something practical, I just made you feel bad and sent you home. And I don't want that. And that's not what we do here. Step one, and have to be real with yourself. Now you know I believe in being real with myself because if I cannot be real with myself, I cannot be real with you. So I just ask y'all to do the same thing. Name your common screens. Everybody has patterns. The distractions that work on you are specific to you. Your screen might be food. Your screen might be your phone. Your screen might be a particular person. Your screen might be sleep. And your screen might be waiting until you feel motivated. But in order to fight it and to understand it, you have to name it. Because what you refuse to name, you will continue to excuse. Step two. Let's learn how to protect our transition moments. The most dangerous windows in your day are the in-between moments. I'm shaking my head again. I'm too familiar with this. The gap before the gym. The gap before prayer. The gap before recording. The gap after word. The gap after you wake up. As a matter of fact, I might call these distractions the gap bang. Yeah, that's my corny joke. But deal with it. But back on a serious note, that's where distractions love to set screens. Step three, make predecided boundaries. What do I mean by that? Not emotional boundaries. Not I'll decide when I feel strong enough. Pecided boundaries are like this. Before the phone rings, decide. Before the craving hits, decide. Before the app opens, decide. No, let me rephrase that. Before you open the app, decide. Because the app does not open on its own. Because discipline works better when the decision is made before the temptation arrives. And it works a lot easier. It doesn't work not during the temptation. Because during it, you are already negotiating. And once you negotiate, you already started losing ground. Okay, I need to say something here. And I'm going to say it with love. Everything is not an attack. Sometimes it's access. Sometimes it is poor boundaries. And sometimes it is you leaving the door wide open and having the nerve to be surprised when something or somebody walked right through it. Or having the nerve to be surprised when somebody or something walked right through it. We can't keep calling everything spiritual warfare. You know we love to say the devil is busy. Sometimes I believe the devil he sits there and he laughs. He may get even frustrated because we blame everything on him. But knowing him, when we blame everything on him, I think he gladly takes credit. But it's when some of it is poor stewardship. Now, let's keep it real. Let's not sugarcoat nothing. Spiritual warfare is real. And you know I'm not dismissing that. But sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is put the phone down. Lace up your shoes and go do what you said you were going to do. Stop giving the enemy leeway and access. And I'm learning with these episodes, a lot of times I am talking to myself. So, like I said, I'm not immune and I'm not impervious to a lot of these things that we are discussing. But I also believe when I am learning these things about me or going through them, I believe it's my job to express it to other people who may be going through the same thing. That way we can overcome it together. Now, in order for this to be effective for it to work, once again, I need us to be real. In order for this next step to be truly effective, I need everybody listening or looking to be real with yourselves. And that includes me. So here's a simple test that we can run on almost everything that's competing for your attention. Ask yourself. Is this helping me move toward what I said I wanted? Now, if the answer is no, there may be a screen. Ask yourself, will this delay obedience? If the answer is yes, it may be a screen. And notice I keep saying it may because everything is not a screen. We're gonna keep it real once again. Ask yourself. Do I already know how this usually ends? If the answer is yes, it's probably a screen. You've seen this play before. You already know what happens. You've seen this movie. You even seen the scenes with the extra credits. So why do we keep falling into this trap? But ask yourself, is this the last one? And really sit with it. Am I using this as a reason to avoid what I should be doing? Now, if the answer is yes, please stop lying to yourself. And that's the screen. And once you can see it clearly, you have a responsibility to fight through it. Now, I want to close this out with the spiritual layer. Because for those of us who are people of faith, this goes deeper than strategy. Hebrews 12:1 says, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us. Now, notice something in that verse. It mentions weight, and then it mentions sin. Now, those are two different categories, and I truly believe that's intentional. Something can be very heavy without being evil, and something can slow you down without being sinful. And scripture makes room for that distinction. Some conversations are weight, some habits are weight, some entertainment is weight. Relationships, even good ones, can become weight in the wrong season. And weight does not have to be evil to slow you down, once again. A weight just has to be heavy. So the question can't only be, is this wrong? Sometimes the more honest question, is this weighing me down? Because those are things you are permitted to do that still may not be wise for the season that you are currently in. And wisdom knows the difference. So before I give you the mic drop, I need to ask you something first. And I need you to actually think about this. And please don't just let it pass over you. What keeps showing up between you and the person that you are trying to become? Only you know the answer to this question. And not once, and not occasionally, repeatedly. What screen keeps getting you every single time? You already know what it is. You have to be real with yourself. It might be an app, once again, it might be a relationship, baby fool, or it may be your own emotions. You know the way we let a bad mood or one single moment in the day become a bad week. But you know what it is. And the fact that it keeps showing up in the same spot that lets you know it. It's not random. It's there for a purpose and a reason. It's a scream. And it's been working on you for a long time. And this part is not in the script. You know why it's been working on you for a long time? Because there's a God-given purpose in your life that the enemy wants to delay. Notice I didn't say destroy. He wants to delay it. Remember, the Israelites took a 11-day journey and made it 40 years. Now that's a delay. The mic dropped. A distraction does not need to defeat your dream, like I just mentioned. It only needs to delay your discipline. Because if it can delay your discipline long enough, your dream will start to look impossible. And not because it was impossible, but because you kept arriving late to your own assignment. And I can attest to that. You kept showing up behind schedule to your own future. And I know that hurts because it hurts me. You kept letting small screens create big separations between where you are and where you said you were going and where you need and want to be. So the next time something interrupts you, don't just ask, is this bad? Ask, is this a pick? Is this standing between me and who I said I wanted to become? Is this blocking my route? And also, is this blocking my blessing? Is this delaying my obedience? And is this giving my old life an advantage over my new one? Because the pig may not look dangerous. It may look completely harmless. It may even look friendly, my illustrators. But if it keeps you from your purpose at the end of the day, it still did its job. Well, that's it for today. If this resonated with you, share it. And not because I need the numbers, but because somebody in your circle is sitting inside a delay right now that they haven't recognized yet. They don't see the screen. They just feel stuck. They feel behind and they feel like something is off and they know something is off. But the problem is they can't name it. And with your help, maybe now they can name it. Please send it to them. And if you are enjoying articulated illustration, follow, subscribe, download, and leave a review. Stay connected. Because right now, we're not just talking to hear ourselves talk. We're learning how to see life differently so we can actually live it more intentionally. Always remember to do what's absolutely necessary every day. And keep illustrating your life. Why? Because it's your dream, your vision. Keep the pen in your hand. And until the next illustration, we'll talk later. But recognize the picks in your life and fight through them.