“All day long, you are selectively paying attention to something, and much more often than you may suspect, you can take charge of this process to good effect. Indeed, your ability to focus on this and suppress that is the key to controlling your experience and, ultimately, your well-being.” ― Winifred Gallagher, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life
Busyness is the malady of our time.
Our days are consumed by chores, tasks, running around, rushing from one thing to the next. Obligations, commitments, “making a living over a life” consume the bulk of our time. There’s an emptiness in transaction-based busy work. If we are fortunate, we get weary enough to demand change and take action to fill the void.
Rather than chasing life, we can let life capture us in the simple things and activities that we consciously choose to do daily. Wrapped in wonder and delight, we must slow down to witness our life while we are in it, to see all that is available to us right now. By defining and returning regularly to the “thesis” of our life, our activities and attention shift to purpose- driven living.
Breaking patterns, challenging assumptions and easing into what’s ours to do, we can say a hearty “yes” to the right things and a hell “no” to the things that distract us from mindful engagement in the moment. By effectively using pockets of time to start, we can move out of complacency and tap into what’s simmering inside. Simply starting for 5 minutes and then 10, 20 and so on shows us the possibilities that come from starting, repetition and consistency.
Intentions, mindset, forethought move us in the right direction with focus and discipline. Weaving in chunks of time throughout the day for both contemplation and doing, we start to drive rather than being driven.
Roadblocks and delays are a guarantee and are a part of the journey to ourselves. Daily rigor brings tangible results. Our dreams and aspirations have a wonderful, nagging buoyancy that keeps coming to the surface until we deal with them. Each of us has that longing, that desire for more. It will not be ignored or silenced.
We do a lot of dabbling in life and have a multitude of choices. Our job is to choose, make mistakes, pick the right things, change course and finish the journey. We don’t figure out the “right” things without the attempt and mistakes along the way. Pursue discernment and clarity in a world that will not slow or quiet down no matter how hard we try to make it comply with our demands.
What Stops Us from Starting?
1. “One more thing” things that we must do before we sit down and start, undeterred and uninterrupted;
2. Perfect circumstances thinking – waiting for the perfect conditions to start rather than starting where we are amidst chaos and noise;
3. Clutter – disorder in our space and in our minds stops us from focusing on what’s most important and of lasting value to pursue
How Can We Start Starting?
In performance psychology, there are common skills to enhance performance including relaxation, self-talk, imagery, goal setting and concentration.
In their paper on Psychological Imagery in Sport and Performance, Krista J. Munroe-Chandler and Michelle D. Guerrero note, “All individuals, regardless of age, gender, or skill level, are capable of using imagery as a means to enhance cognitive, behavioral, and affective outcomes. In the sport domain, athletes use imagery in training, competition, and rehabilitation. Elsewhere, imagery has been widely utilized by other performers including military personnel, surgeons, and musicians.” They continue, “Imagery allows individuals to search through, skip over, and select images from their memories in order to re-experience past events. Imagery also allows individuals to travel through time to create and manipulate never-experienced events. As illustrated, there is ample evidence documenting the effectiveness of imagery in sport, exercise, and performance settings.”
According to Dr. Christine Lottes, 9 out of 10 Olympic athletes use imagery an average of 4 days per week for 10-15 minutes. Use all of your senses to fully immerse in the imagery exercises.
According to Psychology Today, self-talk is our “inner voice that combines conscious thoughts with unconscious beliefs and biases. It’s an effective way for the brain to interpret and process daily experiences. This voice is useful when it is positive, talking down fears and bolstering confidence.” Stop that negative inner voice that tries to drown out the positive voice that drives results, progress and confidence.
A practical article on Mind Tools, gives 5 Golden Rules of Goal Setting to get you started:
1. Set Goals that Motivate You;
2. Set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound
3. Set Goals in Writing
4. Make an Action Plan
5. Stick with it
When we mindfully choose our daily activities, use imagery to see our future differently and let go of stories that no longer serve us and utilize positive self-talk, we can take the wheel back and start driving our life. Start today. 3 things, that’s it.