mindful productivity » focus

Festivity looms – be aware and prepare

Be — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:46:58 +0000

As the big festive month fast approaches being mindful of what needs to happen can help us all relax and prepare for Christmas a little better.

Personally, I always find it a good idea in late November to give things a bit of a clear out and to streamline around the house a bit before all the madness and visits begin. Two reasons for this:

1. By being aware and preparing for the extra demands on our time that will definitely crop up next month we will hopefully take some of the stress out of things.

2. Everything always looks calmer (and nicer) when unused or unwanted paraphernalia is cleared away – especially when a whole bunch of glittery baubles are about to be thrown into the mix

Organisation at this time of the year helps greatly in adding to the enjoyment of all that goes on and allows us to relax a bit more and be filled with festive cheer. By dedicating a few moments now to preparing and planning for the coming weeks, things can be calmer and flow a bit more smoothly.

So, to kick of this series of helpful pre Christmas tips I’ll start with a quick one for those who seem to accumulate a lot of paper, old magazines and papers etc…

Today’s Tip

You will need:

a bag (an old paper clothing one is good for this job)

to set your timer for 15 minutes (on your mobile, the cooker – whatever works for you)

Go around your whole house from room to room and put any bits of unwanted paper into the bag. Old newspapers or magazines (don’t start flicking through them as if you haven’t read them in a while you won’t remember what you were saving it for anyway… and next thing you know 30 minutes will have passed!), plus any old envelopes left after the contents have gone, sundry bits of paper no longer needed, junk mail, etc etc – you know the sort of thing.

Keep going for the fifteen minutes and don’t think too much about it, make snap decisions regarding the paper rubbish then put it all in the recycling bin [that’s the beauty of the paper bag]. Job done

Repeat if needed in a few days or so

Whilst this is not rocket science its amazing how much can be gathered in this short space of time. Enjoy

Other posts you might like reading:

Can tomatoes help us be mindful?

Be — Mon, 09 May 2011 04:19:43 +0000

I don’t mean in a vitamin sense but in a nourishing our within sort of way. Let me expand….

Everyone likes to get stuff done. We all feel better at the end of the day when we have been a productive individual. However, when it comes to being productive there are two big hindrances – interruptions and distractions [both internal and external]. Both of these stem from not focusing on tasks, from not being mindful and this is where the tomato comes in.

There are many techniques around for improving productivity. One which I came across last week was The Pomodoro Technique. It has been around since the 80’s and was started by a chap called Francesco Cirillot It is called The Pomodoro Technique because Francesco Cirillo used a tomato shaped timer as he was perfecting it – he is Italian and tomato in Italian is pomodoro – simples.

For me, the practicing of productivity techniques is a way of practicing mindfulness. The two go hand in hand. By finding a way of totally focusing we are being more aware of what we are doing, we are enjoying it, giving it our all. When we are being mindful we are emotionally doing what we are physically doing, an active meditation. By being focused we get more done in a shorter space of time as well as actually participating fully in the activity and therefore our life.

Here is a quick overview of the basic steps:

Indentify your main tasks for the day - either write them down on a daily to do sheet or if you already use a task manager or have a note book with lists in it use that
Set your timer for 25 minutes – The beauty of using a timer is that you don’t have to clock watch, you just keep at it – focused – until the dinger goes off. Personally, I use the stopwatch function on my mobile phone but you can use whatever suits
Begin the task – work at it solidly until the timer goes off. Stay focused.
Take a five minute break – when the alarm sounds you stop and take a break. 5 minutes allows you to recharge but is not long enough to allow you to loose momentum. Move away from the task area – do a few star jumps, go the loo, have a glass of water etc. Set your timer for 5 minutes so you know when to start again.
Start another pomodoro – it could be to carry on the same task [and complete a 'set' ] or to move onto another task
After 4 ‘pomodoros’ - take a break of between 15-20 minutes.

One of the basic assumptions of the technique is that ‘Better use of the mind enables us to achieve greater clarity of thought, higher consciousness, and sharper focus, all the while facilitating learning.’

Theory goes that with the completion of each Pomodoro we feel more productive, which builds momentum thus making us even more productive. Now my little take on the whole pomodoro thing is that by focusing it helps us to also be mindful because we are practicing mindfulness as we focus our attention. We are training ourselves to do one thing at a time with our whole self instead of trying to do one action whilst we think of something else which we should be doing. The more habits we incorporate into our life which help us live in active meditation the better

Some other guidelines of the technique:

Only work at the task at hand
When the dinger goes off you stop instantly
Move any unfinished work to the next pomodoro session
If you happen to finish before the 25 minutes then don’t stop, review your work for that session – always use the full 25 minutes.

I tried this technique over the weekend and found it good. I attempted something which usually takes me about 90 minutes to complete and was surprised to have completed it in about 45!! I spent the last ten minutes of my second pomodoro going over what I had done and seeing if there was any way I could improve for next time [as the book suggests]. I have to say I got a lot done in the first twenty five minutes.

Whilst this is a useful technique to add to the tool box it might not be something you would use all the time or for every task. Though having said that I will use it to do things which will take at least an hour or 2 pomodoros. Give it a go yourself and see what you think, I would love to hear how you get on.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Mr Cirillo has kindly made a free version of the book available and here is a copy of it if you would like to download it.

Enjoy

Other postings you might like to read:

Life is in the moments

10 free ways to enhance your life

What is mindfulness?

Be — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:35:54 +0000

Mindfulness is the energy of awareness. It is being conscious of the existing moment. Of living life deeply throughout each day, of being fully alive, right here in this now. It is being at one with what we are doing and also with what and who is around us.

Being mindful is to be in touch with the experience of what we are feeling within the present moment. To be aware of it without judging or contemplating it. To not try to figure out what is happening or why we are feeling what we are feeling but simply to observe the moment that we find ourselves in and be with it.

It is a way of living that can be incorporated into our lives at a pace that suits us. We don’t have to go the whole hog straight away for it is an understanding, not a thing. It is a connection that we make with our own life. A way of living which we invite in which fully enriches our life and enables us to live it as best we can.

Mindfulness can be incorporated into our daily life easily. It can be fitted in to the busiest of lives as easily as it can be into a life that is slower paced. It is as simple as taking a few breaths upon rising. It is reading this post and just reading it………and then when you have finished reading it, move onto something else. It is about doing what we are doing when we are doing it and not thinking about the next thing we have to do instead.

This week try to incorporate some mindfulness into your life

Enjoy

Other posts you might like:

Living your song

Be — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:57:55 +0000

We are living in extraordinary times.

We have a chance to change things for a more unified future

where all things integrate homogeneously.

Where we each play a unique note in the universe’s tune

- a tune which is not complete if we do not add our own part

We are as much a part of the world as anything else

we are each equally important

- as is our contribution, our song

We know the song we each need to sing, we just have to admit it to our selves,

pretty soon,

as more people begin to live their own song, their own vibration

a harmony will begin.

and all our unique songs will band together

in unison

like a dawn chorus.

Wonderful in variety yet beautiful in the way each compliments all others

Enjoy

Those who wish to sing always find a song ~ Swedish proverb

.
This post was first published last year but after the events in Japan I found it appropriate to put up again. It is good for us to realise that we are all one, all interconnected. Each of us plays a part in the world and what we do is important.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same ~ M Williamson

Each man has his own vocation, his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him ~ Emerson

.Other postings you might like to read:

I’m changing..mindfully

Be — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:55:07 +0000

This month marks two years since my blogging debut. It has gone by very quickly and I have enjoyed posting and learning things of an online nature. It has also been educational for me from a personal angle and this has certainly been the case over the last twelve months in particular. As a result I have evolved and am ready for new pastures and new ways to explore life and all it offers. Ready to delve further within and see what comes up or comes out; ready to see what I can let go of so as to be ready for what I can receive. I am excited.

I would like to become more creative in what I do and to branch out into other areas and see what happens. With the blog, I have decided to focus a bit more on two areas: mindfulness and productivity. This carries on from what I have been blogging about over the last two years but sort of streamlines it a bit more. The blog was always an ‘exploration of how to find a happy medium between the internal and external aspects of who we are as a whole human being’ and whilst it will still be that it will be less broad.

As I have been dabbling into both these areas for some time my awareness as well as their importance has grown and together that has brought me to the changes I would like to make. I am really looking forward to broadening my own knowledge in both mindfulness and productivity as well as passing on things which I trust will be useful to you and help you on your own journey as I move along on my own. To define the changes to the blog I will be altering the blogs name to Mindful Productivity [mindfulproductivity.net]. This will take place in the next few weeks or so as I have to work out how to do it all first I would also like to change the theme a bit so I can use more photos etc. So stay tuned and we can see how it all turns out together.

If you have any comments about the changes or things you would like to see on the blog please leave a comment as I would like to make it as good as possible.

Enjoy

photo by bikehikedive via Flickr

other posts you may like:

Some of life’s rythyms

Are internal possessions cluttering your space for potential?

The external journey is so passe

Look for the oneness in others today

Defence often hides d’path

Be — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:37:12 +0000

Every now and then, the tussle of showing externally what we understand and know within can feel like trying to blend oil and water. No matter how hard we try it seems to not make any difference to our current actions. Our inner calm will not be heard and we react in the moment instead of making a conscious decision and acting from a centred point.

Hard enough as it is to struggle with self imposed hurdles and boundaries, those which appear to be put in front of us by others can often be even harder. When confronted by people who we perceive to be ‘pushing our buttons’ we can become frustrated and our reactions can intensify over time.

Yet, if we take a moment when we are not in reaction mode, we can see that all things/people/events etc are presented to us as an opportunity to learn; to grow. That maybe, our increased frustration towards a certain something or someone is merely a combination of that opportunity making itself a bit more obvious [because we haven’t already learnt from it what we should] and our external self puffing up to appear larger to meet the assumed threat to its dominance.

If we wish our inner self to grow we should recognise the learning and growth in all; especially those situations where we may feel we need to inflate. As a defence a toad can puff up until it is too big for the predator to swallow. What sort of defences do you put up when confronted by the actions/attitudes of another?

Photo by Sam Fraser- Smith via Flick (cc)

Some previous postings you might like to read:

Life is in the doing not the having

Delight in all the turns of your life

Simplicity Thursday – 5 things to do whilst boiling the kettle

In the silence are all the answers you seek

20 ways to make life harder

A great life is only a choice away

Be — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:35:42 +0000

January is passing by rather quickly. Well, it isn’t actually passing by any quicker than a day at a time but it feels like it is! So far it has been a busy time for me, not so much doing things for myself but rather choosing to do things for others….is that procrastination or altruism? I am a bit concerned it might be the former so I shall knuckle down this week and get cracking on some projects I would like to complete in the next few weeks. I feel for these last weeks I have been treading water, not making a lot of ground, but that is of my own choosing – whatever the day brings is my own choice.

….In life sometimes we do things we may not wish to be doing. Nonetheless we have a choice and all the choices we make, make our life. Even if we feel we ‘have no choice’ we still have a choice about how we feel about it, how we approach the task.

If something has to be done then we may as well enjoy it; life is made of all the moments we live and not just the ones we think we enjoy at the time. Life isn’t just made up of our holidays, weekends or romantic dinner evenings; it is also made up of the times we mop the floor, do the weekly food shop or scrub the loo; of the time when the proverbial hits the fan and when it is ‘just one of those days’.

Therefore, it makes sense [to me at least] to find something within all of these things which we do enjoy or which we can learn from. At the end of our days here on earth, if we looked at our life from the point of the relaxing and ‘good’ bits then it would be one short life. For most of our time we are maintaining what we have, keeping things at a level which we feel comfortable with, which nurtures and sustains us.

So find in the mundane the beauty of your life. Embrace the wonder that is life itself. Choose to love all you do, all you are. Bring to it that which only you are able to; for with all things, each of us plays a vital role. We all matter all of the time; whether we are creating something new or preserving the status quo.

Enjoy

photos by Alice Popkorn via Flickr cc

top – dancing thought bubbles

bottom – the flying dutchman

Other postings you might like to read:

Delight in all the turns of your life

In the silence are all the answers you seek

Simplicity Thursday – 5 things to do whilst boiling the kettle

Whatever crops up for us we are capable of navigating, of deciding not only on our course but on how we choose to sail the seas.

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship ~ Louisa May Alcott

The countdown begins…

Be — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:16:16 +0000

Around about this time of year, my thoughts often start to wander as I begin to recall what I have accomplished during the year and if there is anything I would like to put extra energy into and finish up before the year is out. With you know what fast approaching, it is a good time to get jizzed up about any projects that you may not want to carry over to the new year or have to bother with during the coming festivities.

We all need a bit of a boost every now and then and with only nine days before December begins it is a great time to flick the old inner switch for a bit of extra motivation/power.

I really enjoy all the stuff that goes on during December and try to make the whole month about catching up and doing nice things with friends and family – sort of like a bonding month. Of course other more mundane things still need to be accomplished but even with those I try to imbue a sense of seasonality into them – after all, it is about enjoying life and not just going through the motions.

photo by fRandi-shooters via creative commons

Some previous postings you might like to read:

Life is in the doing not the having

Delight in all the turns of your life

Simplicity Thursday – 5 things to do whilst boiling the kettle

In the silence are all the answers you seek

20 ways to make life harder

Things that make me happy

Be — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:40:28 +0000

Earlier this week I was reading a post on a blog by a lovely lady called Andie which is 101 things in 1001 days. Andie has 101 goals to accomplish and one of those goals is to list 100 things that make her happy. I thought that was a great idea and it inspired me to pen my own 100 things. So later that day I sat down and began to write type, all the while picturing myself feeling happy and listing all the pictures and feelings that came into my mind. One hundred of them flowed out pretty easily – there was a bit of a pause around the #28 mark when I looked at the number wondered if I would get to 100. I didn’t try to list big or ‘deep’ things as I believe it is in the small that our lives are lived, moment by moment. Happiness is felt in the now and I wrote the list from the place of what gives me happiness as it happens not so much what makes me happy over the longer term, though a few of them crept in as well.

My list was varied and I shan’t bore you will the complete 100 but shall give a few snippets to give you the gist.

#24 having a computer

#25 the internet

#96 travelling and holidays

#26 watching a good movie

#5 being me *flicks hair over shoulder*

#87 eating sushi in one of those places where it revolves around [love this]

#72 all the possibilities that are ahead of me

#88 warmth from the sun

#17 when I achieve a life time goal

#4 feeling loved

#36 going to sleep

Making the list reminded me how much happiness I have in my life [thanks Andie]. A lot of the things on my list cost nothing; they are gifted to me – like love or warmth from the sun. Happiness is truly in the way we view things. If we look for the goodness in all things that is what we shall find and being grateful for what we currently have in our lives instantly makes our life great. Life is good if we decide it is good, similarly if we decide everything in our life is crap then a crap life is what we will get.

Whether we currently feel we have a little or a lot [especially in a material sense] if we look at all that makes us happy we instantly have a lot, we instantly live a rich life. When you go shopping do you bother looking at the stuff to don’t like?

~ You might like to do your own list of 100 things that make you happy or even share some in the comments section below. Either way it is focusing you on what is good and great in your life. Sending the signal out to the universe that this is your life, your happy life. What you focus on expands as they say, so focus on the happiness in your life and watch it grow.

Enjoy

above photo by renaissancechambara via Flickr [cc]

Some other postings you might like:

Happiness, fulfilment – what’s stopping you?

Life is in the doing not the having

Allow your inner voice to speak

#101 my ‘official’ two cups of morning coffee always makes me happy

photo by ballistik coffee boy via Flickr [cc]

20 ways to make life harder

Be — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:21:12 +0000

After extensive reasearch a.k.a my life thus far …… here are a few attitudes and habits to adopt if you would like to make your life a bit harder, less simple. If you choose not to make it that way just do the opposite of the list – as always your life is what you choose it to be.

THE LIST:

1. Get rid of your weekly plan – and especially your daily, yearly and 5 yearly one

2. Always think about the past

3. Always focus on what doesn’t really matter – sweat the small stuff

4. Keep all irrelevant pieces of paper

5. Always let stress get the better of you

6. Always accept interruptions when you work

7. Procrastinate all things

8. Don’t have lists for anything — this one doesn’t count

9. Let the day free flow – don’t schedule anything

10. Do lots of things at the same time

11. Never feel proud of yourself for accomplishing anything you do

12. Don’t have any goals

13. If someone asks you to do something always say yes – their stuff is more important than yours

14. Rush through everything you do

15. Do not prioritise

16. Have as many useless possessions as possible

17. Do everything yourself – don’t delegate to anyone

18. Always keep your desk and work surfaces messy and cluttered

19. Never believe you will do anything

20. Surround yourself with friends who do not support and encourage you

Enjoy

both photos by: State library of NSW via Flickr – The commons

[ from the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 ]

Other postings you might like to read:

Delight in all the turns of your life

Simplicity Thursday – 5 things to do whilst boiling the kettle

Unburden yourself here – it’s free & freeing

In the silence are all the answers you seek