It’s easy to get carried away with the happenings of the day and make decisions which are more a reaction than a choice.  By bringing ourselves back to the moment regularly, we become more conscious of all the moments we have during the day and as a result are more productive.

I’ve already used it 7 times this morning and its only half 10!

I trust you’ll enjoy it as much as I am

thanks to novodyjp for putting up such a nice little resource on YouTube

Other posts you might like reading:

• 3 acts of morning mindfulness?
• Spring cleaning in the now – and what I learnt

Running a business involves an awful lot of decisions and plenty of focus.  Often it’s hard to keep our eye on the ball and have things move in the direction we would like them to.  For many, especially if just starting out, it can be a challenge getting the right things done at the right time.  Mostly because we often have to do it all ourselves!

Sometimes, it can get a bit much and we can get frazzled or stressed out.  It’s easy then to lose sight of what we’re actually meant to be doing and what we have planned to do.

It’s through having  discussions around this subject with the lovely Olwen from Irish Business Intelligence that we decided it would be nice to blend our talents and put something together for all those who are currently needing a bit of focus and guidance in their business or professional lives.

We wanted to highlight how complimentary management and mindfulness ideas are and how they can be blended to bring greater productivity to business.

Mindfulness can be applied to all facets of our daily life.  It’s not only helpful in letting us fully enjoy what we are doing, it also helps us make better decisions as we are more aware of what is going on.

The above 5 ways to Flow with the Go of business document is free to download   It contains Olwen’s top 5 business tips with my equivalent from a mindfulness perspective.  You can pop it up in your office, your workspace or anywhere you think it will help you focus and make decisions.

So go ahead… download it, print if off and use it.  It’s our gift to you and we both hope you enjoy and benefit from it.

…. Stay tuned as in the near future we shall be doing a flip side of this wonderful little ditty entitled Mindfulness and Management.  Where I will give my top 5 mindfulness tips and Olwen with give her take on how to apply them to business

download  5 ways to Flow with the Go of business

A few of my other posts:

• 3 acts of morning mindfulness
• Are you utilsing this moment?

]]> http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/08/25/5-ways-to-flow-with-the-go-of-business/feed/ 0 http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/06/23/quotes-181-to-200/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quotes-181-to-200 http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/06/23/quotes-181-to-200/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:15:54 +0000 Be http://logoscoaching.net/?p=1176

numbers 181 – 200

• We are like islands in the sea; separate on the surface but connected in the deep ~ William James

• The foundation of greatness is honouring the small things of the present moment, instead of pursuing the idea of greatness ~ E Tolle

• The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself ~ Anais Nin

• Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world ~ Desmond Tutu

• Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day ~ Emerson

• Let the beauty we love be what we do; there are hundreds of ways to kneel & kiss the ground ~ Rumi

• Thinking: The talking of the soul with itself ~ Plato

• Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as means to an end ~ Immanuel Kant

• We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion ~ Max De Pree

• Observe the space between your thoughts, then observe the observer ~ Hamilton Boudreaux

• My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just to enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate ~Thornton Wilder

• The man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd ~ James Crook

• If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good ~ Ajahn Chah

• One must be in the moment for life to ever come true ~ Benjamin Dean

• Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. ~ Albert Camus

• I do solemnly swear
  to love, honour and obey my soul,
  my path to realization  and
  relationship with a higher,
  deeper creative power,
  for better or worse,
  for richer or poorer,
  in sickness and in health,
  from now and forever more ~ Alex Grey

• The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn ~ Alvin Toffler

• It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed ~ Baba Ram Dass

• The dance goes from realizing that you’re separate (which is the awakening) to then trying to find your way back into the totality of which you are not only a part, but which you are ~ Baba Ram Dass

• Everything flows, nothing stands still ~ Heraclitus

 

The above quotes are the last batch of 200 quotes which I have collected over the last while; they are in no particular order.  I trust some will resonate with you and that you gain from them, as I have ……. enjoy.  Starting from next week I will do them under subjects.

In the meantime, if you fancy checking out my mindfulness posters you will find them here

 

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The other weekend I decided to spring clean the house.  The weather was a tad stay-indoorsy so I thought it would be a good idea to get it all spiffy looking before the sun really started streaming in the windows and highlighting all the dusty bits.  I also decided to approach it as an exercise in mindfulness and really enjoy it and not rush to get it done – as would be the usual.  It was a long weekend so I had three days to do the whole house which was just right as I took a few movie breaks and sleep ins as well [it was a long weekend after all!]

Here are the 3 main lessons I got out of my spring cleaning and the weekend in general [apart from a shiny house]:

Time is irrelevant

– if we are being mindful of what we are doing we are focusing and not wasting ‘time’ not not doing the task.

• If you do fancy a timed approach because its a big task or you find it harder to focus – here is my post on the Pomodoro technique

Pride equates to enjoyment

- if we take pride in what we do then it is enjoyable.  The satisfaction we feel in doing a good job or making something a certain way is our life – not so much the action we are performing.  Our connection with what we do is our now.  Enjoyment is enjoyment isn’t it?  …whether we are cleaning a loo or walking hand in hand along a white sandy beach with a loved one.

• Ok, maybe I am pushing the point here but I am sure you get my drift ~ Enjoy whatever it is you are doing and you enjoy life

Life’s routines – a great way to practice mindfulness

– the more often we pay attention to the minutiae of daily life the more we are in touch with what we are actually doing in the day

• As I went through doing the spring cleaning, I realised a lot of the things needed doing because I had not been adhering to the basic maintenance that is required in a house [read I slacked on the housework over the last few months].  That is to say I had not been paying enough attention to keeping things the way I would like.

Practical applications:

Make a daily checklist – By being conscious of completing the checklist on a daily basis a] we get to keep on top of things so they don’t turn into major tasks at a later date and b] we remain aware of what needs to be done by setting up a system which pulls us back into a mindful state regularly during the day…. I made a checklist on my phone but you could do it on a piece of paper or whatever takes your fancy.
Be aware of all the moments in the day – Don’t wish away parts of your day.  By not concentrating on time but on moments we realise how precious they are and will want to fill them doing stuff that is important to us.  When we find a moment when we don’t know what to do [eg- when waiting for someone to arrive etc]  we can look at our checklist and find something to do… to enjoy.

Be mindful

Some other postings:

10 free ways to enhance your life

Life is in the doing not the having

All the choices we make ripple out. Bringing mindfulness back into our lives – even just a little bit – can calm us and help us make decisions that are considered.

This poster is 50cm wide by 70cm long so is a nice size to frame unmounted though if you really want to make an impact you can mount it as well to really highlight it – and it’s meaning   Its also versatile enough to look the part in all colour schemes!

ⓒ Mindful Productivity

 The poster is, as usual, available here on the site in our super easy to use shop and can be shipped anywhere in the world to you.

You can find more info on the other posters here in the Mindful Productivity shop or check out the new colour releases for Be at One

ⓒThe artwork on this site is copyrighted by the artist [that would be me ] No content may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without express permission of the copyright holder [which would also be me ]  Just drop me a line via the contact section or on Twitter or facebook.

numbers 141 – 160

• Idleness is more an infirmity of the mind than of the body ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

• The world belongs to the energetic ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

• In life, as in chess, forethought wins ~ Charles Buxton

• It is a bad plan that admits of no modification ~ Publius Syrus

• The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others ~ Pliny the Elder

• Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised ~ Publius Syrus

• The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today’s work superbly well ~ Sir William Osher

• By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail ~ Benjamin Franklin

• He who has begun, has half done. Dare to be wise; begin! ~ Horace

• While we stop to think, we often miss an opportunity ~ Publius Syrus

• In putting off what one has to do, one runs the risk of never being able to do it ~ Charles Baudelaire

• The wise man does at once what the fool does finally ~ Baltasar Gracian

• A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step ~ Chinese Proverb

• Do noble things, do not dream them all day long ~ Charles Kingsley

• Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week ~ Spanish Proverb

• If you delay till tomorrow what ought to be done today, you overcharge the morrow with a burden which belongs not to it. You load the wheels of time, and prevent it from carrying you along smoothly ~ Hugh Blair

• By the streets of ‘By & By’ one arrives at the house of ‘Never’ ~ Cervantes

• By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives, till there’s no more future left for them ~ Sir Roger L’Estrange

• Delay is always injurious to those who are prepared ~ Lucan

• If you have any duty which must be done, and it seems disagreeable, do it promptly and have it over ~ Thomas Jefferson

The above quotes are from a large collection which I have accumulated over the years; they are in no particular order.  I trust some will resonate with you and that you gain from them, as I have   ……. enjoy

Links to other quote pages you might like:

Quotes 21 to 40

Quotes 1 to 20

Quotes 41 to 60

OLIVE GREEN

Remind yourself to be mindful….my Be at One poster is available in the Mindful Productivity online shop

numbers 121 – 140

• Silence is a source of great strength ~ Lao Tzu

• Our greatest strength lies not in how much we differ from each other but in how much-how very much-we are the same ~ E Easwaran

• Love is not only one direct feeling to one person; but love is universal ~ Harmoko Mulyono

• Love is the only wealth that man absolutely needs ~ Sri Chinmoy

• A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge ~ Thomas Carlyle

• At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet ~ Plato

• Do all things with love ~ Og Mandino

• For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul ~ Judy Garland

• Love conquers all ~ Virgil

• Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other ~ Euripides

• Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life ~ L Buscaglia

• Love is metaphysical gravity ~ R Buckminster Fuller

• Love is the answer, and you know that for sure ~John Lennon

• Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own ~ Bruce Lee

• Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things ~ Peter Drucker

• Fall seven times, Stand up eight ~ Japanese Proverb

• If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of ~  Bruce Lee

• …. most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade! ~ Tony Robbins

• The perfect is the enemy of the good ~ Voltaire

• Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning ~ Benjamin Franklin

The above quotes are from a large collection which I have accumulated over the years; they are in no particular order, though this batch does seem to have a good few love quotes in there.  I trust some will resonate with you and that you gain from them, as I have ……. enjoy

Other posts and quotes you might like:

Quotes 1 to 20

20 one minute to dos

Quotes 21 to 40

Be at One poster

numbers 101 – 120

• Poverty is not the absence of goods but rather the overabundance of desire ~ Plato

• To die completely, a person must not only forget but be forgotten, and he who is not forgotten is not dead ~ Samuel Butler

• Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it ~ Descartes

• It is vain to do with more what can be done with less ~ William of Ockham

• Intuition is the supra logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought & leaps straight from the problem to the answer ~ Robt Graves

• The most pathetic person in the world is the person who has sight, but no vision ~Helen Keller

• We discover in ourselves what others hide from us and we recognize in others what we hide from ourselves ~ Vauvenargues

• The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder  ~ Ralph W Sockman

• To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven ~ R W Emerson

• First say to yourself what you would be; then do what you have to do ~ Epictetus

• When the sun rises, it rises for everyone ~ unknown

• Never mistake motion for action ~ Hemingway

• When the mind is left without anything to cling to, it becomes still ~ Maharishi

• I am fulfilled by my own life on an hourly basis ~ Julia Roberts

• For failure comes from the inside first ~ Edgar Guest

• There is no mind to control if you realize the self. The mind having vanished, the self shines forth. In the realized man, the mind may be active or inactive, the self remains for him ~ Maharishi

• Realization is to get rid of the delusion that you have not realized ~ Maharishi

• Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares ~ Louis Pasteur

• Life is simple, its just not easy ~ anon

• A life without cause is a life without effect  ~ Barbarella

The above quotes are from a large collection which I have accumulated over the years; they are in no particular order.  I trust some will resonate with you and that you gain from them, as I have … enjoy

Other quote pages you might like:

Quotes 21 to 40

Quotes 1 to 20

Quotes 41 to 60

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:

1. 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
2. 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
3. Begin the task – work at it solidly until the timer goes off.  Stay focused.
4. 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.
5. Start another pomodoro – it could be to carry on the same task [and complete a 'set' ] or to move onto another task
6. 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

]]> http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/05/09/can-tomatoes-help-us-be-mindful/feed/ 11 http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/05/05/quotes-81-to-100/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quotes-81-to-100 http://mindfulproductivity.net/2011/05/05/quotes-81-to-100/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 05:07:29 +0000 Be http://logoscoaching.net/?p=1152

numbers 81-100

• In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it ~ Robt Heinlein

• The goal of life is living in agreement with nature: Zeno

• If I look at the masses, I will never act, if I look at the one, I will ~ Mother Theresa

• Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too ~ Voltaire

• Resentment or grudges do no harm to the person against whom you hold these but every day & every night of your life they are eating at you ~ Norman Vincent Peale

• Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely ~ Karen Kaiser Clark

• Live your life and forget your age ~ NV Peale

• Be grateful for whom ever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond ~ Rumi

• You are already that which you seek ~Ramana Maharshi

• Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself ~ Leo Tolstoy

• Never tell me the sky is the limit, when there is foot prints on the moon! ~ Anon

• If you can’t fight, and you can’t flee, flow ~ Robert Eliot

• We must like what we have when we don’t have what we like ~ Roger de Rabutin

• He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without ~ Goethe

• The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper ~ Eden Phillpots

• Life is a magic vase filled to the brim, so made that you cannot dip from it nor draw from it; but it overflows into the hand that drops treasures into it. Drop in malice and it overflows hate; drop in charity and it overflows love ~ John Ruskin

• Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed ~ Heraclitus

• At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are & you know what you want ~ Lao Tzu

• Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.” ~ Rachel Naomi Remen

• That which you resist stays ~ David Hawkins

 

The above quotes are from a large collection which I have accumulated over the years; they are in no particular order…….. enjoy

Other quote pages you might like:

Quotes 21 to 40

Quotes 1 to 20

Quotes 41 to 60

 

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