Dec 9, 2019
In today's episode, we will discuss one of the top questions I receive, "Can Meditation and Mindfulness make me more productive and efficient?" The answer is yes, but don't get mad when you discover that the root cause of your distractions may be your fault. But no worries, you can help your brain and your productivity. We will start by looking at your wandering mind and multi-tasking agenda. I am not even going to comment (yet) on the fact that you are probably doing five things at the same time right now. Do three more during my jingle, then let's figure out how to crush your to-do list.
Hey there! Alexa Z here! In under 10 minutes, we will try to figure out how we can be more productive and more efficient by calming our wandering mind. Why am I doing this in under 10 minutes? We all have a lot to do, and studies have shown that our minds are wandering 47% of the time. So, let's round up to 50%, which means I have your attention for about half of this show. Hopefully, you will be able to learn a few tips to slow yourself down, quiet the wandering mind, and get more accomplished this holiday season. BONUS: your sleep will improve and your immune system, plus you will slow the holidays down so you can enjoy them more. The more your mind wanders, the more you miss critical information, which results in more errors and productivity goes down.
Wondering vs. Wandering
Wondering mind- thinking = questioning mind
Wandering mind = drifts, travels, moves in a direction away from what you want to focus on.
There are many reasons why the mind wanders:
- Boredom
- Stress (not always negative)
- Holidays
- Family/work balance
When you are stressed, and your mind is full, you are probably going to wander in two different directions:
Wander to the future
o To-do list
o Worrying/catastrophizing
Wander to the past
o Reliving
o Regretting
o Over analyzing
We are training ourselves to be in the present moment and be fully aware. That means without being muddled up with reactions, as we discussed in the last episode – Emotional Overload.
Wherever we place our attention, our brain will follow. We have to un-hijack our mind and stop it from wondering.
Suggestions:
Meditation trains our brain
- Calms our nervous system
- Handle stress better
Mindfulness
- Buy ourselves an extra second to identify that we are overwhelmed/all over the place
Take a look at what your daily life consists of: grocery shopping, house cleaning, gift buying, work, email, children, driving around. It can be so overwhelming, you might often think, you should go faster to get everything done and complete that to-do list. Ask a busy person if you want to get something done. I recommend asking a busy person who appears to move slowly through their tasks. We are not built to multi-task. We can multi-task, such as fold the laundry and have a discussion with your spouse, wash dishes, and think about a project, thinking while doing something very rote. If you are sitting down to get something done, you need to use all of your brain. That is why we try to make a unity of our mind through meditation.
You must make sure that you are being mindful that you are not going down that path where you are all over the place. In your conscious and subconscious mind, there are only so many things that can be appropriately handled, and everything is coming at you so fast. You need to slow it down by first being aware that it is coming at you fast and then bringing your attention back to what you want to focus on. In meditation, we talk about the monkey mind, where the mind is pinging all over the place like a monkey swing from branch to branch. Slowing down is going to increase your productivity and efficiency, and help you de-stress. First, I want you to identify that you are going too fast. Then honestly, try to do one single task. Sometimes it can be helpful to use a timer. When you set a time to do one job, you are permitting yourself to concentrate on that one task. Once the timer is done you can take a few minutes to let your mind wander.
Tips to slow down:
- While walking, say to yourself "when I walk, I walk".
- When you are listening to someone, say to yourself silently, "when I listen, I listen."
Try these tips a few times a day. Take a little brain break, 45 seconds; breath in and out three times, relax your shoulders, relax your face, one more breath.
Stop technique:
- Stop
- Take a breath
- Observe what is going on
- Proceed slowly
We will continue to string all these topics together. If you have listened to a couple of episodes, we always come back to the same thing; we want to take our practice and use it and have a peaceful life. I want you to have peaceful, happy, awesome, filled with love for the holidays. Go forth, into your busy holiday season but do it slowly. Don’t fear that you are missing out on everything. Feel free to say no once in a while. Lots of self-care, more mono-tasking, and I hope you remember every single moment of the holidays. The upcoming podcast before the year ends, we’ll talk about some goal setting, and I will also do a compassion meditation. Thanks for joining me, have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week. Peace out! Later tators!