TonsofTime - Enjoy the now

Photo courtisy of Nicolas Valentin

Tina Su from the blog Think Simple Now has written a great post about how to organise a day of - what I would call mindfulness to regain focus and spend quality time with yourself. By scheduling a clarity day like Tina suggests, you can ‘reconnect with your inner self’.

I’ve always been attracted to the idea of a Spiritual Day or a Clarity Day, in which you spend the whole day disconnected from the information world and the many distractions of modern life, and start to connect within yourself.

If this sounds too mystical, don’t get caught up with the words, they are just linguistic symbols to communicate ideas. When you really get into such a day, it can become a source of great bliss and understanding of one’s self. During these times, we can experience tremendous personal growth, peace, and satisfaction.

Find clarity in one day

In her article on the Huffington Post, Linda Stone argues that time management, with all it’s never ending lists, causes feelings of helplessness and overwhelm. At the end of the day, the lists seem to get longer, in spite of the fact that you have crossed-off several items. This is how she puts it:

In the cases where people reported managing their time, they more often reported experiencing burn-out, they didn’t know how much longer they could go on at their particular job or lifestyle. There was often a sense of helplessness and overwhelm. The endless list, the one that gets added to and never completed, at the center of it all, left them with a heavy heart and a burdened sense of tomorrow.

Linda argues that the answer lies in managing your attention, not your time. You can do this by making a closed list at the beginning of the day and only put things on this list that you intend to really do. Also, an important part of Linda’s solution is switching off all the distracting technology, like IM, Twitter and cellphone.

Mark Forster also recommends (among other things) to trade in you to-do list for a will-do list. In his book Do It Tomorrow he writes that:
Open lists are demotivating, because:

• They tend to grow
• New items can be added
• Difficult to clear

Closed lists are motivating, because:

• They tend to get smaller
• Nothing new can be added
• Relatively easy to clear

Mark recommends to make a do-able list for 1 day and stick to it as much as possible. If you get new tasks on you desk or in you e-mail, put them on your list for tomorrow. Besides this idea, Mark offers a lot of other insights and techniques in his excellent book.

So what do I use?
So, is the rejection of the open list the end of time management, as Linda puts it? Not according to Mark Forster and I agree with him. If I make a task list for a particular day, I feel much more motivated to finish this list. One of the big disadvantages of Getting Things Done (GDT) is that it stimulates procrastination. I still use all the context lists of GTD, but I also use the task diary of Mark Forsters system, so I combine both. I digitally copy the tasks that I intend to really complete on that day from my context list to my task diary, and stop adding to that dated list during the day. This works great!

Yesterday, I attended a talk by Wilco Jansen, coordinator of development at Joomla. Discussing interface design, he referred to this talk by Barry Schwartz, psychologist and author of the book Paradox of Choice. His argument is that if we have more choice, we often feel more constrained. I watched the video this morning, and found it very interesting!

Click here for a larger video.

One of my favourite blogs Lifehack.org has a good article by Shane Magee about how to maximize time for yourself by creatively adjusting your daily schedule.

Sometimes it seems like your life just isn’t your own anymore - work, family, and other obligations swallow it up to such an extent that we often look back and wonder where all the time went! No wonder, then, that many of us feel as if life is just passing us by, and we can do no more than helplessly watch. However, with these tips and a little willpower, you can create time to center yourself and face the world with renewed enthusiasm.

Five Hints to Reclaim Time for Yourself

On my reading list is Mattieu Ricard’s latest book about happiness in the buddhist perspective.

A few days ago, Ricard has given a talk in the TED conference.

Here is a related post.

In the summer of 2006, one of the books I have read is Goal-Free Living of Stephen M. Shapiro, who confesses in the beginning of the book that he used to chase goals month after month, neglecting to enjoy the moment in the passing. What I recognize from this is the tunnel vision that arises once you let yourself be led by some distant goal and not noticing things of value that are around you, simply because they do not fit in your scope of interest.

The eight secrets of Goal-Free Living according to Shapiro are:

1. Follow your compass, don’t chart your life in advance
   Follow the path set by your specific skills, passion and your unique way to make a contribution on a day by day basis. Experiment. Look into your inner self to discover the way you want to take the next steps. Your path is unique and the only one who can find it is you.
2. With the right mindset, you can recognize what is good for you
   Trust that whatever you decide to do is OK, as long as you use the right mindset. Don’t run away from changing your life, if that is what it takes to align with the way you want to contribute to the world. Trust your intuition, the little voice inside that can tell you what is wholesome, and your self-awareness. Commit to what is good for you, if you do not do it, who will?
3. Staying alert you can spot opportunities, however subtle
   If you live with an open mind and are aware of your encounters when they happen, it is easier to recognize opportunities.
4. Want what you have
   Appreciate what you have in life, starting with yourself. Do not expect happiness to arise from gaining more material goods.
5. Try out new things, be creative
   Dare to take risks and to put your career or one or more relationships on the line to give your life a new direction. Boost your creativity by thinking ‘outside the box’. Get out of your comfort zone. Shapiro also recommends carrying a notebook to capture ideas as they arise.
6. Become a peoples magnet
   It does not seem obvious right away, but a big part of keeping an open mind and using your compass, is the contact with others. In business, social networks are considered important because you never know where your next big contract will come from. So, even though you do not run a company, be alert that everyone you meet could provide you with the insight you need, an idea, or help you make a decision. (Shapiro avoids writing that they could help you achieve your goals of course.)
7. Embrace your limits
   When you know what your inadequacies are and do not resist them, you may find a way to turn them into strengths. This requires insight and acceptance. I like the Chines proverb in the starting page of this chapter: “What you resist, persists.”
8. Remain detached
   Once you have learned to implement the goal-free living, the difficult part is to let your goals free and stay detached for the rest of your life. There is still the danger that you will cling to the next project that comes along and turn it to your personal goal. Life in the present moment and stay inspired.

I found the book inspiring to read. Nevertheless, it did not change my life or give me any important ideas. What is good about it though is that you think about living totally without goals. Is that possible? Can you achieve (especially larger) things without looking at the future? I guess not.

What I have seen myself, is an ambitious man who started with a demanding 5 year course to get his MBA, during which he experienced the goal of getting the diploma as a burden, and almost lost contact with his wife and children because he was studying all the time. I think for that guy the sacrifice was bigger than the gain.

Mindfulness is important and living in the present moment. Also, making contact with your deeper motives, transcending your blockades by insight and recognizing resistance when it occurs. This book can be a start when you want to succumb to the burden of too much deadlines and goals. It does not go very deep, but appeals to a bigger audience by staying down to earth and using ideas related to common sense.

Stephen Shapiro.com

Last week, I watched a documentary titled ‘Monks in the lab’. It is made by the Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation, in cooperation with the publisher Akosa. It is about scientific research on the neurological effects of different meditation states. I have attended a seminar last year, lead by Alan Wallace of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. I found it is a very interesting field of study.

I absolutely recommend watching this broadcast (it is entirely in English, with some parts in French). I also have Alan’s book about Shamatha and I am looking forward to reading it soon.

The American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the discoverer of a mental state that he calles ‘Flow ‘. Csikszentmihalyi has researched this mental state for several decades and has published a great deal on the subject. In his books, Csikszentmihalyi writes extensively about Flow as the optimal psychological experience; e.g. as a violinist, when he has just finished playing in a concert in retrospect realises: “Wow, I was really in good shape there!” When somebody is performing a challenging task that is just within his reach of competence, he sometimes, not often, can get completely absorbed by what he is doing, forgetting himself or his surroundings becoming one with the action, as if the ‘Self’ dissapears and the consciousness of the person in the ‘Flow’ state is not disturbed by thoughts that are not relevant to the task at hand. When the Flow-state is over, usually after an hour or so, the person can see back and realise that he has been very productive and has overcome difficulties and made considerable progress. Once you have experienced Flow, it really makes your day and you feel very happy and on top of the world.

In Buddhism there is a comparible mental state, called Sati or mindfulness. Here’s a definition, taken from www.vipassana.com

“Mindfulness is nonconceptual awareness. Another English term for Sati is ‘bare attention’. It is not thinking. It does not get involved with thought or concepts. It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions or memories. It just looks. Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not compare them. It does not label them or categorize them. It just observes everything as if it was occurring for the first time. It is not analysis which is based on reflection and memory. It is, rather, the direct and immediate experiencing of whatever is happening, without the medium of thought. It comes before thought in the perceptual process.”

According to experts, the Buddhist concept of Sati and the western scientific notion of Flow are one and the same thing. What is great though, is that the ancient Buddhist tradition delivers us dozens of techniques and hundreds of exercises to improve our concentration and to help us achieving Sati more often and longer. I am convinced that trained meditators can get into the Flow state more easily and can use this ability in their work or study. So start meditating! Here’s an article by George Boeree to start you off Buddhism.

Happy meditating

P.S. I found a great article about Flow on this Buddhist site.

In her commentary on CNNMoney.com, Anne Fisher points out that the best thinking is done when the mind is at rest or working on some relaxed task, like gardening.

Finding a silent place during the work day is a luxury, especially for those who cannot afford a house in a quiet neighbourhood, people with young children, or workers in industry or transport. Of course there are technical solutions, like isolation headphones, but you can find relaxation and rest by every 30 minutes or so taking a short break and open a window or go to a balcony and just take a deep breath and watch the clouds go by for a few moments. What’s important is your ability to focus your attention to the moment to enjoy it the most. That way, you only need a few of these breaks to get you through the morning or the afternoon with as little stress and worries as possible. What is also a great way to reduce stress, is writing down every task you have committed to do, so you do not have the think about them all the time. Walking meditation is a good way to find tranquillity while moving to a meeting, or strolling down a corridor to another room.

In this interview with Daniel Redwood, Stephan Rechtschaffen, the author of the book Timeshifting , argues that we need to have time to relax during the workday, so that we can regain our balance. He also recommends mindfullness practice and shifting gears (higher and lower) whenever the situation requires it.

For office workers using computers with RSI preventing software, I would recommend in stead of getting angry about the interruptions, take the oppurtunity to sit back and relax, or walk-meditate to get a fresh cup of tea!