Need to think through a life event decision? Travel to a new place. Break the daily rituals and well worn paths of every day. Let the decision go, don’t mull over it. Don’t worry…it won’t go far. The newness and discovery of travel will keep your mind and body occupied with new smells, sounds, tastes, and sights. When you get back, invite the decision into your mind again. I think the answer may be waiting for you at home right where you started all along.
Author: markbartels
Going out, is going in
‘I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.’ – John Muir
Roll up the mat
Yoga is the meeting of mind and body. It’s a way of life. Being in a studio with like minded people is a powerful way to practice. But what happens when class is over and you plug back into the life’s demands and pressures?
When class is over, lie down in Savasana – lie on your back, with arms and legs are spread out like a snow angel, close your eyes and breath deeply. Relax and let your mind wander. Unchain the brain. Imagine letting a dog off the lead at the beach and watch it sprint towards the waves – your brain will react in the same way.
After a while, slowly standup and re-engage with the sights and sounds of the day. Your next moves set the tone for the rest of the day. A lot of people jump up, crumple up their mat and hurry out. I do it from time to time too when I’m distracted, anxious and am already living in the future.
Stay in the moment and set the tone with how your matt is rolled: Stand up straight after savasana, relax the shoulders and jaw. Now tighten your tummy and bum, and do a slow forward bend towards your mat. Pick it up from one end and start to roll it. It doesn’t have to be at a snail’s pace, it’s about the intention to focus, do a good job. Rolling the mat keeps you in the yoga mindset, and makes you focus on the task at hand. It gets you out of your head, stops you from checking the phone or thinking about the next thing waiting for you. It also prepares you for the next class with a nicely rolled mat and makes set up for the next class easy.
Roll up the mat after class and continue the yoga outside of the studio.
Looking and Learning
Traveling keeps me sharp, on my toes and exercises my curiosity muscle. My eyes are wide open, always looking and learning. Where’s the ferry? Where’s the train? How do I buy tickets? Where do I stand? Am I going in the correct direction? What’s the weather like this evening? Where can I swim? Where do I eat? How much does that cost? What’s that accent? Friend or foe?
Travel also makes me grateful for the every day well worn rituals of home. After the intense stimulation of the unknown, returning home is like laying on my back in Savasana and breathing in the moment.
Activate Low Power Mode
The iPhone now has a low power mode setting. Switch it on and you disable your phone’s most higher energy features. It switches Mail from push to fetch, turns off automatic downloads and disables background app refreshes. In low power mode you get to choose where and when you expend your phone’s battery energy. It’s an underrated feature and I use it all the time, even when my battery is fully charged. Instead of calling it Low Power Mode, I call it Low Energy Suck Mode
Do the same thing with your mind and body. Activate Low Energy Suck Mode today. In this mode, you decide where and when to spend your time and energy. It turns off those coffee meet ups you should say no to and says no to people who guilt and manipulate you into giving up precious time with family and friends. Low Energy Suck Mode preserves your energy so you can decide when you choose to direct energy at someone or something. Your energy is sacred and you need protect it. When focused and at full power it’s loving and wonderful.
Activity Low Energy Suck Mode today. You’ll have more energy at the end of the day and less drag from things you don’t need.
Don’t Skip The Rituals
Rituals and healthy routines like exercise, stretching, conscious breathing, yoga and healthy eating are easy to keep when you aren’t busy. The real test kicks in when you get busy and get pulled in five directions. Maybe it’s work stuff like 10 unread emails on your phone, or rain during the morning commute or an important meeting and presentation.
The busier you get the more discipline is required to stick to your rituals and routines because they will help you manage the daily grind and stop the stress from accumulating. It’s crazy how many people sacrifice themselves and let work take precedent. What ends up happening is that both work quality and the person suffer. If you are more grounded, fit and rested then you will execute better. It’s easy to forget.
Slow down, breath, smile and look after yourself. You have more time than you think. Don’t skip the rituals.
Happiness is an Horizon
People build happiness destinations for themselves like ‘when I have a enough money then I’ll be happy, ‘when I meet the right person then I’ll be happy’, ‘when I’m living in a new city then I’ll be happy’ – you know the drill. The construct is that happiness is achieved when certain milestones are hit. The problem is that happiness is like an horizon, it keeps moving away as you move towards it.
John Lennon said that life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.
Now think about Joy. Joy is something you experience when you are true to yourself in work, love and life. Joy is sipping fresh coffee with a friend, walking the dog early in the morning, building something, doing a good job for someone, hugging your kid, reading Twitter, drinking a glass of wine after a long day. Maybe you picked up a pattern there…joy is a state of mind. Joy is to be present and living in the moment.
Forget about happiness horizons and enJOY the journey now.
Vertebrae and Values
Work with people who have the same values and expectations around outcomes. When you are out of alignment with your investors, employees and partners it’s like having a bad back that’s in need of a chiropractor. Every movement, whether big or small is painful because the vertebrae are moving in different directions and wasting energy.
Think about it for a second…misalignment is a serious waste of energy when getting from point A to point B. At every turn & blockage you are losing energy, it’s painful and you build up scar tissue.
If you are thinking long term and your partners are thinking short term then why would you ever agree on anything. Apply the same rule to how you treat your customers and vendors. It’ll save you so much time down the line.
Before you pitch an idea make sure you all agree on the definition of a successful outcome. If that’s out of whack then even the brightest idea won’t win. It’s a lot harder to get this right once you’ve agreed to work together, so spending more time upfront picking the right partners will save you a lot of brain damage over the long term.
Simple questions like this will help:
1. Investment horizon timing? (Long term or Short term). How do you define Long Term and Short Term?
2. Define success
3. Is this a one time partnership or do you want to work together again?
4. Define failure
Escape hatches in an argument
“The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.” – Sidney J. Harris
This is a tip for for dealing with people who have more influence or power. I see this all the time when young and smart people get seduced into an argument with someone about a decisions or calls they’ve made. Sometimes it’s the right decision but the team isn’t on board with the idea because egos have been bruised or the more powerful person doesn’t want to concede to a junior person.
The argument becomes about the principle vs. getting everyone to agree to the plan….remember the latter is what you want to achieve. Instead of proving you are right, give the person an escape hatch to save face and agree with you.
Maybe I’m not leaving… maybe I’m going home
“For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I’m suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I’m not leaving… maybe I’m going home.” — Vincent Freeman in 1997 Source: Gattaca
Good reminder that we are part of the whole. It makes it easier to relate to someone or something when you understand you relating to yourself!
markbartels.org 