Category: Being Productive

Before intense exercise, we stretch (or at least we should).

We do this to prepare the body for what’s to come. We extend our muscles to their maximum range and hold them there so as to tell them, “I might need to take you to this point at some point—don’t freak out; don’t get pulled; don’t rip. I need you to perform at peak capacity and I want to conclude without any injuries from the process. What’d you say, muscles? Are you ready to do this?!”

What a brilliant practice.

One that I think more of us need to adopt for more than our bodies—but, for our minds, too.

How often do we have mentally intense days? I’d bet all of the time.

…And how often do we mentally stretch for those mentally intense days? I’d bet rarely, if ever.

What if, instead of rushing out of bed late and jumping into the mentally intense challenges of the day cold, groggy, and stiff… What if we spent a few minutes each morning doing some mental stretching? What if we reviewed and renewed our principles and values? Or recited the mantras or prayers that guide us? Or visualized our day unfolding and preemptively planned for curveballs or possible contingencies?

…I’d say, what stretching does for our intense workouts physically, so, too, will it do for our intense days mentally.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s completely OK to not be productive.

…And to just lay down or sit quietly or go for a casual walk or long car ride or dance to some bomb music.

…And just remember what it feels like—to be.

And since we’re on the topic, never forget: doing things that make you feel happy or free or help you calm down are always productive things.

…Things that you can even add to and check off your lists for the day.

Because if you’re not doing those things every day… I wonder… what are you doing?

Each day, at some point, I go hunting for quotes.

I curate picture quotes, capture insights from books, and save ideas from emails.

I aim to upload five fresh insights per day to MoveMe Quotes.

What I was thinking about today was how my mental state affects my hunt.

When I’m groggy, anxious, distracted… I find myself skipping over a bunch more material than when I’m alert, calm, and focused.

…There have been times when I’ve hunted for upwards of an hour and couldn’t find a single quote worth uploading.

…And there have been times when after a few minutes I found myself uploading close to ten.

Generally speaking… the material I hunt through each day is equally saturated with insights.

What’s interesting for me is how lack of sleep, lack of screen discipline, lack of clarity in priorities can affect my ability to see and capture insights that are floating right by my face.

…And I suspect the same affects us all in many of the same ways as we go about our days and beauty, grace, opportunity, love, and yes, insight… floats right by our groggy, anxious, distracted face(s).

P.s. I finished uploading quotes from Freedom From The Known by J. Krishnamurti today. You can read my 32 captures here.

What’s one chore you find yourself doing more than any other chore?

• Laundry?
• Dishes?
• Landscaping?

What if I told you that inside of this mundane, annoying, hair-pulling chore lies one of your greatest personal growth opportunities?

What if, instead of feeling dread and resentment towards this unavoidable, time-consuming task… you found a way to integrate a task you’ve been wanting/meaning to do, but never seem to have the time to do?

• What if laundry time suddenly became audiobook time?
• What if dishes suddenly became meditative time?
• What if landscaping suddenly became podcast time?

Suddenly… you just made personal growth one of your most time consuming tasks via one of your most time consuming “hair-pulling” tasks.

You might not be able to change what tasks you need to get done to keep your world spinning… but you can always change your approach to these tasks.

Life is too short to spend so much time daily in resentment and annoyance. And you only have so much hair to pull before you go bald. Might as well find ways to align life tasks and change your mind about what you can. Especially if the alternative is awful… what’s there to lose?

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

One thing that has been helping me with organization is, when I come across something that’s out of place, I ask myself: “Where’s this thing’s home?”

If it doesn’t have a home, then it’s no wonder that it keeps ending up all over the place.

Being organized isn’t just about making things aesthetically neat and pleasing.

It’s about giving things homes.

Places where they can continue to reside; not just temporarily get moved to.

And if you’re going to go through all of that work to clean things up anyway, you might as well do the little bit extra it takes to give them that residential spot.

And not just some arbitrary, hard to remember place—a place that makes sense, that’s close to where it usually ends up anyway, a place that feels right.

P.s. I sip on coffee while I write these. If you enjoy these posts, you can support my future work by supplying me with one of my next cups of joe here. ☕️