From where do you allocate extra time when you get really busy?
From:
Or:
Here’s the thing: Certain priorities should never be touched.
If they are, you’re too busy.
Or, hate to break it to you, they aren’t (really) a priority.
Period.
Underrated productivity hack: move slower.
When you move slower your mental and physical state calms.
When you’re calm your mind thinks more clearly.
When you think more clearly you get more done.
Step 1) Stop agitating it. Every disturbance clouds the water and sends ripples of distress throughout. This causes the pond to become cloudy and mudded.
Step 2) Filter the water. When a pond is still, most of the wandering particles will settle and the water will clear. But, running the water through a filtration process will expedite and enhance the process of clearing the water. Filtering also removes particles from the pond altogether rather than simply allowing them to settle to the pond’s floor.
Why should you care?
Because a pond is often used as a metaphor for the mind.
And understanding what disrupts and clears a pond can help us understand what disrupts and clears our mind.
So, how can we follow this same two step process for our mind?
Step 1) Stop agitating it. Every disturbance that you allow in through your senses will cause your mind to cloud and become mudded. Every hateful, demeaning, negative, hurtful, upsetting, gossipy, self-limiting, comparison-oriented thought does this. Exposing yourself to more of the opposite helps; meditating helps; blocking sources that agitate you helps.
Step 2) Filter your thoughts. Writing is thought filtered. When you start writing regularly, you’ll think more clearly, act more deliberately, and understand your emotions more than ever before. You could do gratitude themed writing in the morning, reflective/day-planning/goal oriented writing in the evening, thought-releasing journaling during the day, or just write to a blog like I do about whatever is on your mind.
You’d be surprised at how effective this process is at clearing your mind.
And just think about how much easier it will be to see the content of your mind’s pond once it’s finally cleared…
“Out of sight, out of mind” can be an excellent model for improving the overall quality of your life.
Put what you want IN your mind, IN sight.
Take what you DON’T want in your mind, OUT of sight.
As obvious as this might sound, I can’t tell you how many people keep what they don’t want in their mind in sight and keep what they do want in their mind out of sight.
Look closely at what you allow to stay in (and out of) sight for the entire duration of a typical day and adjust accordingly.
And not just physically—digitally, too.
Don’t underestimate this.
Here’s a thought: want to cultivate inner peace? Stop avoiding inner conflict.
What happens when a fight breaks out and nobody does anything about it? It continues.
And in many cases: it escalates.
It takes the brave bystander to step in before things start to settle; the courageous cop to heave themselves into the middle of a barrage of fists; the over-worked and under-rested parent to draw the line and invoke discipline before the family feuds finally dissipate.
It’s the willingness to confront conflict that leads to peace.
Not the willingness to peacefully ignore conflict in hope that it resolves itself.
Living your truth will set you free.
Living a lie will confine you into a cell of your own making.
Freedom is saying what you think and how you feel, as who you are.
Captivity is saying what you think others want to hear, based on how they feel, so that you can be who they think you are.
Don’t you see? The entire thinking process is under arrest by the anarchical judgements of others.
But, here, in this prison, there are no iron bars. There are no orange jumpsuits. There are no keys or guards.
This cell, the one you might find yourself in when you live a lie, is imaginary.
Whatever guards, keys, jumpsuits, and iron bars you feel incarcerated by, have been (and can only ever be) sentenced by you.
And so is the case for your sentence to freedom—it’s all decided within the confines of your mind.
So, how do you free yourself?
Perfectionism doesn’t beget perfection.
If anything, perfectionism begets hesitation and disappointment—over and over again.
For every time you look close—another flaw, wrinkle, fault presses itself forward and prevents you from acting or feeling in the desired way.
And as long as perfection is the standard, disappointment will continue to be the byproduct.
Why? Because perfection is the antithesis of being human—we are anti-perfect creatures.
We’re filled with flaws, wrinkles, and faults that are constantly pressing themselves forward into the forefront of our minds.
They demand our attention and are constantly reminding us of the paradox of our situation: imperfect creatures fighting to become perfect.
And so we hesitate. We feel disappointment. We fill with anguish.
Until, of course, we don’t.
Until we align with our nature rather than fight it. Until we fill our minds with acceptance rather than inadequacy. Until we stop seeking perfection and start embracing what’s imperfect.
Until we finally choose to become anti-perfectionists.