Author: oliviernovel

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Actionable English Mindset

Intermittent fasting

Picture, if you will, someone living in a great pasture somewhere in Africa. They have a pretty good life, for that standard, they don’t have a 12 hour a day job as their descendants will in some 15000 years or so, they don’t even have been enslaved by wheat, rice or some other crop as their descendants will be in some 5000 years or so, pretty good life. Now, it’s not all that easy and rosy. It will be hunted by predators, some of their same species, and have a better than even chance of dying in extreme pain, pretty fast though, so no that bad again. Well, this ancestor of ours didn’t have regularly scheduled meals as we do know, as a matter of fact, most of their proteins and fats they got intermittently, when they could catch it, the rest of the time they were eating here and there some nuts, insects and the like, but in small quantities. Now, I’m not going to promote a paleo diet here, not at all. What I’m going to argue for is the intermittent part. Intermittent fasting as it is being called nowadays. So, as I am not a nutritionist or a certified professional in this area I must tell you right now that this is not a recommendation but a testimonial of what I have been doing for the past few months, since April 2017. I have been eating breakfast and lunch and skipping dinner every day but once ever since. I haven’t changed anything else, not the quantities of what I eat on the meals that I still do have, and not the composition of those meals, so, I’m not trying to convince myself that I don’t want to eat delicious sugary pastries, drink coffee or eat meat, grains, fruits, vegetables and all the food I’ve learned to like by now. The trick has been only convincing myself every evening that I should not eat, at all, and that’s been that. What is supposed to be happening is that my body starts burning fat to compensate the lack of new nutrients, it’s also supposed to get freaked out that no new food is coming in so it starts hoarding fat. The paradox here is easily solved by noting the amounts that are burned, hoarded and most of all the new food that comes in when I do eat. The body won’t shut down, the fasting is not that severe and I am not starving, not by a long shot, so there’s no real danger on this dimension. The body will get the energy it needs to function where it is stored, in the fat that’s being accumulated during the feeding periods of the day, and it will use it, no deficit here either. The fact is, I’m ingesting far fewer calories than I was before, by my mediocre calculations I’m down to 1300kCal/day from 2000kCal/day. This is a big reduction, and it shows in my weight and figure. When I gain weight I tend to show it on my cheeks, all four of them. So, I’ve lost weight and body fat, I’m down to 65.5kg from 72.0kg and it seems I’m stable there. I am feeling good, not much better and no worse than before, but I am leaner, that’s for sure. I have to repeat myself here, I’m not recommending that you try fasting, I am not a professional of the fields of nutrition or health care, so, if you want to try it check with your physician, more so if your health is frail. If you do try it, share with us your experiences in the comments below, thanks for reading this.

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English Growth Self-confidence

The last day of the year. 

Looking back on the year that has been and not label it an annus horribilis is difficult as it was a very hard time. The thing is that hard times don’t end when the calendar does, so they will probably extend well into 2017. That’s how it is. That being said, there are also many reasons to be thankful and hopeful. For starters I am alive. That may seem trivial but if you want to do things you first need to be alive. Secondly, I am healthy, less trivial than the first statement, now what I need to do next year is keep it that way, and that includes taking better care of my body and mind, so that goes to the “need to better next year” box. Thirdly I have people, I am not all alone. Although I love being alone and am seldom lonely I also love to spend time with some of you, not all of you at the same time, that’s insane, but some of you for a brief period is nice. Fourth and that’s more difficult. I have a way of producing income. I’m not producing as much as I could but I’m working on it so that’s another thing for the “need to better next year” box. Fifth is my take in the future, this one goes with the last one but also on my own mental imaging of the future, to give it more value than I’ve been doing so far. 

There they are, five points to ponder and be thankful and better next year, there are many more of course but those are, for me, the main ones. Some of you will be wondering where’s my spiritual side, or romance or whatever, feel free to update your own lists with what you feel and think is important to you and comment below if you like.

In the meantime, let me wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

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Actionable English Growth Procrastination

Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | TED Talk | TED.com

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Actionable Mindfulness Procrastination

Self Regulation Failure

Here I am, once again, last week I didn’t post and it’s the second time in a row that I post only once every second week, that’s half the productivity I had before. It seems I’m running out of gas and that’s a very bad sign. If we’ve learned anything together is that we must keep on going, and I am the first one that has to show this perseverance and push, so I will. And with that I can start with our post. This week I’d like to talk about how we procrastinate in the most crass way we can, by being completely lazy and oblivious to our future. A quick comment over this, because it seems to have a contradiction in it. We are lazy and don’t do what is good for our future selves, so it seems that we are living the moment, nothing more zen than that, right? Not so fast grasshopper, sometimes we only do what we feel like doing right then, but not because it’s important but because it can give us a strong immediate rush. And then, after that rush we are back where we started, seeking to fill a void we don’t know how to fill or with what, so, we go ahead and look for that rush, and end up binge watching some dull television series, while we eat junk and don’t even get out of our pajamas for the whole weekend, just wasting away. Man what a depressing sight! But, what is a person on the 21st century that has most of the needs met to do? How can I find meaning and purpose? How can I fight that pull from the mundane but colorful world of junk food, junk music, junk TV, junk cinema, junk everything?

TV Remote

This is not a trivial problem for humanity, and it has been with us for a long time. Religious texts have some saying on this although they are more versed on rewarding us later they have some wisdom in them, but you have to sieve it out, and that can be time consuming and dangerous. So I like more to the point texts, like Seneca’s “On the shortness of life” that says “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it” this when life expectancy was a mere 47 years, if you survived childhood that is. So, we see that we have that problem always, we tend to waste our lives, we seek immediate pleasures, we go from one rush to another always ending up feeling empty. You might argue that I’m quoting Seneca, stoicism personified, but what about other ideas? Well, let’s see what the other side has to say, the epicureans, but the real one, I won’t be dragged into the “mud of hedonism”. Our good old friend Epicurus, 300 years before Seneca, stated that pleasure is the greatest good, but not the pleasure given by this rushes, that one prevents us from living a life with the least pain possible, because in the intervals of this pleasurable rushes we sink in horrible pain. I will stop right here with this philosophers because this is not the point here. My intention is getting us to do what is best for us, even when this might not seem like doing it. The contradiction remains seemingly then, we want to live the moment but we can’t live only from one pleasure rush to the next, we must think of the future, but that seems not to be living the moment, so how can I do it? The way we bridge this gap is by realizing that even if the rush is lived in the moment, the time afterwards it is not, when the rush is over we seek a new one, and that is when we are not living in the moment, we want to escape the moment and get that rush once again. We forget ourselves and all around us to seek the rush, in the most extreme cases this is called an addiction and the addict can forgo everything just to get that next rush.

When we do live in the moment we are not searching for our next rush, as a matter of fact we are not searching actively for anything. We are completely self regulated. We do what is that we have to do, right there and then. It sounds impossible and yet it is not. When you live in the moment completely you are still doing your tasks and chores, as well you should, and if that task implies you thinking about the future and making plans, you’ll do them, but you are not wishing that you were somewhere else, you’re just planning what you’ll do on another time. This is a difference that is as big as night and day, as full and empty, as life and death, although not as permanent. When we fail to self regulate we find that not only are we making ourselves miserable by getting this rushes, but also by actively knowing that we are procrastinating on what we should really be doing, we always have a better option than that pursuit of the rush, and we know it, and we feel guilty when we don’t seek it.

We see now that self regulation is important, so what to do to get us to do it? We can use many of the tools we’ve discussed before, setting triggers, being more empathic, reviewing our long term goals periodically so we can more easily bring them to the front of our mind when we feel like slipping, coping with change, embracing it and not fighting it, etc. We can go on and on, but what is really important is our willingness to actively fight and self regulate, as it comes out is an important tool in our box to fight procrastination with. How well do you self regulate? Please comment below or on our facebook page.

Categories
English Growth Mindset Self-confidence

I’m a Toastmaster

I’ve recently joined an organization whose purpose is the teaching of public speaking skills and the development in each member of leadership abilities. For those of you who know me you’ll easily see how both skill sets might come handy to me. I am not a confident person as you might very well have figured out by now. I also am someone who’s changing his worldview, mostly on what I want in life, how I can achieve it, and how I can get help getting the results I want. That last part for me is very difficult, not because I am arrogant, that I might be, but because I’m really not that smart and it’s very hard for me to learn and I don’t like to show that side of myself. How I’m dealing with this will be the subject of another post, maybe next week.

Now, all that been said I’d like to talk more about this wonderful organization that is Toastmasters. First things first. Toastmasters was founded in 1905 by Ralph C. Smedley while he worked as education director at the YMCA in Bloomington Illinois, USA. There he saw the need to teach young men speaking abilities, how to conduct meetings, plan programs and leadership. I will not elaborate here on the history, you can check it out by yourselves following this link, suffice it to say that since then Toastmasters International has grown to a worldwide organization with more than 280,000 members in some 14,000 clubs in 116 countries, a big success.

My first experience with Toastmasters was on february of this year when I attended a meeting as a walkin. I arrived a little late so I didn’t get to see the start of the session. I was immediately mesmerized. The diversity of the people was complete, but yet they all seemed no only at ease, but in sync with what was going on. They all presented their speeches, they were evaluated by one of their peers, given advice on what they did right and what they could do better, and there was absolute camaraderie yet there was complete order. I was hooked. I returned the following week as an walkin again to see the complete development of a session, I was so impressed again that by the end of the evening I was subscribing to become a member.

As Toastmasters primary goal is to teach we are not only there to socialize, we are there to learn. More experienced members teach newer ones by serving as mentors and evaluators, and we also get a set of manuals where we can find the different skills that we must learn in every step of our self paced learning. In the month and a half I’ve been a member I’ve given one speech, my icebreaker, which is the first one that a new member gives and where he makes an official presentation of himself to the club and invites. I’ve also had the opportunity to act as Toastmaster for the night, which means I had to host the meeting, which is a challenge on itself of leadership, organization skills and speaking skills, all of my shortcomings were graciously accepted by my colleagues and not one of them rolled her eyes, or stood up and left, so I would like to thank them for that.

As I ready myself to present my second speech tonight, march the 29th. 2016, I am really excited to do this, which would seem odd. As poll after poll show how the fear of public speaking is amongst the most prevalent of all, in some cases topping the fear of death, which inspired Jerry Seinfeld, funny person amongst funny persons, to write the joke that says “the average person, if you have to be in a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy”. So, I’m starting to see myself a little bit differently, because if it only takes one meeting a week for six weeks to make me get rid of this “big fear” either it’s easier than I thought to get rid of my fears or in the end it was not such a big deal to me and it’s something I rather like. I’m thinking the latter.

There you have it for today. If you’d like to face your fear of public speaking, would like to learn the skill and also pick up some leadership resources, check out your local Toastmasters club, if you live in Mexico City you can come to mine, Club BIAM, you’re more than welcome. As always I’d love to see your comments down below.

Categories
Actionable Growth Mindset

Changes big and small

I’ve recently had a birthday, my 45th for that matter, and of course I’m in full midlife crisis mode. My whole world is changing around me, after the turmoil will it be better or worse I cannot truly say right now, what I can say is that changes are a’ coming.
Changes. We might like them or despise them but in the end is what life is all about. Changes. We might embrace them or fear them, but they’re always there. We change all the time, granted sometimes so slowly we don’t notice right away, we notice when somebody else points it out with something like this “wow, what’s up with all that gray hair?” Or they might be dropped on us by some accident or a feat of good fortune. There are always changes.

Big changes are something we all know about. Big happy changes like getting your dream job, marrying the love of your life or being a parent, those are big happy changes. There are also tragedies, personal or even global, an illness, a traffic accident, a death in the family, or maybe less dramatic, losing a job, a divorce, having the kids grow up and move out. All of this are big changes. This big changes might create opportunities that we never thought about before, and those are the ones we have to look for when they come, we can surf the wave, or we can wait for the dust to settle. Yes, you can do either, there is no recipe here, no one size fits all. Every occurrence will be different, you might be in a good place to start something new and change something else in your life before settling down again, or you might want to wait and hope for the changes to end as soon as possible and try to regain control of your life, keeping, as much as you can, a sense of normality. As you might know by now I’m more for a balanced point of view rather than an extreme one.

Team_Sky_after_Cancer_Council_Helpline_Classic_2010Small changes are different. If we don’t do anything changes will always be disruptive. If we don’t keep up our bodies or our things they’ll decay, a chip of paint off a wall won’t spontaneously repair itself. Our teeth will soon decay if we don’t floss and brush regularly. Those are natural changes that left to themselves will destroy more that produce, so we must keep an eye on upkeep of our bodies and surroundings. Seeing this, how small relentless changes can destroy something, we can ask ourselves the following “In the same way that there is destruction in small steps, can there be construction in small steps?” And of course the answer is yes. This is what we do when we exercise, we don’t see our body build muscle overnight, it takes time and dedication. If we go on a diet we don’t see results the next day. Those are gradual changes. But there are other aspects of our lives where this way of thinking helps us, but it’s not easy. Now we are entering the realm of habits. Good habits that replace bad ones. Bad habits creep on us without us really wanting them. We might one day relax because we are feeling a little sick and we might skip the gym and next thing we know we’ve been last seen there two months ago and our belly’s showing it. So we replace bad habits with good ones, and then we make sure we keep them. We make good habits stick by not letting them slip, good thinking. Now, we can go a step further, and ask “are there other things that I can change a little and that will make me a little better?”. As you might expect the answer is a big fat Yes. And this is not my idea this is best explained by what Dave Brailsford accomplished when he coached Team Sky, a British cycling team back in 2010, to Tour de France glory in 2012, 2013 and 2015. He called his approach “aggregation of marginal gains” and he described it as “the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.” Everything you do. Not only exercising, tyre weight and pressure, diet, this are the usual ones, he went as far as to experiment on what pillow was best for a restful sleep, how to wash your hands so you get ill a little less and many other things that we might think are not important, but in the aggregate are important. This small marginal gains can help us achieve much more. Of course I’m not saying that all you need do is wash your hands properly, I’m saying this is something you need take care of as well as many other things in your life. Gradual changes that can bring big rewards.

So there you have it, changes big and small, good and bad, so many changes. If you tame your attitude to the big ones you can always come out stronger, and if you channel the small ones for your benefit you can also come out stronger and better. How do you cope with changes and make them happen will define how happy you can come to be now and in the future. Are you ready to make some good changes in your life? As always, please comment down bellow.

Categories
Actionable English Mindset Procrastination Self-confidence

“The art of the start”

The title comes from a quote from the title of Guy Kawasaki’s book because it fits so well to the point I want to make, even though his book is about entrepreneurship and this post, well, is not. Now, what this post is about is getting started. Getting started might seem so simple, and in a way it is, but, at least for us procrastinators, it is the hardest part to get to. Starting means being decided, being committed, being there. As we get ready keep fumbling and stumbling, we might think things twice or thrice, yes, that’s a word, and is important to know words, before thinking them once again, and that’s OK, we can think and plan all we want, but when it’s time to start, we start.

When we start we engage, we build, we produce. By starting we set on a journey, we give our lives some sense, even if the task can seem meaningless or is a lifelong journey. Starting is something we do all the time. Every morning we start a new day, we start a new meal or we start a new commute. We are constantly starting. You might think it’s not the same thing because we are repeating and we know what will happen. In a way you do, although you already know that not two days are the same, similar, but not the same, surprises happen. And let’s use that familiarity with our willingness to start. We don’t even think it twice before going out the door in the morning. Familiarity of what’s to come has diluted the fear or anxiety we might have had before. We know where we’re going, what route we will take, how much time it’ll take and we have it pretty much known. And that can be the same thing for something new we are going to embrace for the first time. How? By using some of many visualization techniques that are available to us. I have already talked a little about visualization in my post “Seeing the future” that you might want to check out. You can then visualize your way into familiarity and that will help reduce your fear. We can overcome all when we start, we can overcome none when we don’t. Starting is getting the ball rolling, we roll and roll and roll when we’ve started, but not when we are yet to do so. Even in physics there is more resistance to start than to keep on moving, what’s called static friction and dynamic friction, it takes less work to keep an object in motion than to put it in motion. We are the same, once we are in motion it takes less work, in this case, willpower, to keep going than what it took us to start moving. What can we do to start then if that is the hardest part? We make up excuses, like the following ones.

Start

The “It’s too late excuse”. We’ve all been there, when we face the excuse that “it’s too late now, why even bother” and unless it physically is too late then any moment is a good one to start.

The “I’ll do it later” excuse. It’s good to wait for the right moment to do something, no use in getting to the office at 2:00 AM or starting preparing for the New Year in the first week of March. But when the time is right, we start.

The “I’m not ready” excuse. This one’s a little trickier because we might not be ready. But we can feel it when we are genuinely not ready and when we are just stalling. When we are getting ready we are eager to start, when we are stalling, we are not.

The “I don’t know why I am doing this” excuse. Again, this one is also a little tricky, because we might not know why we are doing something, we have to figure it out first. Most of the time a valid reason not to do something is when we are being forced to do it by someone who is manipulating us. For all other reasons, we take the Nike stance and “Just do it”

Last but not least, the “I don’t want to do it” excuse. Like the last one this can have some validity, but we can feel it in our gut when it doesn’t, then we can also “Just do it” and start.

Now, starting is easier than doing, we are not committing ourselves to go all the way, just starting. We’ll just start. We’ll only lay the first brick. But we know how this works, and we’ve seen above how much easier it is to go on than to start. Once we start we tend to keep on going, inertia takes over and we go on and on and on until we’re done or until a stronger force stops us. I hope this helps you, remember, just getting started helps you getting to the finish line in a way you didn’t imagine it before. I’d love to read your comments about this and other posts either here or on our Facebook page, and thanks for reading.

Categories
Actionable English Growth Procrastination

The “Productivity Equivalence” III

This is the third and last post on the Productivity Equivalence. We have worked on the positive elements of the equivalence and now it’s time to work on the negative ones.

PE = Sleep + Diet + Exercise + Meditation/Prayer/Silence – Stress – Distractions

The negative elements are stress and distractions. As I said before you have maybe other feelings and attitudes that you would like to put on the side. Be my guest, please accommodate this equivalence best fits your needs, this is what it is for, so you can have an idea of what is working for you and what is working against you.

  • Stress. As we know stress can be very harmful. High levels of cortisol for prolonged periods of time have been known to cause harm to the body. This stress causes also behavior changes that take a toll, most of the time a very heavy one, on our relationships. Some might be saying right now “well, be less stressed, easier said than done” Yes, it’s easy to say, but it’s also easy to do. What’s not easy is to take the right step and make the decision to do it, that’s the hard part. We have to understand that the decisions we make affect the present and the future. What we have from our past cannot be changed, it is done, it is what has brought us to where we are right now. At each present moment we can make decisions that transform our lives, make or not make a phone call, visit or not someone, write or not a story, keep or not a relationship. We have to decide what we want for us right now.If we don’t do it ourselves somebody else will or something else will. So it’s really that easy we have to deal with the stress you have to decide if you want to continue living a stressful life or not. if we decide we want to continue to leave stressful life then we must understand the price but we are willing to pay. we don’t want to live a stressful life and the only way to reduce the stress is to scale down then that is something we have to do. In the end it’s our choice, it is what we want and, as with everything else, we are responsible. I am not advocating that we have to eliminate all stress from our lives, some stress is useful, some stress is necessary. Without stress there is no excitement, no fun, no triumph. We need stress, but as we need water, too much water we drown and die, too little water we dry up and die, we need just enough.
  • Distractions. Distractions are those activities that do not help us get closer to our goals. When we procrastinate and don’t do what we have to do we are getting distracted. When we were little and people told us “you can be anything” what they meant was “you can be whatever you set your goals to, and then work your ass off to get them” and distractions are what will keep us from reaching those goals. Some will start saying “you can’t be an NBA player, you’re too short” That’s true, but I can still play basketball, and work for the NBA or an NBA team, or a sportswear company that sells basketball apparel, I can still be all basketball if that’s what I want. But I have to focus on that, all the time. Distractions can take me offcourse in a big way, as would be getting stuck in a job that’s I hate because “I have to pay the bills” and never trying to build an alternate reality and then moving to that, or can take me offcourse in a subtle but constant way, as would be watching two hours of TV every night to “relax”, or wasting ten minutes on Facebook every hour. All those are examples of distractions. One of the most effective tools in our belt against distraction is the ability to focus. Yes, as I said many times before on other posts, being able to focus is one of the abilities we need to develop. The ability to focus and to regain focus quickly if it is lost for a moment is of paramount importance. An example of regaining focus quickly is being able to get back to what’s important seconds after being interrupted by a phone call, and alarm, an impromptu visit from a colleague with an unimportant question. But also being able to focus on long term goals. That focus, that has to be permanent for long periods of time has to deal with other different distractions. You get distracted when you get discouraged, discouraged because you can’t see the result of your labor and after a while you angst and question if the seed you planted will in the end bear the fruits you desire. You get distracted when you see other opportunities pass you by and you wonder if there are making the right choice. You get distracted by your entourage when they question your sanity and the value of what will be gained and instead of pushing you and helping you they want you to stop and hinder you. All of this requires courage yes, but most of all requires focus, and that’s what you have to train for, every single day.

So there you have it, we’ve taken three posts but we have dissected the Productivity Equivalence. As I said before, you might have other parameters you’d like to keep track off for your own version of the equivalence, but if you don’t, feel free to use this one, and for every action that you engage in check where it affects the most, where it puts in and where it puts out and decide on that information if it’s good or bad. As always, I’d love to read your comments on the subject, thank you for reading.

Categories
Actionable Growth Mindfulness Procrastination

The “Productivity Equivalence” II

As promised here’s the second part, maybe we’ll have to stretch this out even more, but I think it’s worth it. We saw last time the Productivity Equivalence, this one:

PE = Sleep + Diet + Exercise + Meditation/Prayer/Silence – Stress – Distractions

We talked about the first two components, Sleep and Diet. I’d like to finish with the diet entry fast with this.

Diet, part 2 and ending. When we talk about diet and productivity we also need to talk about our immediate intake of food and drink and our immediate productivity. It’s clear that a three martini lunch on a daily basis not only will destroy our liver in the long run but our productivity that afternoon, as a matter of fact, even if we don’t do it ever again, that afternoon is gone. So, to bring this more down to earth, we need to seek foods that are good for us in the long run, but also we need to have at our disposal foods that can help us immediately. A cup of coffee will help you be more alert, a lunch heavy on fatty food and meat will have the opposite effect, but I am not a dietitian and know nothing about nutrition, just about productivity so go see a specialist before doing anything “crazy”. Seek their help, after all, they have all those student loans to pay, you’ll be helping them too.

Exercise. Another no brainer, wow, all the things we know we should do but somehow, we don’t, we keep putting them off and… you’re right, procrastinate, you’re a smart bunch, that’s why I like you. Now, not only need you to get your weekly cardio, and you need to make muscle, you need to activate your body at the gym if this is something you can afford, there’s more to it. We need to move, upstairs and downstairs, up the hall and down the hall, take periodic walks, stand up as much as you can because, drum roll, latest studies have found that sitting is killing us. Yes, you read it right. Sitting is the new smoking, so they say. The studies are very compelling suggesting your are doing a horrible disservice to your insides by sitting down on a chair, just by doing what seems to be nothing. This is where the standing desks craze comes from, then some smart guy figured out that since he was already standing he might as well do a couple of miles and incorporated a treadmill to the mix and there you go, the treadmill desk was born, and then this guy came with this idea and the “rat race” was finally materialized with this HamsterWheel Deskhamster wheel desk…
But I digress. Don’t sit down all day, it will kill you, get your body moving and you’ll be better off.

Meditation/Prayer/Silence. Now this is where the juicy part is on this whole Equivalence is. You might say “what does standing still have to do with doing more? You make no sense!” so glad you asked. Meditation, oh sweet meditation. I’m a new but fully convinced convert on the value of meditation. I’ve been doing it on a daily basis for the last 6 months and it has changed my life, or at least my perception of my life. I’m now more calm, less irritable, and those of you who know me know what I mean, am I right? I don’t get angry as I did before, and most of all I’m more aware of my role in my life and that of others. I’m a much better listener also, because I can much better stop listening to my own inner narrator, I have a much better grasp of reality around me. If you don’t like meditation I suggest you give it a try, and then another, at least 6 months of daily practice. I am not kidding, you know you need to slow some things down, mainly in your head, and this will help you, I am positive about that. What’s that? You don’t want to do it even after what you know about it? You’re like a smoker who won’t quit! But OK. Are you religious? Try praying, yes, pray, but don’t enter in a dialog with the supreme being of your choosing, no, just say your prayers, don’t think about them, don’t try to find a meaning, no nothing, while you’re praying just pray, that’s it. What now? You won’t meditate and won’t pray either? Sit in silence then, don’t lay back because you’ll fall asleep, sit, on the floor preferably, and stay in silence. Don’t try to think about your day, or the stuff you have to do, or what you need, or nothing. Silence around you and in you. You’ll need to concentrate on something, use your favorite tree from when you were a kid, concentrate on it. Do it again and again, get distracted? Back to the tree, remembered something? It can wait 5 minutes, back to the tree. Visualize in your head all you can remember from that tree. Do this five to ten minutes everyday for at least 6 months. Your life will change.

Well, there you have it, we’re out of time, and when I say we I mean you, I want to keep this posts as informative but short as possible because I know time is of the essence. Please share this on your Facebook wall if you found it informative, and comment, here or on the social media app of your choosing, have a great day.

Categories
Actionable English Mindfulness Money Procrastination Self-confidence

The “Productivity Equivalence”

Since the last quarter of 2015 I’ve been changing my habits to positively change my life. I’ve changed the way I see time and also what I do with it. All of this to start applying the “Productivity Equivalence” or SE for short.

PE = Sleep + Diet + Exercise + Meditation/Prayer/Silence – Stress – Distractions

This simple equivalence tells you where to put in and were to take out to attain a higher level of productivity. Higher levels of productivity give you more results, whether your goal is being healthier, spending more time with your family, being wealthier. What this means is simple. You can’t get better results by removing where you should be adding and adding where you should be removing. Also, you can’t eliminate any of the components totally, either the good ones or the bad ones. The good ones have minimums you have to try to achieve and the bad ones, no matter how hard you try to eliminate them they find a way to creep up again if you ever take your eye off of them. You can’t, for instance, stop sleeping altogether and use that time to exercise because that would not work, the result would be a lesser PE value than before. And remember, this is only an equivalence, it’s not a complete equation for Productivity, you can think of things missing here that are important to you. You should put them in and evaluate for yourself what is better. I use it as a reminder and as a guide of what to look for if I suddenly notice a drop in my productivity, so I can make an introspective assessment of what might have changed on this equivalency and work on that.
Let’s take a moment now to view the components.

 

  • Diet. This one is obvious, we need to eat right, I don’t need to tell you that, again. Now, maybe something you didn’t know is this hypothesis that says that our willpower is like a gas tank, we can use it again and again and again until it’s drained and then we succumb to temptation much easier. What does that mean? That we need to be careful on what we use our willpower. If we have to refrain ourselves from taking a donut instead of a piece of fruit from a platter in a conference, then we will have used some willpower to do that, if we have to choose from taking the elevator instead of the stairs then again, willpower. What to do then? We need to save our willpower for really important things. We can remove this decisions in two ways. Always make a decision in advance, we talked about triggers before, well, here’s an example of one of them. “If I have to go up I always take the stairs” “If I want a snack I’ll never eat pastry” We decide beforehand what we want. We can compound that with physically removing temptation and get as far as we can from those delicious chocolate chip cookies.

So, as I’ve accustomed you to this before I won’t change it today. I’m going to stop here for length but I’ll continue tomorrow, how about that, a two day piece. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you, please comment down here, even if it’s only to say hello.