Dear readers!
I have recently taken this site to my brand-spankin’ new site:
The site is being aesthetically tweeked, but it will be my official place for new content.
The new format will give me more play in terms of site design and presenting the ideas and perspective that I’m working on now!
(This post was written May 17th, 2009)
I’ve now been speed reading for a few months, but recently its been more intense since my 1000 word per minute goal by the end of June.
How I’ve been training:
- I aim to get in some reading on a daily basis, usually involving my comfort-busting exercise, which I wrote about recently.
- I do at least one “3-2-1″ exercise per week. This is where you read as much as you can in 3 minutes and then write down all that you remember. Then you read the same amount in 2 minutes and record what your remember. Then the same is done at only one minute. This forces you to adjust your comprehension to the increased reading speed.
- I practice on everything. If I’m studying a book, I’ll randomly test my speed with it (its interested to try this with different material). If I see a newspaper, sometimes I’ll speed read it. I even do this with websites.
Right now I’m cruising along at somewhere near 750 word per minute, though at times I find myself doing alright reading 850 words per minute. This is encouraging. I’m definitely optimistic about my 1000 WPM goal.
Check out my speed reading tips post. This is where I’ve listed my favorite techniques for increasing reading speed.
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I’m pumped on this post because its the first of its kind. My Heat Mapping Life Experiment was the first one that I recorded about on a daily basis, and with two full weeks on constant immersion in analyzing my own state and degree of productivity, I found out some interesting things about my experience that I’m sure anyone can draw from.
Some of it might be relatively specific to my experience, but I think a that plenty of the lessons of this experiment can be applied to anyone’s life and motivation.
“Efficacious State” (Ideas on Social State and Productive State) -
Something I noticed very early is that my “productive” flow state happened to also transmit into a flow experience in any other activity I was involved in. In other words, when I was feeling super-involved and excited writing an article, I’d also feel super-involved and excited if I started cleaning my room, driving to the store, or
Telltales of “Efficacious State” / Flow -
When I am in flow:
When I am in stress:
Elements in Attaining the “Efficacious State” -
Completion:
Some of my experiences that “felt” most productive involved completion of a specific objective, or at least attaining a notable benchmark in a project.
This, of course, was in my head. Any “tangible” steps taken or projects accomplished were just marks I set in my own mind, and part of my brain gave me access to happiness after reaching these designated ends.
Regardless, having “ends” of this kind certainly serves us in terms of having identifiable next actions on our higher objectives. In addition, these little benchmarks serve as micro-accomplishments that can compel us to future action and allow us to recognize that progress towards our higher objectives is being made (because… it is being made!).
It might also be a limiting factor, however, to require these benchmarks to be hit in order to feel efficacious and resourceful. Here we restrict ourselves to a degree.
My best advice in this regard would be to frame these benchmarks as concrete rungs on a ladder, rungs that we reach for enthusiastically (instead of needing them for our positive emotional state).
Balancing:
In my project, I found that many of my most “stressed” times were times when I was hammering away on tasks with no contact to other people for hours and hours. Its not as though I ever went a day without seeing friends or family, but extended periods of lone typing tended to bring about a yearning for human contact, and a yearning to exercise and move.
This may have to do with the fact that I’m very much used to being active physically and socially, and that when the balance tipped away from those aspects of my life a tension was created.
I think it likely also has to do with a relatively innate need for human contact and physical activity – and the fact that such activities tend to relieve us of stresses and fulfill important desires that we have as humans (to be loved, to enjoy time with others, to be physically active).
My Experience of Level 4 (Red Zone) “Productivity” -
Throughout my experiment, I only hit this red zone for a few hours. I’ve been there before and since, however, and I now have a better idea of the telltale signs of this super-charged experience of efficacy, joy, and power:
- It involves a welling up of excitement, an expressive tension that builds up and must be released. Its almost jittery. I found myself having to move around or yell something out (“WOOO!”).
- My body is totally engrossed in the present activity, and very little thought is noticed through the experience.
- If thoughts do occur, they are immensely positive and encouraging, and usually have to do with the awesome future possibilities and how I can reach those possibilities through the present. For instance, I might be thinking about a book I plan on writing and how fantastic it will be to get some of my best research and ideas on paper. I might even imagine what it would make possible in my life if my book was a huge success.
- It is interesting to note that this level of excitement and fun is something I occasionally experience but I do not refer to it as “level 4 productive.” Why is this the case? Because sometimes this excitement isn’t productive, or I don’t frame it to be productive in my mind. The times I refer to as “level 4 productive” have not only been a massive expression of positive emotion, but they have been related to attaining goals and actually doing activity that I deem to be best in attaining those objectives. Hence, many of my highest expreinces of excitement have not been “level 4 productive.”
This might explain why level 4 is not the same as normal “flow” state (“flow” is an immersed, intense, heightened state where out mind is drawn into the present moment and we loose ourselves). I mean this in the way that level 4 must generally have relation to some higher project or objective, and so it sometimes will involve more thought that traditional “flow” state, because my mind usually has to tie the action to my values and my future objectives.
“Happiness” and “Productivity” -
The relation of happiness and productivity has to do with one’s definition of “productivity.”
Making statements like “you need to be productive to be happy” or “if you’re too productive you’ll never find happiness” would be silliness. They are too vague to be understood and apply.
For me personally, productivity involves progress towards my highest ends – which not only involves diving into and finishing writing projects, reading psychology, and promoting my Jiu Jitsu academy, but also involves sharing fun experiences with friends and experiencing joy, excitement and enthusiasm.
Hence, happiness and productivity are relatively well-linked in my own mind. I recognize happiness not only as a fantastic end in and of itself (something I value, something that fits my purpose) but also as a propelling force for my own vitality and energy to accomplish meaningful tasks that relate to my greatest pursuit of contribution int he field of personal development (something I value, something that fits my purpose).
However, this isn’t to say I’ve ever bitten off more than I can chew in terms of projects, or that I haven’t ever felt “stress.” Certainly its not common, but it has happened. This “stress” wasn’t because I was “too productive.” In fact, stress works against productivity for the most part (in my book). It was simply due to framing things incorrectly in my mind and creating a mental frame of “have to” rather than “strive for.”
We can make “productivity” the antithesis of “happiness” if we want. We can make it imply a frantic or cold pursuit of objectives without meaning. However, we would have no one to blame for this but ourselves. Happiness – as I see it – aught to usually be included into the algorithm for “productivity.” It is the end for which productivity strives in most cases.
Might it be useful to not focus at all on present happiness and just “get things done”? It would seem as though the action we deem best in terms of our overall life objectives and purpose will sometimes be focused less on momentary positive emotional states than other times. Regardless, completely devorcing enjoyment from any activity might be reckless for our psyche. I believe that having an awareness of how we mentally frame our work and other actions )and knowing how to change our focus or mind set) is an ability that serves us immensely.
Even in crunch time on a massive assignment or in a panicked situation, we aught to keep the reins to our enjoyment at hand and if nothing else control the detrimental emotions that tend to floor our minds when we focus on “detrimental” events (IE: when we frame events or situations as “difficult” or “bad” or “painful” or “stressful” in our minds).
Tips for Sleeping Less:
Though you can certainly read about some of this stuff in my “Sleep Less” Life Experiment, I did pick up on (and refine) some tricks for sleeping less:
- Have at least one COMPELLING activity to do early in the morning. This will get you out of bed when the alarm rings. I like to make it something that will take a little while (not a 3 minute project), because you’ll be less likely to put it off of a few more minutes. I like to set a goal like “get as far into writing my ebook on Sport Psychology as possible!” This is compelling because its a challenge to see how much I can get done, and its a project I’m excited to work on.
- Be wary of too much sugars or processed carbs. This will take you to a bit of a blood-sugar spike, but then you’ll drop right off and crash. Try not to load up on sugars at any point in your day, if anything taper them in with other foods so you can be more productive… AND have less cavities.
- When working through lack of sleep, sit upright, have proper lighting (preferably sunlight), and sit somewhere that you don’t associate to sleep. As I mentioned in my previous articles, I often sit in my kitchen or dining room, where the light is more intense, the chairs aren’t for lounging, and my mind doesn’t associate with “zzzzzzz.”
-Often we believe ourselves to be more tired than we are. I always thought I needed 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night to function well. I then read somewhere of a man who slept about 5 hours per night. I thought this was brilliant and I took up the idea – and it turned out FINE. Not to mention all the times I thought “oh man, I’m so tired, I must go to sleep,” then I went out to a club, or went into a room with sunlight and a wooden chair, or took a jog – and felt FINE. Believe in yourself on this one, trust me, you’re so much more capable of sleeping less.
You might not want to sleep 5 hours a night like I am right now, but regardless, you will be able to apply these ideas when you DO need to stay up, or you want to keep yourself up longer.
I want to thank Charlie of www.productiveflourishing.com for the brilliant idea of heat mapping productivity.
This one of many deeply involved projects that I’ll be diving into, learning from, and recording on here.
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It comes as no shock that some of the people with the most friends, the most money, the most fame and social validation, and the most intelligence are also some of the saddest people on the face of the earth.
Its no surprise, then, that people can some of the “dumbest,” poorest, least well-known people are also the happiest on the face of the earth.
Is this because external benefits necessarily lead to pain, and external “detriments” lead to pleasure? Certainly not.
Its because – on both sides of the coin of life conditions – we get used to things. Our conditions become the norm and loose any tangible effect on our life’s enjoyment.
Everything becomes “normal.”
This understanding seems daunting in the sense that all of our work towards changing our conditions can be recognized as being divorced from our actual quality of life (though this needn’t be the case, as we will see). However, lets look at this interesting facet of the human condition in light of evolution:
What if we as human beings had a determined level of external benefits that made us “happy,” and anything below a certain point in terms of these benefits would make us “sad”?
If this were to be the case, those of us who were “sad” would feel so indefinitely unless they could alter their conditions, which they might not have the energy to do in a melancholy state.
In addition, those of us who were “happy” would perpetually feel this way unless their conditions changed. Hence, cavemen with plenty of food, plenty of mates, [and whatever other benefits] would sit in a state of bliss, possibly unmotivated to take action.
Instead, we feel happy in proportion to how we perceive our life conditions to be, in terms of how we assemble the mental puzzle of our life situation and conditions – in terms of the meaning we associate to our lives.
Hence, we do not remain perpetually happy because of an increase in beneficial conditions in our lives. This might lead to unhealthy lethargy (what I pose as a possible evolutionary rationale). Instead we accept our new conditions as baseline and strive for more! Hurray humans! Hence we continue to look for opportunities for more – a tendency that likely served us very well as early humans.
The thing is, this “grasping for more” – even if we get what we’re grasping for – doesn’t entail happiness and fulfillment.
An Innate Yearning for “Benefit”?:
It is possible that we are wired to feel good when we believe we have been “benefitted,” “upgraded,” or “bettered” in some way? Think about it this way:
You give a poor child in Guam $20 US, and he might scream and jump in the air. He can now buy food for his family and maybe even a nice bicycle to get around on. He thinks he is being benefitted, and so experiences that joy.
If the child was fabulously wealthy, $20 US would mean nearly nothing to him. He does not feel benefitted – so there is no increase in his emotional state.
Again, there would of course be instances where one’s own perception is irrelevant and positive emotions would ensue regardless, such as:
- If one is given some form of emotional state-inducing drug
- If one is fed after a long fasting (this involved the cognitive aspects as well, but it is innately enjoyable in that it sustains the body and mind with nourishment and “tastes good” to our senses)
However, in almost all instances where we feel an increase in positive emotional state due to our mental framing of the incident, is it not arguable that our own perceived “benefit” or “upgrade” or “betterment” is the cause of this emotional shift?
Obviously there are other factors to our experience of happiness besides our opinion of how “benefitted” we are. These factors might include (but wouldn’t be limited to):
- Constant, blatantly noticeable, physical pain
- Conditions of the brain and its chemicals (genetic disposition towards depression, effects of head trauma)
AGAIN I say “However:” of those instances where we do see notable increase in our own emotional state due to the way we frame our reality / perceive our world, it could be that the idea of being “benefitted” is involved.
This ideal that our positive emotions are increased when we believe we are becoming / experiencing “more” is only one model, but it might be a useful model to look at in light of the rest of this article.
What We Must Do for Happiness:
Given the dynamics of our experienced quality of life, we must find ways to frame our experiences (including our memories and anticipated future) in a positive light, in a way that we associate to things we value, possibly in a way that enables us to be “bettered” by the experiences.
We must find meanings in our experience that encourage us and bring about positive emotion in us.
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Here are 2 tools that we might use to deal with the fact that we tend to take anything in our lives to be “normal” in short order:
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The Virtue of Gratitude:
Despite covering the idea of gratitude in the article on the “past,” I wanted to mention it again here in vastly more specific detail – as I believe gratitude of the present to be uniquely important.
Gratitude is understood to bring about positive emotions and aide in our enjoyment of life. The reasoning behind this has been explained by far more qualified people than I, but I think I have a have formulated about as concise a definition as possible, and I’ve never seen it frame this way before:
Gratitude does us the favor of framing anything (potentially, every aspect of our life experience) as a benefit, as something fresh and appreciable. It has the potential to frame our lives entirely in the positive because we can take every sense, every feeling, every event as a gift to our consciousness.
By being grateful in our lives, we immediately are able to appreciate all of life as a poor and starving man might value $20 US.
Instead of coming to our experience with the general perspective of “yep, this is reality,” we come to our experience with the perspective of “wow, this is fantastic!” Bringing this positivity (and even excitement) to the present allows us to perpetuate the feelings of a kid at christmas. Instead of looking at things practically and taking them into consideration, the grateful person can find ways to make any experience seem fun or encouraging.
“Having Purpose”:
We can also use a powerful “purpose” to bring empowered meaning into all aspects of our lives. Personally, I think about this in two ways:
1- We establish ideals of virtue, mindset, and behavior
2- We establish grand plans for the positive changes we would like to make in our world
These could roughly be referred to as “inner” and “outer” purpose, though I no longer make much of a distinction.
With regards to “inner” purpose, we can make each moment meaningful by exemplifying the kinds of virtues and behaviors that we deem best – we use the present moment as a stage to embody our highest ideals. For instance, if we deeply value learning and sharing enjoyable experiences, we can bring these values to the forefront in any circumstances. If we are as home, we might study something fascinating and important (possibly something that will aide in our external purpose), or we can visit a friend and create enriching experiences with that person. Even standing in line at the bank we can chat with the people next to us or do some reading (Podcasts would be even easier in this instance). In this way, even relatively tragic events or periods can serve to hone us closer to our ideals – and so bring empowering meaning to our lives.
With regards to “outer” purpose, we can take each moment as a potential stepping stone towards our grand vision, towards the change we want to make in our lives. This could be putting away money to save for our child’s education, this could be learning or writing to work towards creating a great book, or it could be putting in effort to start our own company. This outer purpose must of course be aligned with our inner purpose, our ideals about how we want to live and what we want to make for ourselves and for others with human potential. In doing so, we are drawn towards creating concrete outward manifestations of what we value most. This is something that can compel us to enthusiastic action in any moment of our lives. This aides in providing us with empowered meaning.
Hopefully this article gave you a bit of perspective on how we come to see our situation as “normal,” and how we might make our own experience extraordinary. I’d certainly love your feedback!
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May 25th, felt a little bit overwhelmed in the morning in terms of reading and writing. I impose a degree of tension on myself to act, but it overtook the productivity threshold and was more like stress. This is likely due to my mixed thoughts about the ends of my projects in light of relatively massive changes in goals as of late.
Later in the day I went to the beach to visit a friend on his birthday. I talked with my other friend about our entrepreneurial project. Again this is planning and building process seems magnified when friends are involved.
At night I wanted to do some karaoke so I hit up the local karaoke bar and belted out a couple tunes. The girl I met there had me sing some random Black Eyed Peas song I’ve never heard of before – and when she forgot the lyrics I had fun making up new random words.
May 26th, I woke up swiftly after 4 hours of sleep.
First day of my internship in a physical therapy office. The atmosphere was cool and there’s a lot for me to learn about the diagnoses process and modalities of treating injuries. There was a lot of down time though, so I’m planning little ways to make it more productive for me (such as carrying a small notebook to record all the most important info I pick up).
At 4:00PM I went to my internship seminar at URI and was in the twilight zone between slumber and consciousness the entire time. Tiredness tends to hit me like a brick if I’m too comfortable and don’t engage myself fully into something. The speaker’s monotone voice put me right out.
Despite this, I was WIDE awake for teaching Jiu Jitsu, and we had a fantastic class where everyone had a blast. Teaching new technique might have been what set the tone and engaged my mind.
Realizations:
-I came to understand how very Tasmanian-Devil-ish I tend to be in terms of projects, especially in the realm of studying personal development. I writing inquiries on a thousand topics, I read 2 books at a time. I take notes, I try to keep track, but some of it slips. This is the origin of my recent focus on studying / immersion in friendships and relationships. Limiting my research and writing a little bit is something I feel will prove to be useful.
-I came to realize that the yellow zone of productivity (level 2) is vague and should be broken up. It can entail tremendously stressed times where I’m grinding into some random project – and it can entail relatively “productive” activity while I have a good time with friends. Since I seemed to hover in that zone so much, it might prove useful next time to split a category like that into another two distinct levels.
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The next and final post is going to be my FINALE on the perspectives and lessons I learned through this project!
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Today something dawned on me. I know some people who are capable of giving very poignant, insightful advice when others ask for perspective. In a compassionate way, they calmly collect the facts, find proper ways to present them, and talk about dealing with the issue itself.
Yet… at the same time, these same people are capable of the most absurdly irrational decisions and states.
I started to think if we all didn’t exhibit this dichotomy. We all experience something different every day, every moment – of course we’ll have times where we are more rational than others… right?
Even given the fact that we’re in different situations constantly, somethings still seemed off. How could the same person be able to totally loose themselves in a seemingly silly situation, but at the same time be able to advise others (in the most calm of fashions) through a similar situation?
Some obvious reasons came to the fore:
- If your car breaks down, you are likely to be more frustrated that you are when your friend tells you that his car has broken down. Hence, it is easier to be “emotionally detached” when you’re concerns are not as involved.
- One day we might be in an incredibly relaxed state (maybe we spent the day reading – focusing on pleasant things – and just got out of a warm bath) while another day we might be tense or frustrated (maybe we haven’t slept in a long time because of a project at work, and we’ve been focusing on our inability to accomplish the task). Hence, we have some variability in terms of our bodies and our surroundings that can effect our emotional state and bring about different responses.
What came to my mind, though, was something completely different than the above factors. I thought about how our context effects how we perceive ourselves or our world, and about how that can effect our behavior. I refer to the different “selves” or variations of demeanor / traits that we exhibit as “social imprints.”
Do you notice the way you talk when you’re alone in a room with a grandparent, as opposed to when you’re alone in a room with a friend from school?
Have you noticed a cashier at the counter communicate differently with you than with their coworkers?
Have you ever noticed how a sports coach might act different on the field than he does when he goes out by himself to the bar?
Different settings warant different behavior, obviously. I cannot “do” the same things in a library as I could on a saturday night on the dance floor. Theoretically I could, but my actions would be out of place. This is easily understood.
HOWEVER, I pose that something more significant is going on:
When we are in a given context, we associate certain thoughts, rules, and behaviors with that context (many times this is easy to see in social contexts). Our associations immediately have in influence on “who we will be” in that context. We cue off of these contextual hints to determine how we will present ourselves, how we will walk, talk, think, even feel.
Some contexts might make us feel good and give us access to fully express ourselves freely. Other contexts might generally give us access to limited internal resources.
For instance, some people might be tremendously social, loud, expressive, and fun at the bar every weekend, yet be extremely quite in a classroom setting.
Lets say this person doesn’t drink – what is the difference between his “bar self” and “class self?” Maybe he’s more tired during the day, maybe he doesn’t eat breakfasts and often feels stomach pain in morning classes. Or… just maybe… he associates the bar with certain activities, certain ways of behaving and levels of fun. He might see the bar as less judgmental, and more socially active. Because perceives the bar to be different than the classroom, he doesn’t end up socializing.
Sometimes, we have access to an imprint that we deem to be best for us in the present moment. We feel and think exactly as we would like to. This might come in the form of confidence, expressiveness, friendliness, etc…
Other times, we notice that we do not have access to all the internal resources we would like in the present situation
So how does this relate to the example we started off with in this article?
I pose that when someone comes to us and sits us down to talk about an issue of theirs, the context is conducive to an “imprint” of a rational, calm, positive “self.”
In the particular context of this example, we see a friend approach us as though we were the giver of answers, as though we already had the ability to grant positive wisdom. Hence, we feel imbued with this ability ourselves.
It is often said that we see ourselves as we think others see us, we believe about ourselves what others believe in us. This social psychology theory may be a subset of the general idea that in different social contexts (and contexts in general) we have access to different imprints.
NOTE:
It should be understood that not all imprints come about through a change in social interaction. For instance, we may walk differently an have a different facial expression when we are out in an open sunny field than if we are walking through a dimly lit, creepy basement – or we may access a different “self” when we’re alone and working out as opposed to when we’re alone reading a book.
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We aught to be aware of these different “selves” that we express in certain instances.
How do we act differently around our parents and our friends?
How do we act in class or at work and how do we act outside these contexts?
In what ways to we change our expression, speech, etc… when we feel as though we are being judged as opposed to not being judged?
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
What triggers do we use to access these different “imprints?” Do you only express yourself most openly when you feel as though you are the leader? Do you only express your “real” self when you know someone for 6 months… a year? When hanging out with a group of people, do we have access to our highest self only when we believe ourselves to be better (in some regard) than the other members of our group?
At any given time, if you aren’t feeling like you have access to the resources (possibly of creativity, of confidence, of excitement) that you want in that moment, you likely have some rules for switching imprints that are restricting you from doing so. Determine what you want to feel, and come to understand how (in other times in your life) you gained access to that “self.”
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I was going to use a “Sleepless in Seattle” picture for the image on this post, but it looks way too romantic and most of you would get distracted by the longing eyes of Tom Hanks so I decided against it.
This is why you’ll see sheep jumping over fences above.
Anyway, on to the topic of less sleep:
Recently I’ve been getting occasional nights of 6 hours of sleep. I find that I can probably run on 5.5-6 hours perpetually, while 4 hour nights are only doable for about a week at a time (otherwise I feel a subtle sense of tiredness and as soon as I lie down by body wants to shut off).
The last few nights I slept for 4 and 3.5 hours, and I felt fine. I know what I’ll get 6 tonight though, because I realize that otherwise I’m running myself into the ground.
I have become increasingly interested in wether or not this project will have tangible, detrimental effects on me later in life. As I said before, I feel like the negative effects in the present are far outweighed by the positive benefits of getting more done (so long as I sleep enough to remain awake and creative).
Hence, I’m planning on doing some homework and figuring out what doctors think. I get all kinds of statements from all kinds of people about this sleep project of mine, but I’d definitely want to ask someone qualified.
Until then, I’ll be sleeping between 4 and 6.5 hours per night, and getting a heck of a lot done in terms of awesome research and writing (I’m working on an ebook right now).
I’ll keep this thread alive, however, if anything crazy happens with my project, or if I pick up some good facts or advice from qualified medical professionals about my sleep patterns.
Who needs sleep.
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Most of us have read about the importance of our inner dialogue (“self-talk”) at some point in our lives. I think that even people with no contact with personal development material have an understanding that what they tell themselves in their head effects their feelings.
Though you might not consider yourself to be a negative person, and though your dominant thoughts may not be negative – it is likely that you can still catch pockets of disempowering thought and emotion pop up irregularly in your life.
You might have internal and external dialogue that is very positive in its framing of your experience (For instance, you might frame a flat tire as a challenge instead of a tragedy, or a barking dog as an attention test instead of an annoyance) yet still find loops of thought that restrict you from joy and growth.
These don’t have to be times when you break down in sadness or throw silverware in anger, just little blips that ripple on the screen of your conscious / unconscious.
Identifying these blips and bringing them into conscious awareness allows us to re-program our thought loops so that these disempowering thought loops – be they old or new – are eliminated or used as empowering fuel.
Here’s a good way to work towards reprograming yourself to take the empowered perspective:
1. Be aware of your thought and identify what its telling you.
Understand precisely what emotion you’re feeling and what thought loop it originates from. It is likely that the emotion will be your first cue, although you may catch your thought loop before any significant emotional effects are felt.
2. Come to see what you would rather be experiencing:
What kind of feelings and thoughts do you want to be living in right now? If your current patterns make you feel like not taking action, settling less than your potential, feeling sad, then what DO you want your expereince to be like? What would you rather experience and how would this new feeling effect your present reality? Ask yourself these questions and gain insight into your own ideals for in this moment.
3. Immediately take on the thoughts that would enable your ideal experience:
So you want to feel excitement? You want to be able to brainstorm new ideas for business success? You want to feel at peace? Determine what you would have to be thinking in order to feel the way you want to feel. Imagine how a new mental focus would guide your faculties to action and change your experience.
These very basic steps can be done in your mind at any time, although it may be quite useful (especially as you begin using this tool) to write out the steps for yourself.
Now that this quick process has been explained, lets go into a few examples:
Lets suppose you feel a subtle sinking sense of despair, and come to realize that it emanates from thoughts of a romance now gone. You feel a sense of hopelessness as you think about your past mistakes and your inability to find another partner.
You determine that you’d much rather feel excited to meet new people and take what you learned from your past engagements into future relationships. You want to feel energized instead of down, enthusiastic instead of hopeless, eager to expand instead of eager to hide. You recognize these feelings to be empowering for you, they will not only make you feel better in the present, but they will bring about a habit of healthy thought and action to follow through on your value of meeting new people.
You decide that in order to feel the way you want to feel, you would need to focus on the excitement of meeting new people and applying what you’ve learned form the past. So you focus on organizing some parties, who to invite, and how fantastic it will be. You think about meeting interesting and attractive people and become excited and enthusiastic by recognizing its value to you and taking action in that direction.
Here’s an example of a write-up of this process – in other words – this might be what it looks like when you write out this process for yourself:
As I sit planning out my day this morning, I know I feel down – but I wasn’t initially able to put my finger on it. Through a little more introspection I realized that my thoughts continually travelled to specific times in the past when I allocated my time improperly. I thought about how all of my time studying my past career could have been used to study topics that are more relevant to my current career and other important aspects of my life. These regrets were the course of my sinking, lazy feelings.
I want to feel compelled towards the future and not stuck analyzing past actions. I have nothing more to learn from them and would be better off letting go. I want to feel involved and ready to take action on my current goals – on what I want to learn and contribute. I want to feel optimistic and happy, too.
The thoughts that will result in the kinds of experience I desire are ones focused on present action and my compelling current and future projects. I decide right now to think about what really excites me about my current projects. Reviewing these factors and honing my mind into what’s exciting will empower me, and bring me to take immediate action. I can think about the past to learn from it (and I recognize its value in this regard), but I also recognize that I want my resources available to me here and now to do my productive work.
Even after just learning this skill, you can apply the idea immediately the next time you catch a disempowering thought loop.
The idea is to get your mind used to immediately identify and alter any loops that don’t bring your faculties to focus on what will bring about your growth and enjoyment. Consider it to be like a game, whenever you feel a twinge of negative emotion, this new pattern will intervene and find out the best way to bring you to a desirable state, mentally and emotionally.
May 21st, read an entire book in my first 2 hours of consciousness. The book was called “Go Giver,” and it was pretty interesting. I then got to working more on my sport psychology eBook. As the sun came up and the caffeine took hold, I became more and more alert (I have limited myself to coffee once every two days).
I in the green zone, I was tremendously in my own head about doing genuinely productive or fulfilling activity. A few hours later I began writing specifically what I felt was creative at the time – instead of honing in on things I wasn’t as concerned with (ultimately, having the best creative work on my part gives me the best insight, and you the best content).
In the night I went out but I wasn’t in the best state for socializing and I may have been too tired to push it. I find ways to constantly drive for activity in all other contexts, why should this one be any different?
May 22nd. Let it be known that about 8:30PM on May 21st I felt like I needed to go to bed. Going out and socializing really made a difference in bringing my energy up.
After 4 hours of sleep I POP out of bed, excited for the day – the sun is up and that seemed to signify to some part of my mind that I had actually gotten sleep. I went for a job immediately.
The orange zone above involved having a tremendous time with friends. Later in the night I didn’t feel in peak social state again. In addition, we waited around for a party that never happened, wishy-washy plans galore. Makes me want to plan my own social events even more.
May 24th, woke up and went right to reading. I feel like this usually keeps me in a tired mode, and that its sometimes best to walk around and do my morning routine / listen to music to wake up.
Around eleven I caught up with my good friend to talk about our summer entrepreneurial project. Making plans and laying out action steps is always so much fun, especially with friends. ITs something to get excited about, to build, to have fun with. Having a friend to share that with tends to magnify the creativity and fun of the experience.
Before the night came I ended up doing some woodwork with my father. Carpentry and furniture design is something he’s been involved in for the better part of his life – so I decided to start a small project of my own with him.
Realization:
-As this point, my body wakes up with the sun and assumed a good nights rest. This is because I’ve been going to bed so early and waking up at 4-something or 5-something when the sun is still down. Its interesting now how I FEEL rested when I awake just because some part of me associates the sun with adequate rest.
-It is not only what I accomplish during my day, but who I am as a person. Do I exemplify my virtues? Do I make the most of my scenarios? Do I find ways to bring fun and challenge into my life?
This is actually something I’ve been planning on doing for quite a while now, and since my Productivity Heat Mapping life experiment is over, I have resources to hone in on a new, interesting, fulfilling facet of life: Connection.
Given my recent inner involvement with the people I am closest to, I am surprised to find that in my understanding of the fulfillment and living an engaged life, I have yet to focus specifically on relationships.
Given this new experiment, I’m going to be spending less time writing and far more time hitting the gym with friends, organizing summer social events, doing karaoke, hitting the bars, and generally involving myself with the bonds I have forged and would like to forge.
Understanding social dynamics and “best practices” for having fulfilling relationships with others is going to now be the majority of my focus for the entire months of June and July.
At least 50% of my work will be related to friendship, and I will periodically post specifically about my experiences and understandings here in this post (in addition to the other articles I write).
