Archive for the ‘Self Development’ Category
Imagery can be described as a mental conception and experience designed by the mind (not an intentional rhyme). The fact of the matter is, each of us is “imaging” every hour of every day. Sometimes what we’re experiencing is what we believe to be in front of us already (such as when we are fully alert and participating in our day to day lives), while other times we are experiencing events from our past or future (when we are trying to remember where we put our keys, for instance, or when we are imagining a future conversation or meeting).
Here I’ll explore 3 unique and useful “types” of visualization, as well as their potential place and purpose:
Results/Process Imagery - If there is one important distinction between types of imagery, I believe it is between Results Imagery and Process Imagery. Knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it would be seem almost pointless if we did not know what we wanted to accomplish in the first place. For instance, one famous golfer imagines the ball flying on a perfect course and landing precisely where he wants it – then and only then does he imagine himself striking the ball perfectly and making that perfect trajectory happen.
- Results Imagery – Involves imagining how you’d feel and what you’d experience after your accomplishment. That accomplishment might be a change in your world (IE: making more money) or a change in your character/responses (IE: being more confident speaking in public). The idea of identity is repeatedly brought up here. If we regularly image ourselves in the place we want to be, it will be easier and easier for us to bring about those behaviors in our lives. The fact is, we are always conditioning ourselves. While before we may have conditioned ourselves to fear public speaking, we are now sending a different, more adaptive message. If we change the way we think about ourselves, we are able to enact change much more easily. Results imagery ties into David Allen’s idea of imagining “wild success” before engaging in an activity.
- Process Imagery, then, involves visualization of how we will get to our objective. Again this might involve something physical (the individual steps we take to get a project completed at work), or within our character (which involves imagining how we would develop manifest the qualities we want to cultivate). Once we understand our desired results (and have compelling reasons why we want to get there), Process Imagery will help to align our minds with how to get there, and will acclimate us to the behaviors necessary.
Remembering Success – When we imagine a task or activity, we are often simultaneously guaging our own efficacy in regards to that task. If we experience feelings out doubt and fear in the face of certain important objectives, then we will have access to the resources of “doubt” and “fear” when we attempt to move forward with that objective.
- Remembering Past Success involves gaining an empowering perspective on our own efficacy, and bringing joy and power to an activity, instead of doubt and fear. The process involves bringing to mind other challenges (possibly ones that are similar to our current challenges) that we have overcome, or times when we felt powerful and achieved what we desired. It is an important point that when we are involved in process / results imaging, we should infuse a remembrance of past success so that our goals are channelled to the strength of our most efficacious, capable mental states. This gives us reasons to believe that we will achieve our objectives – not in a state of anxiety – but in one of enthusiasm.
Using these basic tools of imagery can prove immensely helpful in applying the kind of focus appropriate to your task – and also managing your state within the situations at hand.
See if you can’t find particular contexts where each (or all) of these techniques can be particularly useful!
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Have you ever signed into an old program or email address, and realized that you had no idea of your password or login name? Happened to me from time to time. Right now I have 40 accounts on a 40 different sites, many of which have different names and passwords, and memorization would just be illogical.
Can you think of a bit of information that you have to hash up on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis? I used to re-type these every single time I needed them.
Here I’m going to go into a little bit of detail on keeping an “Important Info” log. This idea ties into the idea of recording “keepers,” which I’ve gone over a bit before. I’m a bit of a “listmonger”, however and I this specific list gets pulled up on a daily basis for me.
Here’s an idea of unique information to put in an “Info Log”:
- Passwords / usernames - Very important to remember. Some sites or programs involve passwords and usernames that you don’t even get to choose. Keep track.
- Reusable information - I currently run a small Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy in Rhode Island. I get emails constantly about schedule information or details on location. I used to type up this same information to each person. Now I just copy and paste it from my log. The same goes for my blog tags. I don’t brainstorm a new bunch of tags for each post (though I add a few new ones relevant specifically to the post), I copy and paste most of them.
- Technical procedures - You might use an electronic or internet gadget once after reading 15 minutes of manual information… then completely forget how to do it the next time! Now for technical procedures that you do often (tasks involving uploading images, using widgets on the web, hooking up a sound system, editing videos, or whatever it is that you do), you could simply refer to the good old Info Log.
I’m hoping that while you read this you realize something you’ve forgotten already. Not that I wish ill upon you, but because you might be prompted to keep it all in order.
Maybe it’ll save you from having to look through the manual for the DVD player for half an hour. That would be worth it.
(NOTE: If you do have such a log saved on your computer or in written on paper in your house, its probably not a good idea to make it easy to find.)
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Have you ever made a point to alter a behavior or a habit, but found yourself forgetting about it? Maybe once in a while you say to yourself “I don’t think this is doing me any good, I’ve got to stop doing this” or “I should replace this with something else.”
Its a bit of a shame that these points sometimes don’t sink in, and we do not hone ourselves to what we see as best (or as I might say when I’m feeling philosophical: ”what we deem to be highest”).
*Forge a Concrete List of Habits*
Hear me out here, this sounds so simple but it was profound and enriching in my life. I’m going to let you in on my life a bit and go into some of the examples I have in my list:
1) Find certain habits that you simply don’t want to continue, and make a point not to do them anymore.
In my life, this involved:
- Not taking long showers – I used to hang out in the shower for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Sure it was momentarily pleasureable, but it was a waste of water and a waste of time. Now I’m in and out in 5 minutes of less – significant change.
- Not juggling numerous tasks – I used to be writing inquiry, checking email, looking at other blog posts, and texting friends at the same time. Woo hoo multitasking! Not really. Now I focus on a single task and designate a certain amount of time to it exclusively, and I consequently make better progress faster.
- Not eating sweets – I’m no junk food junkie, and I consider myself to be in very good physical condition. However, as a general principal, I want to eat that which is nutrient-dense – foods that I know I will be comfortable eating for a lifetime. Its not like I turn down a slice of birthday cake, but otherwise I don’t touch sweets and junk, and I’m pumped about having these adaptive diet habits.
2) Next, come to understand some habits that you do every now and again that you’d like to continue, or habits that you want to start.
Here’s a glance at some of my own “do’s”:
- Appreciate 3 positive things about my day before sleep – This habit was something that I did on and off, and decided to make a pattern in my life. I review 3 great things that happened in my day (could be new info learned, a fun moment with friends, an breakthrough in my comfort zone), and then visualize some future goals.
- Wake up with the alarm – I used to be a bit of a snooze button guy, and I used to be a late sleeper. Now I wake up with ideas on how to have an awesome day and progress with my most meaningful objectives, and I literally can’t help myself from leaping our of bed.
- Protect my possessions – I used to leave my car keys in the car, and leave my iPod in there. I used to bring my wallet with me and feel fine with leaving it somewhere for a little while. Niave. After experiencing the consequences of theft, I now always lock my car and always ensure that my wallet and valuables are safe.
It is important to note that these new habits needn’t necessarily be framed in the negative or the positive (my “don’t take long showers” could be replaced with “take short, efficient showers”), its really just about what is most compelling for you.
This simple idea changed my life. It is empowering to define a habit, make note of it, and completely align with it because you know its best. So often we make note of these behaviours but do nothing about it in terms of real change in action and thought – in the way we go about living.
*Ideas on Designing Your List*
Now on to some practical advice on coming to create your own inspiring, beneficial habit list:
Understand your values – This is a prerequisite to forming compelling changes for your future behavior. If you are unaware of what holds meaning for you, then you will not be driven to alter or create any habit.
For instance, I value my day to day emotional experience, and I value the ability to take an adaptive perspective and appreciate the fulness of life. This strongly compels me to review 3 positive things about my day before going to bed.
Run behavior checks – Right now you might be thinking “I honestly can’t think of any habits I want to change or create.” I thought that as well. Review your actions throughout the day and see if they are in line – or at times directly against – your highest values, that which you live by.
For instance, while in the shower one day, I wondered why I had been there for 25 minutes. I came to understand that the pleasure of warmth was not worth the waste of water and productivity that short showers would provide. I value my environment, and I value my productivity – so my behavior check helped my make a new habit!
With these ideas I am confident that you can compose a Habit List. You might not make it too long at first, focus on a few key distinctions, a few diferent ways to respond to the same old scenario that will in fact be better for you overall.
In time, some of these habits won’t even need to be reviewed because they will be integrated smoothly, and you will have molded your responsive behavior – so you’ll be ready to create some more habits!
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Feel good when you make a "check?" Careful...
If you’re at all like me, you like blue jello and really warm showers. But thats not really relevant to this topic. If you’re REALLY like me, then you get pumped about a rich to-do list to accomplish over a day – or a week. Productivity rocks.
Even if the activities aren’t tremendously exciting, its great to have our tasks in order and to understand their purpose and our reasons to accomplish them. For me its like being a kid in a candy shop.
However, though this strategy of organizing our tasks can genuinely aide us in laying out the logistics for our days, it can bring with it a drawback – if we are not wary. The drawback involves neglecting real purpose for the sake of penciling the list.
Collecting ‘ticks’ can become more satisfying – in the moment – than actual accomplishment of our higher goals and development of our character.
For instance, maybe we put our cloths away hastily just to get the ‘tick’ – neglecting our real reasoning: living in an organized home and improving the functionality and aesthetics of our space.
We might have a visit with a friend on our to do list as well. Leaving after 10 minutes we might feel as though we accomplished something. We might think “hey, my to do list said ‘visit,’ and thats what I did!” In fact we might have neglected the richness of the interaction for another check mark.
Maybe we spend 2 hours working on a writing project just because that 2 hours was the allotted time. When the time is up, we may get a kind of baseless satisfaction. We come to forget the REASON for allotting two hours to writing: getting the project done and done well. Instead we might fall into the trap of “feeling productive.” We might accomplish very little, and frankly not do our best work in this time – we just relish in the fact that we’re “doing.” We are being satiated by just checking off the little boxes of our to do list.
What is this “feeling productive” that we are here referring to? You know it. Its the satisfaction that you get when you believe that your ACTIONS and your HIGHEST VALUES are aligned, that your behavior is channelling your resources towards what you deem to be best. Having this belief, and focusing upon it – we feel pleasant, we feel efficacious, we “feel productive.”
This can be illusory, however – and this is where the trap sets in! This is commonly referred to as “mistaking movement for achievement.” If we make check marks an end in themselves, then we neglect our own development and the higher reasons for achieving the tasks.
So what do we do? We must be mindful of our purpose for actions (IE: living in an organized space rather than putting cloths away – developing a deeper friendship rather than swinging in to ‘visit’ – finishing an assignment rather than working on it for a certain amount of time).
The challenge is: its hard to write a to do list consisting of just purpose alone. We might as well walk around with a list of our highest values. Important… VITALLY important… but all too vague.
Here’s a few easy steps for avoiding the ‘tick list’ pitfall:
1) Analyze “Productive Feelings”:
When you get that glorious efficacious feeling, reflect upon it. Think about the tasks you accomplished, or the one you are currently involved in – and determine if it is truly serving your higher ends or just your number of ‘ticks.’ Are you feeling alive from a day of genuinely aligning yourself with what is most import to you, or do you feel proud of a bunch of check marks what represent half-effort tasks which amount to very little in your life?
2) Affirm Purpose as You Compose Your List:
When you write your to do list – be it before you go to bed (so that you have the “sugar plums” of exciting tasks dancing in your head as you doze off) or early in the morning – affirm to yourself the purpose behind your tasks. For instance, as we jot down “read 2 chapters of book on personal finance,” we might affirm to ourselves that the purpose of the reading is not to “feel productive” because we crossed a few chapters off our tick list, but to comprehend and apply knowledge that will better our financial well being.
3) Use Measurable Tasks:
Exhaustive detail is obviously not suitable here, but too little detail makes it easier for tasks to take on ‘tick list value’ only. For instance, if someone writes “morning bike ride” on their to do list, they might “feel productive” after 10 minutes of cycling. This is because their overly vague goal had lost its relevance to the purpose of the goal – which we will presume to be general health and fitness. Drawing out some easy specifics to measure our tasks can make them more in line with the real reasons we do them.
Can you think of some times where you may have derived satisfaction from an “accomplishment” that actually was not an “accomplishment” at all? Take a keen perspective on yourself in this regard, observe your tasks, and implement some of these basic ideas. Hopefully this will bring you make progress on more true terms, and will make a few tasks a bit more meaningful than a check mark on paper.
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We might “feel productive” while we accomplish these little pseudo-tasks, but when we fall asleep at night we know that what we needed to accomplish was not accomplished (see my post on “The Danger of the Tick List”).
Dealing with this wishy-washy kind of action is a must if we want to get things done. Here’s a few tips on making the most of your time and resources:
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1) Designate Your Time – In my opinion, this is the single most important step involved (but it cannot be separated from the other steps!). Set it in your mind that for a certain span of time – say from 12:00pm to 2:00pm – you will work on ONE task. Having this laser focus will hone you into a single activity and allow you to make headway.
You get absolutely NOWHERE when you are texting, emailing, cleaning your workspace, putting cloths away, AND trying to get an important task done (say, doing your taxes, or finishing a writing project, or working on building that birdhouse you’ve been trying to make). For a specific amount of time, you will do ONE thing.
Often when people don’t allocate time (what a great word “allocate” is), they can tinker with a hundred tasks and accomplish nothing – yet feel as though they have progressed!
2) Bring Your Mind With You – This is a funny little way I refer to involving all your resources in the task at hand. If your task is gardening, then for the time you designated you focus exclusively on gardening. There is a huge difference between going through the motions and thinking about your grocery list and FULLY focusing on what you’re doing.
When you “bring your mind with you,” you bring your faculties to the table – you can move with purpose because you know what you’re doing in the present moment and you’re able to focus on it. Again people often will be able to do this for a brief amount of time, but they often flounder and switch to different tasks on a whim. Know when you’ve got to HONE IN and designate your body and mind within the allocated time.
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These ideas are basic, but in practice they are fulfilling and envigorating. There’s nothing like entering that Flow state in a productive endeavor.
Try these ideas out for yourself – weather it be schoolwork, a massive pile of laundry, or an exercise regimen. By having a concrete time frame, and by locking your mental and physical into that important task, have a merger of action and awareness.
Plus… you GET THINGS DONE.
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Haven’t you made a point to remember something, and maybe you wrote it on a sticky note or the back of a receipt – but lost it.
Maybe you read something and knew that you wanted that bit of knowledge, or that fact, or phrase – but the mental “want” didn’t translate to recording it? Maybe it was someone’s address, a personal development tip, or prudent cooking advice.
Here I’m going to go into a practice that I just began a few months ago for myself. I call it “Recording the Keepers.”
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I recently began learning in a whole bunch of new realms, including personal finance and marketing, and at the same time I’m going to be graduating from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in Kinesiology (the study of human movement).
I began thinking to myself “how am I going to keep track of all of this?” I knew that there were many facets of my education that I wanted to be able to retain forever – useful information about exercise regimens, treating injuries, understanding IRAs, et cetera.
So, I started ARCHIVES on my mac book. I have one with all the poignant kinesiology information I always want to be able to reference, one for personal finance knowledge, one about sales and marketing, and today I just started one for cooking! (I have been “culinarily dabbling” recently)
These lists will always be developing, some facts will change and new important information will be added.
This gives me reference to core information in designated documents, so I won’t have to search the Internet for 30 minutes trying to find the American College of Sports Medicine’s flexibility recommendations.
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The awesome part of this practical tip, is that you can record “keepers” in any area of life. Plus, recording things again, and typing / writing them out will further ingrain them into your head.
Maybe you could record gardening information so you don’t have to flip throug your books every year.
Maybe you could record some magic moments you have with friends or relatives – little memories you want to have for a lifetime.
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Find some areas where you’d want to record keepers and start a log, computer is good so is paper. I prefer computer myself because I take my laptop everywhere anyway, but you do what would be best for you – you might have a lot of fun picking out a nice spiral bound notebook.
Everyone can probably think of at least one area in their life where they have information that they’d like to record and have on hand. If this is something that resonates with you, identify a good one, and record a bit today.
Sometimes you’re not feeling it. We’ve all been in situations where we don’t feel as though we’re up for a certain task, and we find ourselves “loafing,” “dilly-dallying,” or whatever else your grandpa used to call it. Basically you’re not getting things done.
It might be talking to a group of people at a networking event, it might be going for a run or a swim, it might be confronting someone on an important but unpleasant topic.
When you’re in this state, you’re floundering – your physical and mental faculties are clouded and poorly used. In these instances, you only have access to the resourses of… well… floundering!
You’re wondering if you should really be doing this, you’re thinking about the other things you could be doing, you’re focusing on how you aren’t in the appropriate state for this activity, et cetera.
Time to snap out of it, how to get access to the resourses of your full, focused faculties:
Champion Momentum -
Set yourself on a roll. This involves first understanding that the task at hand is what is best. Be conclusive about this, leave the fluttery mental space you found yourself in. You have a purpose, and this is it. If you don’t realize this then you won’t adequately be able to follow through with the rest of the process!
Now think about a champion of your task. This might be a champion in the martial arts, a champion of writing, a champion of social situations – whatever your task might be. We all can come to understand what our ideals are.
The last step in this brief little process involves living through this ideal for a set amount of time – I’d say 15 to 20 minutes to set your momentum. This could be 15 to 20 minutes of doing exactly what a champion would do – whether your task be cold-calling, studying, exercising, et cetera.
After 15 to 20 minutes of rolling on this momentum of your ideal behaviors and thoughts, you’ll find yourself on the way to completing your task, and in a champion state, a state conducive to your goal specifically, a state thats letting you streamline your faculties.
Plus, this habit will bring you past the initial hump of deciding and acting – it will take you out of “flounder-mode.” Once you’ve been sitting doing cold-calls for the last 15 minutes – at least with your ideal behavior and focus in mind – it won’t be remotely difficult to stay there for another 15 minutes and make all your calls. The same goes for any activity.
Once you’ve been cleaning the garage for 15 minutes – and you see the potential to organize and make space – you’ll probably be eager to polish the task off. You’ll be in the appropriate state to get things done.
Remember, this exercise is about getting outself into the most adaptive state possible and engaging yourself full-force on action – bringing you to focus and accomplish immediately. Give it a shot and tell me how you like it.
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