Your environment and life experience is ultimately a product of your consciousness, but once you start working on your consciousness, you may find that you’re naturally drawn to exploring new interests or developing healthier habits. You may also just be drawn to trying new things or doing things differently, and building on this idea of simplicity can actually help you to create a more fulfilling experience every day. It’s all about figuring out how to make your day more efficient, and this process will often offer you the opportunity to grow in many ways. Keep reading to learn more.
One of the first things to keep in mind as you do this is that everything is a journey, a process. You can’t suddenly go from not having worked out for five years to working out for two hours a day. This could cause an injury before it helps you to get back in shape, so it’s much safer to ease your way into things.
The same principle applies here. No matter what you’re trying to shift around as far as your time and energy every day is concerned, don’t try to change everything at once and don’t try to change things to an extreme. Easing your way into it will have more lasting results, not to mention make it easier to choose to start again should you get lazy for a few days, which happens sometimes. It’s much easier not to look at exercise as punishment if it doesn’t feel like punishment when you start, right? Of course this is just one example, but you get the idea.
Simplify Your Life in Three Steps
Step 1: Consider what you do every day and what you spend the majority of your time and energy on. Are these habits constructive? Will they lead you toward your goals in some way? Toward the experiences you would like to have? Or do the habits you have waste your time or damage you in some way? Will they help you to solve problems and build a good life for yourself? Or are they holding you back and keeping you stuck? What about things you can delegate to someone else? Can this thing you’re doing that isn’t getting you far be done by someone else in your environment if it needs to be done? Does it even need to be done?
Step 2: Choose one of these habits to replace with something similar but better for you and your wellbeing. So, for example, if you’re trying to eat healthier, you might replace rice with quinoa. What is something that you can do instead of the thing you’re cutting out that is similar and satisfying to you in some way? Really try a few things and make it a point to experience these things fully and thoroughly. Take notice of all the little things involved. Try not to be distracted or multitasking while you’re doing this new thing so that you can truly get the full experience of it.
Step 3: Hone in and really focus on the aspects of these new things that you enjoy. You can really start enjoying many aspects of whatever it is you’re doing, but if you’re accustomed to complaining, this may be more challenging and counter-intuitive for you. However, focusing on the positive and feel-good aspects of what you’re doing will make it more and more fun for you, whereas focusing on the negative aspects of it will make you want to go back to the old way of doing things. If the intent is lasting change, this consciousness aspect must be included in your evolution process.
Some Healthy Habits to Consider Adopting
- Reorganize your life and get rid of things. Unburdening yourself from clutter is a great step up from being overloaded by it.
- Meditate daily for 5 minutes, then begin increasing the time as you feel you want to.
- Exercise to get your blood pumping and oxygenated. This also helps for releasing excess energy, keeping you healthier overall.
- Walk in nature and breathe fresh air. If you can, ground in the earth with bare feet and connect to the planet.
- Do something creative that you enjoy. Anything that involves having ideas is a great place to begin.
- Explore healthier food options and different ways of preparing them to find what works best for you.
Simplifying Your Leadership Life
Take Time for Yourself
Taking time to meditate, breathe, stretch, and regroup is important, especially for a mindful leader. Doing this daily can help reduce stress levels, anxiety, and pressure, as well as increase your clarity, productivity, and focus. Make sure you’re taking time to recharge.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
The less busywork is on your plate, the more you can focus on important tasks that can only be handled by you. Anything that your team could potentially take over should be considered so that you can free up some time and/or energy. Once this is done, you can re-prioritize your most important tasks without feeling overwhelmed.
Prioritize as Needed for Flexibility
Something may come up or happen that requires you to move things around and revise the original plan. Being able to do this without letting it throw you off too much is a valuable skill, and it can help you to get a handle on things more quickly and effortlessly.
If you’re ready to get started with daily mindfulness practice, we invite you to enroll in the My Mindful Moments 30-Day program, which is currently in clinical trials. The reviews so far are overwhelmingly positive, so if you’re interested in learning more about that, please click the following link:
https://www.executivecoachinguniversity.com/landing/my_mindful_moments/
Thank you so much for being here, learning, and growing with us!
For more information about the Mindfulness Movement or the International Mindfulness Federation, please visit:
