Curb Multitasking By Practicing Mindfulness

One best way to curb our irresistible attraction towards multitasking is practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness IS doing one thing at a time. According to Buddhists, it was Buddha who, over 2500 years ago, provided guidance on establishing mindfulness. However, you don’t need to become a Buddhist in order to understand mindfulness ; its practice does not have to be constrained to a formal meditation session. Any activity done mindfully is a form of meditation, and mindfulness is possible practically all the time.

Let’s admit it : it’s difficult to resist our intuitive belief that doing several things at once will save time. More so because (a little) multitasking CAN BE a good thing. But we’re humans : we always want MORE.

Besides, we are educated and trained to use constantly the « executive control » processes of our brain, hence to believe that « thinking » means anticipating, linking to the past, organizing, analyzing, judging, whatever comes to mind.

By doing so, we neglect, even discard a quite different «mental content», rooted in our awareness of the present moment. We often consider reflecting on the sensations, emotions and feelings that come with the present experience as counterproductive, since they distract us from the more serious task of «thinking» : this is musing, daydreaming...

But what if, instead of fighting it, we dive in this mental content and explore it in order to reach another, higher form of action ? After all, Marcel Proust said :

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.

(We’ll let Marcel Proust tell us how he discovered mindfulness in another article).

Let’s change «dreaming all the time» in «being mindful all the time». Mindfulness practice starts with paying attention to what is going on in the body, in the mind, in our emotional life here and now. In short, mindfulness means having «presence» - the quintessential quality of awareness that creates peak experiences in living.

By bringing your awareness to focus on what your mind experiences at the present moment, you can :

• accurately perceive what is really happening – both outside and inside yourself ;
• appreciate this present experience without the need to judge it ;
• take effective action.

In his book, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Jon Kabat-Zinn offers a good definition of mindfulness :

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way : on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.

This reminds me of a photographer who, when asked what it takes to make a good photo, answered : «Being there».

So how can you get « there » ?

A. Identify experience as mental content (consider both inner and outer aspects of reality as aspects of the mind) :

1. Notice that the mind is continually full of chatter (making commentary or judgement) ;
2. Become aware that this chattering you hear during «thinking» is no more than a discursive habit, a «script» ;
3. Admit that the «script» or the «voice» you hear may not be concrete reality or absolute truth ;
4. Distinguish your thoughts (by carefully observing them) from these «scripts» ;
5. Release attachment to predispositions, «scripts» or «automatic reactions» and see your thoughts for what they are (just thoughts) without aversion or judgment.

B. Feel free to observe life without getting caught in the commentary/judgement trap or in the automatic identification with the «voices» and «scripts» your mind forges when «thinking».

By practicing mindfulness, you learn to «be there», to develop awareness throughout the day. The aim is to make mindfulness continuous. This may take the form of nothing more than taking a few successive breaths while remembering they are a conscious experience of body activity within mind. Or nothing more than observing a flower, the way Marcel Proust learned to do.

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Hack Your Brain Into Productive Daydreaming

One of the most undermining productivity myths associates daydreaming with laziness and lack of discipline. The common belief that mind wandering is a bad habit actually prevents us from being effective in accomplishing major life changes or successful at reaching important goals. As mentioned in the Productive Daydreaming Series, a recent study found that while we are daydreaming, our mind is actually hard at work, sorting through problems and grasping the «bigger picture». Take the 6 steps to hacking your brain into productive daydreaming or continue by learning more about the new scientific findings.

Brain's Problem-Solving Function At Work When We Daydream, the study led by the University of British Columbia (Canada) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that « our brains are very active when we daydream – much more active than when we focus on routine tasks », explains lead author, Professor Kalina Christoff, UBC Department of Psychology.

fMRI brain scans from UBC Mind Wandering Study. (Credit: Courtesy of Kalina Christoff)
You already heard about brain’s « default network » and « executive network ». The first, which incudes the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), the posterior cingulate cortex and the temporoparietal junction, is linked to easy, routine mental activity. The second, which includes the lateral PFC and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, is associated with high-level, complex problem-solving.

Although we all know anecdotes about « miraculous » discoveries resulting from daydreaming – Arthur Fry inventing the Post-It while daydreaming during Sunday sermon in church is a famous one – we are taught to consider it a sign of procrastination, a bad habit we indulge in whenever we « don’t want to think ».

Why ?

Until the findings of UBC's study, scientists had been positive about the « default network » being the only part of the brain to remain active when our minds wander. But Christoff and her colleagues demonstrate that the « executive network » also lights up during daydreaming. More important : during the experiment, they also found that the less subjects were aware that their mind was wandering, the more both networks were activated !

Subjects were placed inside an fMRI scanner, where they performed a simple routine task : pushing a button when numbers appeared on a screen. The researchers tracked participants' attentiveness moment-to-moment through brain scans, subjective reports from subjects and by tracking their performance on the task.

« This is a surprising finding, that these two brain networks are activated in parallel », says Christoff. « Until now, scientists have thought they operated on an either-or basis – when one was activated, the other was thought to be dormant. »

« When you daydream, you may not be achieving your immediate goal – say reading a book or paying attention in class – but your mind may be taking that time to address more important questions in your life, such as advancing your career or personal relationships », concludes the researcher.

According to other scientific findings, daydreaming can occupy as much as one third of our waking lives. So stop feeling guilty and follow Marcel Proust’s advice, whose effectiveness is now scientifically proven :

« If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time. »

Start hacking your brain into productive daydreaming or go to the Introduction to my 3-part series.

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How to get rid of excuses by visualization : my five-step method

I am sure you've heard this many times : "visualize your goals" ! The vision of your goal will make you realize that you are capable of whatever you put your mind to. But what if, while visualizing your goal, you are feeling negative about your ability to complete it ? You don’t have the contacts, you don’t know where to start, there’s too much competition… These self-limiting beliefs will prevent you from projecting yourself into the outcome that you really want to achieve. One easy way to break the cycle of self-pity and doubt is to VISUALIZE YOUR EXCUSES and change them into images of self-confidence. Discover my five-step method bellow.

If you read this, I bet you know one or two things about procrastination. I do too. We all do. Procrastination is a natural phenomenon and even the most purposeful person is tempted to put off what she/he can do today until tomorrow. There is always a « good reason » for it, especially when an important change in your life is at stake.

"before" and "after" images of yourself

Each one of these excuses is fear of commitment in disguise. A sly hydra, as I see it, who lures you into a well of unproductive exhaustion. To beat the hydra, you first need to discover her many faces. This is much simpler than it sounds : all you have to do is follow self-growth experts’ advice and write down what you would like to accomplish, then write down your excuses for not taking action and challenge the reasoning behind each of them.

But you can do more : create a visual representation of your excuses and of yourself as an excuse-maker. Then transform these visions into visions of action and self-confidence. You can use vision boards, virtual galleries, drawing software, or just pen and paper, plus some glue.
Here are my method and my vision boards and sketches, based on my «favorite» excuses : « I don't have enough strength for a fresh start », « I don’t know where to start », « I’m too old for this ».

1. Make a list of your excuses for not taking action on what you would like to accomplish. Then read it aloud : does it make you feel uneasy ? Good ! Discomfort is a sign that deep inside you know that nothing justifies your inaction and that you are ready for change.
   
   
2. Rewrite your excuses with a confident statement. For instance, if one of the excuses on your list is « I’m not ready », you can write : « I’m not ready, this is not the perfect moment, but then the perfect moment may never come, so let’s take action today, before adding ‘it’s too late’ on my list of excuses. »
   
   
3. Visualize yourself as an excuse-maker and as an excuse-killer. Try to get inspiration from your list of excuses and draw your self-portrait as an excuse-maker. Don’t try to make a work of art, just draw a sketch expressing clearly your fear of commitment. Do you like what you see ? No ? Great !
   
   Now read again your list of confident statements and reshape your self-portrait as an excuse-maker into your self-portrait as an excuse-killer and a doer. Again, this is not art. I find my self-portraits quite ludicrous but, at least, in the second one I stand up !
   Click to enlarge



4. Make a vision board of your excuses. You can search for symbolic images on the Internet (or in some magazines). I, for my part, chose to visualize my three main recurrent excuses. I think the images I found speak for themselves, but feel free to add captions or a collage of words.
   Click to enlarge



5. Finally, make a vision board of self-confidence, showing symbolic images that are the opposite of the ones you chose for your vision board of excuses. You can keep your two vision boards and your two self-portraits side by side (close to the vision board of your goals, if you already made one) and contemplate them as «before and after» images of yourself. Which they are.

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Get Back Your Energy When You Get The Blues

by Tessa Ivascu

Are you feeling bored ? Depressed ? Exhausted ? Sad ? Is this one of your unproductive, low motivation days ? Here are 12 ways that can help you recharge your batteries. And, who knows, even trigger the growth of new brain cells (read #10) ! The first six are clues for your mind, the others for your actions. They all depend on the flexibility of your schedules. But whatever you choose to get out of the blues, keep in mind that : a) you should not fight the blues ; b) in an unproductive day, you are more productive than you think.


CLUES FOR YOUR MIND

#1. Explore the blue feeling.
Instead of trying to push it away, delve in it for information. Find the reason (there is always a reason) why you are feeling blue. Maybe you need to stay on low motivation for a moment after some important emotional, intellectual or physical effort. Elation, fear, enthusiasm, depression are all part of your emotional cycle. Take into account that the blues is a temporary feeling and do not miss the opportunity to learn something out of it. More so because…

#2. Blues is a natural emotion.
What is an « emotion » ? It is « energy-in-motion ». Both positive and negative emotions serve important functions. A « blue feeling » shows that there is something you don’t know and/or you cannot deal with at the moment. If you ignore it or pretend you are in a « good mood », you might miss noticing things that are wrong – and never be able to solve them. Therefore…

#3. Don't blame yourself.
Everybody has low motivation moments. This doesn’t mean you will not be able to achieve your goals and dreams. And…

#4. Don't blame others.
Some specific event or person may have triggered the feeling, but they are NOT not the reason why you are feeling down right now. You can choose to feel differently if you want to. But…

#5. Stay away from negative people.
They are more contagious than the positive ones. Why ? Because we naturally have so many doubts about ourselves ! Therefore, try to stay away from people who complain constantly about everything, make big deals out of nothing, blame everyone else for their problems. Instead…

#6. Recollect good moments and successes with a positive friend.
Call one of your « cheerleaders » and talk for a few minutes about your past accomplishments, about actions, attitudes and skills that made you successful – or simply joyful.

CLUES FOR YOUR ACTIONS

#7. Don’t try to organize
your wardrobe, files or drawers. Since you are in an unproductive day, you may think you must do something, anything, to feel productive and change your mood. But when you got the blues, nothing is more depressing than going through old papers, family pictures, letters or jewels, clothes that bring back memories of long gone happy days. French people call this state of mind cafard, which literally means « bug » They are right. Stay away from it. Instead…

#8. Please your senses.
Buy yourself a rose and contemplate the mysterious perfection of its petals (being in the present moment, while contemplating a flower or a tree, is a simple, effective mindfulness exercise). Cut a lemon or an orange in two, smell it, extract its juice and drink it (citrus scents are naturally uplifting). Take a bath and wash yourself with a sea wool sponge. Or…

#9. Change your environment.
If you are inside, go for a walk or for a cup of tea in a quiet tearoom. If you are outside, go home and please your senses (see #7). Wherever you go, go mindfully : be "there", focus on the sound of your steps or on the color of the tea you are drinking, while releasing attachment to the chatter that continually fills your mind.

#10. Go for a run.
As Wolfgang Ketterle (MIT), Nobel prizewinning physicist, says :

"Being a runner, to me, has made being depressed impossible. If ever I'm going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured that I'll come back with clarity and empowerment."

Indeed, new research by neuroscientists at Cambridge University reveals that running triggers the growth of new brain cells, by reducing stress (which inhibits fresh brain cells through a hormone called cortisol). So if you go out for a run, not only you will feel better, you will help your brain matter to grow ! If you are too exhausted to run…

#11. Relax.
Take a moment to perform progressive relaxation, an easy-to-do stress management technique that I explain in this article.

#12. Do things that will easily cheer you up.
Remember this famous Johnny Cash song which says : « Get rhythm when you get the blues (…) / It'll shake all the trouble from your worried mind ». For me, listening to a great sing-along song is a stress buster. But you can also read aloud a beautiful poem, write down whatever comes to your mind, or cook an improvised simple meal for your family.

Blues is a gold mine for creative thinking. Don’t miss the opportunity to explore it.

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- Is "blues" a negative emotion ?
- Can one be creative while feeling blue ?
- What is your best stress buster ?

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Boost your productivity with Hemingway’s hack

by Tessa Ivascu

I have read many valuable "5 tips", "10 ways", "50 hacks" provided by productivity gurus to help you move forward when you have trouble being productive. To my surprise, none of these lists mentions an easy to grasp rule Ernest Hemingway applied to his writing process. His hack is perhaps too nonconformist to be part of the "getting things done" gospel…
The winner of the 1954 Nobel prize in Literature explains in simple words how to keep the momentum going and how to avoid writer’s block, a common affliction amongst authors. But his hack applies to any task related to an important goal. Here’s what you should do to avoid being stuck and maintain the flow state that maximizes productivity.

The quote :

The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.

Ernest Hemingway

(You can find Hemingway's tips on writing in Ernest Hemingway on Writing and A Moveable Feast).

Roald Dahl’s comment :

Let’s see what another famous writer, Roald Dahl, has to say about Hemingway’s hack (in The Roald Dahl Treasury). Excerpts :

« I never come back to a blank page; I always finish about halfway through. Hemingway taught me the finest trick : “When you are going good, stop writing.” You don’t go on writing and writing until you come to the end of it, because when you do, then you say, well, where am I going to go next? You make yourself stop and you walk away. And you can’t wait to get back because you know what you want to say next. »

To summarize, Hemingway tells you :

Don’t finish your daily task if you want to keep the momentum going :

• Make finishing your task your « next task »
• Stop when you know what you will do to finish it
• Stop when you feel the drive to finish it
• Stop when you reach a creativity peak
• Stop thinking about it until the next day

The benefits. You :

• Avoid being stuck
• Keep the momentum going
• Start your day by the rewarding work of finishing a task
• Boost your self-confidence and motivation levels before starting the « next task »
• End your day on a high note
• Put your brain to purposeful rest when you stop working
• Allow you subconscious to work profitably on « it » = « the bigger picture » = your goal.

My comment
Of course if you want to get into the completion habit, you should start by finishing your daily task (related to an important goal), no matter how sloppily you do it. But often, if you limit yourself to this way of getting things done, you cannot help worrying about the poor quality of your work and feeling dissatisfied with it until the next day.

And this is not good for your self-esteem. What is not good for self-esteem is not good for motivation. And without boosting your motivation level you cannot get into the completion habit.

My experience
With some practice, you can go from don’t stop when you get stuck to avoid being stuck. In my 22-year career as a professional journalist I went through all the stages : I started by being a perfectionist , rereading and rewriting every sentence of an article, therefore getting stuck all the time. I moved on to practicing sloppy drafts whenever I was stuck and improving them afterwards. Until one day, when I stopped when I was "going good". Why ? Because it was a beautiful summer evening, because I wanted to listen to the Rolling Stones, because I knew exactly what to do to finish my article.

Since then, I always make myself stop when I know what I am going to do next ( and not when I want to listen to the Stones on a summer evening - which is what I dream of doing all the time). And I learned to apply this rule to other tasks, when I decide to clear up my wardrobe or to sort out my record collection for an easier access to my 325 Stones records (pretty obvious).

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Previous post : Should You Always Achieve Your Goal? - Part I.
Next post : Get Back Your Energy When You Get the Blues.

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and discover how to manage your time effortlessly : forget rules, make your own.

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Should you always achieve your goal ? - Part I

by Tessa Ivascu

«Don’t start what you can’t finish», «Don’t quit until you finish what you started»… You’ve probably heard this kind of sentence many times. Of course, persistence is a positive trait. And of course, setting a goal, then completely achieving it, is a good habit to get into, especially when your life is at a standstill and you want to free yourself from procrastination in order to make a fresh start.
But be careful not to become too persistent. Your unwillingness to do «the right thing» doesn’t automatically mean that you’re weak and that you will never be able to change. Maybe the goal that you planned to reach is not the «right thing» to do.

A case study
My good friend Sidonie asked me yesterday : « Should we always finish what we started ? » She is a senior official in the French Civil Service, an « Inspector General », charged with missions to inspect Social Security services and provide government officials with advice regarding them.
Now, this is quite a job ! Also a frustrating one at times, when the « advice » she’s paid to provide ends sleeping in somebody’s drawer. Besides, the reports she has to write don’t allow her to use her imagination or express her feelings, to say the least.
That is why Sidonie decided to write books in her spare time. A few years ago she published an unhappy-ending romance novel, after a painful break-up. Then she published an essay on the misuse of statistics by Civil Service officials, after some stormy debates with her boss on the matter.
Now, she wants to write a book about the shortcomings of psychiatry in mental illnesses treatment (after a particularly difficult inspection in hospitals for the mentally ill). Writing a book is a great achievement. But why are the topics of her books so different with one another ? Why does she ask herself (and me) if she should finish the book she just started writing ?
What is her true goal ? Writing about psychiatry ? Writing a book, any book, because she needs to prove to herself and to family, friends and coworkers that she can do better than write reports ? Or is it the need to let off steam after a particularly difficult period of her life ? And in that case, is writing a book the best way to let off steam ? What do you think ?

3 questions you need to ask yourself
Whenever you feel unable or unwilling to take the necessary actions to achieve a goal, ask yourself :

1. Is your goal consistent with your values ? Or is it « the right thing to do », according to the standards of the society you live in, according to your family or your friends’ expectations ? Or maybe you want to surpass a « rival » by doing something he doesn’t expect you to do ? Maybe you’ve been told you « must » do this before getting old ?
Remember that, even if we adopted most of our values unconsciously, they influence each and every one of our decisions and reactions. If your reaction is uneasiness, check your goal against your values. If you don’t see any core value in the goal, you definitely need to rethink it.

2.What are your feelings when you think about your goal ? I’m not talking about what you expect to feel after you’ve accomplished your goal, but about what you actually feel when you try to complete it. Do you feel :

• A sense of meaning ?
• Renewed drive and motivation ?
• Excitement about the future ?
  

Or :

• A sense of inadequacy?
• Unwillingness and anxiety ?
• Lack of inspiration ?

Of course, in order to complete a goal, you need to move out of your « comfort zone ». But if pushing yourself beyond your current limits doesn’t make you feel good and proud about yourself, you should rescale, reschedule or simply skip your goal. Keep in mind that the key to a successful life is not enjoying the destination but enjoying the ride. It's about happily achieving rather than achieving to be happy.

3. Will your accomplished goal change your life ? Go to Should You Always Achieve Your Goal - Part II and discover a quick and simple method showing you how to find the answer and what to make of it.

Share your experience with us :
- Did you ever rescale or skip a goal because it was not in alignment with your values ?
- What do you feel when you leave your « comfort zone » in order to complete a goal ?
- Do you focus more on the ride or on the destination ?

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Should you always achieve your goal ? - Part II

by Tessa Ivascu

In Part I, we dealt with two of the three questions you need to ask yourself whenever you feel unwilling to take action to achieve a goal : 1. Is my goal consistent with my values ? 2. What are my feelings when I try to complete it ? The next step consists in finding the answer to the question : Will my accomplished goal change my life ? This quick and simple method will show you how to find the answer and what to make of it.

Hypothesis #1 «What will happen in my life if I do not achieve this goal ?»
Write down the benefits and the costs to your life if you do not achieve this particular goal.
Try to think of all the important aspects of your life. You can make a list or draw a chart, like the one below. I included only four aspects, because my chart is just an example of how you may want to draw one for your use. Whatever shape and words you choose for it, your list or your chart should include some of these aspects :

• family and household
• money and career
• health and personal growth
• recreation and community

Hypothesis #2 «What will happen in my life if I achieve this goal ?»
Write down the benefits and the costs to your life if you achieve this particular goal.
Make an identical list or chart, including the same aspects as in the first one. In both cases, try to write down the benefits and costs as fast as you can while remaining legible and focused on your task.

Do not :

• pause to reread what you’ve just written
• try to refine your first thoughts
• self-censor your expression

Above all, DO NOT JUDGE. The aim is to be as honest and spontaneous as possible. Do not welcome or reject any thought or image because it is too optimistic or pessimistic, or because it is too «shameful» . If you think that one benefit of achieving your goal is to be more successful than your husband, or to humble down your sister, write it down. If you don’t see any benefit or cost in some of the listed life aspects, write «none».

Click to enlarge

Review your two hypotheses and underline the benefits and costs which would bring a notable, long-lasting, change in your life ; which would mean «good news» or «bad news» not only for you but for other people.

If the benefits of achieving the goal outnumber the benefits of giving it up; if the costs of giving up the goal outnumber the costs of achieving it, you know what you have to do : make a plan, a timetable, get rid of excuses and start working.

If the difference between the two hypotheses is negligible, it does not mean that you should give up your goal. It means that the accomplishment of this particular goal is not a priority. Perhaps the goal you set is not really a goal, only a part of a broader design, like a river flowing into a larger one. Perhaps you don’t know there is a larger river.

The method above helps you to discover the major goal, the one you really want to reach, behind the apparent goal. Consequently, the «minor» goal becomes no more than a step, that you can choose either to accomplish or to skip, on the road leading to your «major» goal.

Whatever the answer, now you can take action without questioning whether you do «the right thing». In practice, you will be able to allocate the proper block of time to the completion of the tasks related to your goals. If you know your motivations, discipline will come naturally.
(Back to Part I).

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- Did you ever achieve a goal only to find that it meant nothing to you ?
- Can skipping a goal prove to be the good decision ?
- Do you think in terms of "benefits" and "costs" before taking action ?

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