The alarm goes off.
You pick up our phone, turn off the alarm and let new information flood in. Scroll. Click. Double tap.
Because after all, we're addicted to this, right?
Or we immediately start grinding through our day and different kinds of information start flooding in: questions from our kids, annoying people in traffic, text messages about absolutely nothing…
Stimuli stimuli stimuli – e v e r y w h e r e.
We are so accustomed to this, we don't even notice it's impacting our system anymore.
This goes on during the day, until we finally finish cooking and eating at night and can f i n a l l y crash on the couch. Sit down, turn on the tv, browse on your phone… Sound familiar?
What if there was a way to reduce this fatigue – and increase our ‘zen', without even taking a yoga class?
Step 1: turn off the unnecessary stimuli.
Turn off the notifications you don't need.
I am amazed when I sit next to someone whose phone is constantly lighting up due to notifications. At the very least, turn off notifications from apps like instagram and facebook.
But what if it's urgent, you say?
They'll call. All other non-urgent information can go to your inbox. That way, when you choose to take in new information, you are equipped to deal with it. Questions from clients? Take your time to respond to them when you actually can.
Step 2: choose 1 habit for yourself you can start practicing
- Create an evening ritual
- Create a morning ritual
- Take 10 minutes at lunch to go for a walk
Best trick? ‘Attach' this new item to something else.
Morning ritual = right after you wake up. Identify what you are currently doing as the first thing when you wake up (= pick up your phone, for example), then attach something new to it or replace it by something else.
Adding in something new is easier than doing something else, most of the time.
I come from a tech background (jaw-drop!) and during my entire degree we did the following thing:
What is the organization's AS-IS situation? = where are you at now?
What's the organization's ideal TO-BE situation? = where do you want to be?
Then we define the roadmap.
If you were to look at yourself as an organization, a business…
What's your as-is? Why is it making you unhappy?
Where would you rather be? What would increase your personal ‘revenue'? Your energy?
No limitations – where would you like to see yourself?
Good. That's your to-be. Now, don't get overwhelmed – we're taking it one step at a time!
Define your first step.
Only 1 step. Not 2, not 3, not 4.
One single step.
One small prioritization for you.
Tell me – which step are you gonna take? Which new habit is going to bring you closer to your to-be?
This could be as simple as bringing a waterbottle with you to work, so you have a visual of how much water you are(n't) drinking.
We all know we need to drink more… yet we don't seem to be resolving the issue.
One small step.
Game on.
PS: Maybe you're also interested in this article: ‘Can we just ‘be'.'
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