I started 2022 with an intention to simplify work and life across all aspects. To do more while making it more efforless. And through my journey have been able to identify 5 non-negotiable rules that have made my life a lot more productive and joyful.
Hello and welcome back to a brand new episode on the Own Your Everyday series. I’m your host and self-awareness coach Shwetha Sivaraman. This episode, I’m going to share my personal 5 rules to be more productive and live life more mindfully.
Rule1: Keeping my word
Saying what I’ll do and doing what I say keeps integrity at the core of all that I do, making it simpler to navigate life, work, and relationships.
This is the first agreement in the popular self-help book The 4 Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. The agreeement is simple – Be impeccable with your word. The author goes on to elaborate,
How much you love yourself and how you feel about yourself are directly proportionate to the quality and integrity of your word.”
We often make tall claims but never follow through. From tomorrow, I’ll go on a diet. Starting monday I’ll workout 5 days a week. The tomorrow and that monday never comes. While superficially nothing changes, our subconscious is always listening and keeping score of when we kept our word an when we didn’t. Over time this translates low self-confidence and lack of faith in oneself to follow through. So one of the very first rules to lead life productively and mindfully is to watch our words and only utter those that we plan to keep.
Rule2: Focusing on one task at a time
Realising the human limitation that we can multi-task but we cannot multi-focus did wonders for me.
Dandapani, a priest, entrepreneur and a former monk of 10 years says unwavering focus is the key to long term success. He says unwavering focus and concentration dramatically improves efficiency and productivity in work and life.
But to focus on something, you also need to take the focus off something. Revisit your priorities and see how you can focus on what’s most important.
When I first started to avoid doing more than one task at a time, I was surprised by how profound a difference this simple shift could make. Completely focusing on the task at hand dramatically improved the quality of my work and conversations and enriched my day to day experiences.
Rule 3: Disconnecting Frequently
In today’s hyperconnected era, we are on the go from the time we open our eyes in the morning. There’s no escaping the amount of information we are bombarded with on a regular basis, but we can be mindful of 3 things
1. What we consume?
2. How much we consume?
3. When we consume it?
Disconnecting frequently helps us sit with ourselves a little longer. Have you noticed how your fingers itch when you’re not constantly scrolling? Or if you delete an app and you catch your fingers automatically going to where that app was on your phone? These are all signs of how compulsive consumption. The only way to rectify this is by being mindful of our usage.
Personally for me disconnecting frequently helps a lot. I do with limited boundaries so I can continue being a part of civilization without being consumed by it. I must warn this is a work in progress. No phones one hour after I wake up and 1 hour before bedtime ensures I have time to set intentions before I connect with the world and process the happenings of the day before I call it a day. Both are immensely powerful. I also add a 24-hour internet detox on Sundays – a weekly reset when I can afford it.
Rule4: Sleeping over big decisions
I’m often impulsive, but I’ve learned to stop myself from saying yes or no at the spur of the moment. If you’ve interacted with me recently, you’ll know how often I say I need time to sleep over it. But I often find that the best decisions come from processing them in the subconscious rather than logically trying to make life decisions with little information.
The only time pressure that’s there is in our heads. The world won’t turn upside down if you take a little longer to decide. Rather than decide in haste and repent in leisure, decide at leisure and avoid dissonance on the big decisions.
Rule5: Refraining from judging circumstances as good or bad
We’ve all heard of the story of the chinese farmer who’s only answer was “Good or Bad, who knows?”
Let me tell it here in brief.
A Chinese farmer gets a horse, which soon runs away. A neighbor says, “That’s bad news.” The farmer replies, “Good news, bad news, who can say?”The horse comes back and brings another horse with him and the neighbours come to celebrate the good fortune. The farmer again says, “Good news, Bad news, who can say?”.
The farmer gives the second horse to his son, who rides it, then is thrown and badly breaks his leg.
“So sorry for your bad news,” says the concerned neighbor. “Good news, bad news, who can say?” the farmer replies.
In a week or so, the emperor’s men come and take every able-bodied young man to fight in a war. The farmer’s son is spared. You know what the farmer says right?
Its impossible for us to know what pieces of our life’s puzzle will eventually add up to making the whole ride worth it. We all have had bad experiences that eventually turned out to be the largest stepping stone for our growth. Learning to refrain from immediately labelling circumstances as good or bad helps you accept the present situation better and flow with life rather than fight against it.
So no own your everyday tip this week, just these 5 rules that work for me. Curious, what would you add to the list? Share your rules with me for a more mindful life at Instagram @BeingMeraklis and let’s continue the conversation there.
Until we meet again, this is Shwetha signing off hoping you have a fabulous week ahead.