It's easy to find ourselves falling into routines that don't necessarily foster or contribute to what we want to achieve, and I think that the day-to-day activities that we perform determines how progressive oriented our mindsets become. There's always time and room for applying changes in my life, and I'm mindful of my productivity and diligently plough away at my goals since time is something that I cannot reclaim or relive once it's gone.
This practice of continuously evaluating my life and changing my actions where I see room for improvement is productive, as change doesn't have to be drastic to be effective. Applying minute tweaks here and there, to fine-tune different aspects of my life, adds value and excitement, as it helps to boost my self-esteem and avoid any feeling of stagnation.
Can you imagine trying to eat a 10-inch pizza whole? I could imagine drawbacks such as the pizza being too big to handle, There would be a mess and the toppings would fall, and basically, you might feel so overwhelmed from trying to eat that whole pizza, that you lose your appetite. However, the pizza becomes more manageable and a pleasure to eat when cut into several slices, which allows me to eat each slice of pizza in a timely and enjoyable manner.
Don't you think?
Feeling overwhelm can cause us to lose motivation if we're not mindful, and we can start thinking that our share of burden is more than we are capable of handling. To mitigate those feelings, I like to break down my activities into categories, to analyse my goals, actions, expectations, and reality. Doing this makes it easier to identify where change is imperative. Doing the same thing day in and day out without examining whether they are working and adding value and improvement, does not necessarily facilitate growth. That's because in terms of survival and longevity, it's not how smart or strong I am that matters, but it is how well I adapt to changes and also my ability to implement changes.
Changes are important just like the seasons, and are a integral part of the cycle of life. So I always factor in down days, low times, and just taking one's foot off the gas to avoid burnout, rethink, reorganise and make adjustments that are in alignment with long-term goals.
Cramming is also a counterproductive habit that I try to avoid, whether it's with having impractical agendas or even information overload. I apply mindfulness to what information and advice I get from others, whether it's sought or unsolicited simply because I prefer to have facts over opinions when action is needed, and it's best to limit my intake of biased information which sometimes comes from uninformed or limited personal perspectives of others.
Prioritising is necessary for facilitating change
One strategy that works wonders and reduces feelings of being overwhelmed, is placing my things to do in imaginary boxes, with lids that I close, and open one at a time, without feeling like I need to do everything at once. With those imaginary mind-boxes, I'm able to take a step back and see which of the boxes I need to open up and address, giving my full attention to the immediate task, before going on to the next task. In a nutshell, that's applying mindfulness to my daily activities, which allows me to achieve tasks in a calm and stress-free manner.
This way, I can make connections and see where all tasks link and fall into the grand scheme of my goals and personal agenda.
So, for me, "Every Morning is a Chance at a New Day" is something more than just a cliché caption that sounds nice, but it's something that I can use to improve all aspects of my life, by seeing that change is something that needs to be constant.
There's no one way to applying change to our lives and the way that we do things. However, I think it's better if we train ourselves to be open and adaptable to analyse and implement and continuously assess situations and things toward improvement.
Please feel free to share your views in the comment below. This is my response to the daily theme #MindfulMonday in The Minimalist community.
All images belong to me:)