by Tom Evans | Jan 9, 2015 | Timing
Would you like to get more done in 2015 than 2014? Here’s how timefulness is becoming the new mindfulness and slowing down is the new speeding up.
Key 1: Meditate daily
It is thought that every minute spent in the meditative state, gets added back to our lives. We either save any time spent by having a better day or add a minute to our longevity. When we learn to enter the meditative state with our eyes open, time bends and stretches so we get more done in less time.
Key 2: Make a date with your Creative Self
Each and every day, even if it’s just for 10 minutes, a date with our Creative Self is like a supercharge for the mind, body and soul. We might write ‘morning pages’, pick up a guitar and strum or visit an art gallery. Just going for a walk in the park and imagining the most amazing future counts too.
Key 3: Trust your gut & follow your heart
Our head ‘shouts’ quite loudly. So much so that sometimes the signals from our gut and heart get overlooked and overruled. So, for each decision you have to make, ask your gut for a Yes or a No. Next ask your heart if it is cold, luke warm or boiling hot about it. If your gut and heart give you the green light, proceed with gusto. If not, ask them what would have to change in order to get their blessing.
Key 4: Create a To Love List
It’s said when we love the work we do, we never work as such again. So ditch your To Do list and start a To Love list. At the top, put the thungs you love to do first and tackle your list from the top down. If there are things on there you don’t like doing so much, either outsource them or be creative about how you could love doing them.
Key 5: Sync with natural time
Our modern calendar has caused us to fall out of sync with natural time. Our creativity waxes and wanes wity the seasons, the phase of the Moon and the hours in each day. When we discover our naturally creative times, we go with the flow and stop pushing water up a temporal hill.
Key 6: Be thankful
At the end of each day, either in a journal or just in your head as it hits the pillow, reflect on the highlights of your day. As you drop off into slumber, say one last ‘Thank You’ for the day to your bed for giving you a good night’s sleep.
Key 7: Perform a Random Act of Kindness
When we get into the habit of performing a random of kindness to a stranger each day, something rather magical happens. Other people, who weren’t aware of our act or the recipient of our act, perform similar kindnesses to us. The ratio of kindnesses is more than two bestowed back on us for everyone we give out. The result is massive time saving.
Visit www.livingtimefully.com to start creating as much time as you need
by Tom Evans | Mar 7, 2014 | Timing
Have you ever been in that special zone where everything happens magically and in the perfect order? The tasks at hand seem to get done easily in the time available.
Have you ever had a day when things don’t go according to plan? The world seems out to get you and you feel like you are pushing water uphill.
These two states of being are of course opposite ends of the spectrum and might inspire you to thing you had better improve your time management. Now the vast majority of time management systems focus on better prioritization and minimalisation of interruptions. This is a Good Thing.
There is however a completely lateral way of getting more done in less linear time and that’s to change the speed and nature of your thoughts so you become more productive and creative.
The perceived passage of time is affected by our consciousness, attention and awareness. We can make use of this phenomenon when approaching creative tasks to changing our relationship with time at a fundamental level.
Here’s five mindful hacks to get more done in less time – together they introduce a new way of being and doing – that of timefulness!
Hack #1 : Breathe Like a Baby
The life expectancy of a giant tortoise is around 120 to 140 years and an elephant lives for around 80 to 90 years. While our own life expectancy is increasing, in the Western world at least, go back 150 years and it was between 50 and 60 years. Now here’s the thing. A tortoise breathes around 4 times every minute. An elephant breathes around 8 times every minute and we breathe around 12 to 15 times every minute.
So the first tip to changing our relationship with time is to breathe more slowly. To begin we need to use our diaphragm and to do belly breaths. This of course is how a baby breathes. We’ve just got out of the habit.
Now you don’t have to do it all the time but just doing 7 to 9 deep and slow breaths at the start of the day is enough to slow things down. You can also do it before any creative task or if you have been stressed. It works especially well if you are running late for a meeting. By breathing more slowly, we ‘expand’ time.
What’s even more magical is that this technique works in groups too or when working one to one with clients. This technique costs nothing to try and it’s even possible that we can lose weight this way while increasing our life expectancy
Hack #2 : It’s Mad Not to Meditate
Before I started meditating about 10 years ago, I thought it was both a waste of time and that there was no way I could make my over-active mind go quiet. Nowadays, if I miss my morning meditation, I actually have a worse day.
It might sound counter-intuitive but by taking 10-20 minutes of ‘me time’ each day, you claw it back in bucket loads throughout the day. You become less stressed and notice serendipities. So one chance encounter can save you hours in searching for just the ‘right thing’. It’s also reckoned the health benefits alone make it worthwhile and that each minute you spend in meditation gets added to your potential longevity.
Meditation too is not about sitting in a dark room in the lotus position chanting “Om”. A walk in nature or a park is a great tonic too. Be sure to look up though as this takes the mind out of its internal chatter
Hack #3 : One Thought at A Time
The normal human mind can only have one thought at a time. So just think about what you are thinking about right now and the thing you are thinking about gets replaced with the thought you are having about that thought.
Just pause for a moment, read the above sentence again and just check the validity of this notion.
Armed with this knowledge about the way we think, this gives us the most amazing insight when it comes to our time management. If we are focused on anything else other than the task in hand, time will slip away from us.
Accordingly, these are the three main bandits time:
• Fretting over the past
• Worrying about the future
• Thinking about something else other than what you are working on
So the key to making the most of our time is to ‘get in the zone’ and focus solely on what you are doing right now. When thoughts other than the ones we want to think arrive, a simple way to make them go away is to ask them about their purpose. Great enlightenment comes from this simple task.
Hack #4 : One plus one can equal three
It is an urban myth that the left brain is logical and the right brain is creative. Both sides of our brains are involved in both activities. When it comes to time, it is now thought there is a significant difference in how each hemisphere interacts with it. It appears that the left hemisphere (for most of us) sits inside space and time and that the right hemisphere sits everywhere and ‘everywhen’ else.
When we are ‘in that zone’ what is happening is that both hemispheres are working at the same time. The left brain handles the detail while the right brain holds the whole of the work ‘in mind’.
If we get bogged down with ‘left brained’ self doubt, our productivity drops significantly. If we sit dreaming about fame and fortune, our work doesn’t get done either. To get both brains working together, just breathe through alternate nostrils five times before embarking on a creative activity.
Hack #5 : Inner Mind Time
If you have ever regretted not trusting your gut, here’s why. It is now known our gut mind, which contains more neurons that a cat’s brain, operates about 5 to 10 seconds ahead of our conscious mind. It is an active mind center involved with decision making and getting us to pay attention to what is important to us. This might be an oncoming car as we are about to step off the sidewalk or something on a web page we are scanning.
So by forming a new relationship with out gut mind, we not only save time but we can be ‘ahead of time’ too. Our gut likes to be talked to and consulted. Say ‘Hi’ to it a few times a day and ask for its advice. You will make friends with an old and faithful companion.
So, by being mind-full not mind-less, and by engaging fully with both of our brain hemispheres and our inner mind centers, we get into that space where our productivity soars. The other collateral benefit of using these techniques is that we generate an intention field which seems to stop all interruptions coming in. What’s not to like?
by Tom Evans | Feb 7, 2014 | Timing
The normal human mind is only capable of having one thought at a time. Just think about that sentence for a moment to validate this.
Note of course that there is nothing normal about the human mind. As far as we know, it’s the only bit of self-aware matter in the Universe. It’s also capable of reprogramming itself in an instant.
So with this strange ability to only think one thought at a time, if our mind wanders away from the task we are focusing on, our efficiency will drop. This basic aspect of our consciousness leads us to the real reason we become inefficient. When our mind wanders, our productivity drops accordingly.
So think about your thoughts in a typical day. Some of them will be mulling over past events. Perhaps you’ll think about conversations that could have gone better. If someone crossed your boundaries, you can spend hours agonising about it. You might of course be harking back to pleasant times like an enjoyable meal, a fabulous holiday or how you met the love of your life.
Alternatively you may be planning and rehearsing a speech or conversation for a day or more ahead. You may be thinking of what to cook for supper or longing for the weekend to arrive more quickly and the working week to finish. To add to all of this, there are all those pesky interruptions, diversions and distractions.
As a picture says 1000 words, this pie chart tells the story. You can also make your own up based on a typical day – a most illuminating exercise.
Such mind meanderings are of course normal and nothing to worry about per se. What goes on in our mind however can affect our physical and mental well-being. If you find they are dragging you down, one of the many ‘talking therapies’ might help.
If such thoughts are merely affecting your creativity and productivity, there is a simple way to get back in the groove. All we have to do is to learn to meditate and take some ’me time’ out every day. When I first did this 10 years ago, I thought I could never make my over-active mind go quiet. I was a busy guy too and didn’t have 10 or 20 minutes to waste every day. Nowadays if I don’t meditate, I have a worse day. When I do take some ‘me time’, I find the serendipities generated save the time back in spades.
There are two types and levels of meditation too, with one leading to the other. The first method relies on use meditating on a thing like the breath, a flame, a sound or a mantra. Just like counting sheep at night, this has the effect of numbing our thoughts into submission, by one thought replacing the last and so forth.
With the second method, we meditate on each thought as it comes in and ‘talk’ to it. We can ask it where it came from and why and ask it politely to go away or to be quiet. While this might sound like the internal ramblings of a mad person, it has remarkable results when applied in our waking days. It’s known as the Quantum Collapse of Thought.
If our mind wanders off focus with thoughts of the past or the future, we can use two simple strategies to get our minds back to the task in hand. For thoughts of the past, we can thank and acknowledge them for the lesson they have brought. For thoughts of the future, we can ask them to remind us later of their message at at time which is just perfect.
This simple thought clearance procedure works a treat and costs nothing to experiment with. Just try it for a few days and report back here by way of comment how you get on. If you have an alternative technique, let us know too.
After a few weeks of practicing this procedure, you’ll find you become luckier too!
What’s not to like?
If you want to speed up this process, take my new course, learn how to enter the meditative state with your eyes open and watch your efficiency and productivity sky rocket !!
Start Living Timefully
by Tom Evans | Sep 28, 2013 | Timing
Most time management systems quite rightly focus on goal setting, intelligent prioritisation and improved interruption management. When we see time as a finite resource, with a forward arrow, this is a pretty good strategy. It is however a left-brained, orthogonal approach.
Time however is both malleable and stretchable and when we see it as something that can be manipulated to our advantage, there is a whole gamut of techniques we can use to get more done in less time. Our perception of time is a function of our consciousness and modulated by the speed of our breath.
Quite simply, when we change our mind, we change our time.
Hack One : Ending ProcrastinationIt is amazing how creative we can be at not getting on with the task in hand. When it comes to doing what we really should be doing, or what we would love to do, we invent excuses galore to not-do-it. In all cases, this sort of behaviour is a symptom of a deeper malaise. When we procrastinate creatively, we are masking and hiding an underlying fear. It might be a fear of failure or even a fear of success. It could be fear of the unknown or a fear of being ridiculed. Often, it has roots back to an earlier event where the wheels came off our bus.
Remove the fear and the creative spark gets redirected where it is needed.
Hack Two : Getting in Sync
Our man-made calendar and the 9 to 5 working week, when combined with 24×7 electric lighting, has resulted in us losing connection with natural cycles. Morning people just can’t produce as well in the afternoons. Each month, the Moon orbits our planet and has a massive impact on the creative cycle. Spring-time is the perfect time to leap into action and autumn is the perfect time to harvest.
When we go with the temporal flow, we stop pushing time uphill.
Hack Three : Kronos and Kairos
The Greeks knew this but only recently neuroscientists have re-discovered that we have two minds of time. For most people, the left brain sits inside space and time; simultaneously the right brain lives everywhere and ’everywhen’ else. Energise both hemispheres by going for a good walk, or cross crawling, or give them a task they work on together and time takes on an ethereal quality.
It is just like magic because all magic tricks are only magic until we know how the trick is done.
Hack Four : It’s Madness not to Meditate
It is thought that every minute spent in the deep meditative state extends our longevity by an equal amount of time, or more. Not only that but our well-being and vitality improves so we lose less time being ill, or just under the weather and under-performing. What’s more, when we take 10-20 minutes of “me-time” out every day, we get it back in spades with the serendipities and chance encounters we experience by being more tuned in.
Perfect opportunities come in when we least expect them too – and always just-in-time.
Hack Five : The Intention Field
Thoughts don’t become things, they are things. Every thought we have generates an intention field around it that sends ripples out through the collective mind that bounce back at us. Simply by engaging both hemispheres on a task, we send out a signal that we are busy. You will find the phone doesn’t ring when you are really zoned on a task in this manner.
The intention field gets generated automatically and requires no energy but a particular kind of breath – and we all have to breathe anyway.
Hack Six : Whole Mind Thinking
Our consciousness is sited all over our body and only concentrated around major nerve ganglia. As we have billions of neurons in our brains, for most people upon awakening, our inner dialogue naturally shouts the loudest. As a result, we assume our head is where all the ‘action’ is when it comes to matters of consciousness and awareness. This has the tendency of masking signals from other important nerve centres, specifically those in our heart and our gut. From an evolutionary perspective, these mind centres are older and in some ways wiser. They also operate a few seconds ahead of our conscious awareness and they are always, always right.
When we get our head, heart and gut in alignment, we become unstoppable.
Hack Seven : Letting Stuff Arrive
Rather than thinking we have to turn up, when you apply the six hacks above all together, all we have to do is to allow things to arrive. Life stops being a chore and we begin to enjoy a charmed existence.
Also what turns up is better than our wildest dreams and always perfectly timed.
Create as much time as you need and get more done
by Tom Evans | Mar 16, 2013 | Timing
Bending Time is a time management programme like no other.
It introduces simple mind-fullness techniques that fundamentally change your relationship with time.
By changing the speed of our consciousness, we alter the perceived passage of time. Simply, we get more done in less time when we learn how to get and stay in the zone.
The techniques you will learn also have some collateral benefits such as improving your vibrancy, complexion and attractive-ness.
When you learn to Bend Time, life becomes easier, your serendipity increases and you stop pushing water uphill.
Listen to this interview with Kingsley Offor from Infusionsoft to hear how his life changed immediately after using the programme …
… and how he’s learned, “Not to sweat the small stuff.”
