We are still at the beginning of January, so it you did not decide what you want to create in this year yet, whether in your career or private life, now is the time. You hear everywhere about goal setting nowadays, and many of us think that goal setting is overrated. As for me, I strongly believe in goal setting, as it gives me a sense of purpose and control. What I find the most valuable in this process is that once I sit down and really think about what I want to create in my life, I realize what is important for me. And this knowledge is precious, it’s like creating a personal compass to lead me through the year.
I found the below video of Tony Robins really inspiring. I personally use different techniques for my yearly goal setting, but his ideas are really good. Watch it and get inspired!
Your assignment:
Take for your 2012 goal setting, don’t rush it. Set aside some time in the evening, play some inspiring music, take a piece of paper and start dreaming about what you want to create in 2012. And write it down.
You can even invite to your goal setting your loved ones, your spouse, so that you can get support on reaching your goals throughout 2012.
I just returned from a 4-day hike in the beautiful Austrian Alps. I have been hiking quite a lot in the past, but this trip was special for me. It was special because it was a hard lesson. I usually hike quite reasy trails, but this time we went to the rugged Lechtaler Alps for an Alpine hike.
I wanted to try something more difficult. And: it was much more harder than I thought while sitting on a couch and planning the trip. After struggling for many days, I experienced all sorts of emotions – from frustration, struggle, extreme tiredness, to amazement, excitement and pride of reaching the destination.
In many ways, this hike was a life lesson for me and this is what I learned:
1. You may know what your goal is, but you never know what is behind the corner
Every day we started in the morning towards our next destination hut. We examined the route and knew more or less how much time do we need to reach our destination. What we did not know, however, is how the route looks like. Every time we said: well, the most difficult part is behind us – the new, more extreme challenge appeared in front of us. We can transfer it directly to our professional or private life – we often set goals, but at the end we cannot possibly know how we will achieve them, what will appear on the path towards our goal. What worked for me in this situation was: being open for whatever arises in front of me, so that I am not disappointed or surprised, and just: embracing the journey.
2. Put one foot in front of the other
This is probably the biggest lesson I learned from the mountains. When I started the hike, I knew my goal was somewhere far away, up in the mountains and it would require a lot of strengths to get there. I thought: will I make it? Will I have enough mental and physical strength? And at the same time I wanted to enjoy this hike. And this is how I did it: I only focused on putting one foot in front of the other, only one small step after another. It’s not a big deal, is it? From time to time I stopped and enjoyed the view of the mountains, and then again: one foot in front of the other.
I took a short video of my slow and steady steps. Does not really look impressive, but it is enough to get to the summit and achieve the goal.
3. Patience
Many times on my way to the summit, I got frustrated and wanted to stop. I got frustrated at the mountain! I had to survive these moments and keep going, to the summit. In our professional life we also get frustrated a big deal. But it is important to get going, so that we can sit at the top of the mountain, enjoying the view and say: “It was all worth it!”
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
Pick your favorite activity, where endurance is essential. It may be running, or biking, trekking, swimming, etc. Set some time aside and do this activity for a longer period of time, as usual. F.e. when you usually run 30 minutes, run one hour, or two. See resistance arising, when you do this activity for a longer period of time than usual. Observe frustration arising, observe when want to give up.
Then focus on “one foot in front of the other”, find your rhythm. See the difference, when you chunk this activity up, to small steps. Don’t look at the watch, don’t look at the distance, just put one foot in front of the other.
Look at your professional life, your career from this perspective. Do you face times when you struggle and want to give up? Do you sometimes feel frustrated with regards to your career goals? What would be the small “step” you could take in such situation? How you could find your rhythm and keep going, one step in front of the other?
We all have been there. A stressful situation at work, too many people pulling us in different directions, and all we want to do is just to scream: leave me alone! Well, many times we would like to scream, but we choose to behave appropriately and suppress our anger. Whatever we decide to do – express or suppress our frustration, we probably don’t feel good either way.
From my experience in studying body and mind connection, there is another way to react more skillfully in stressful situations. The secret is to become conscious of your body, ground yourself in your body. What happens when we are under stress is that we contract in our upper body and our breath becomes short, we become easy to defeat. We lose our connection to the ground and “space out”. In order to balance it, we need to ground and center ourselves, feel once again the earth below our feet.
How can you ground yourself? Imagine a tree trunk. You want to center yourself, and to stay stable on the ground. Like a strong tree, you want to be able to withstand all the winds and storms it is confronted with. The first step is to stand upright, and breath in and out slowly, becoming aware of your body. Then you turn your attention to your lower body – your hips, legs, feet and you can even imagine that you are becoming a tree trunk, solid, stable, grounded in the Earth. Next, you turn your attention to your upper body, feeling its lightens, and airiness.
You can imagine that your lower body is like a tree trunk, stable and strong, and your upper body like a tree crown, light and airy. You soften into this feeling, allowing the gravitation to pull down your jaw and shoulders. Next, you become aware of the energy field around your body, inhaling and exhaling long and slowly.
This centering exercise helps you to collect your energy. Through grounding you “gather yourself together” and with this new stability you can react more skillfully to the stressful situation in question. Once you have memorized this exercise you can use it in any stressful situation, whether at work or at home, whenever you want to feel more calm and think clearly.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Whenever you feel stressed out, find a quiet spot to do the following grounding exercise. It may take even as little as 30 seconds.
1). Take an upright standing position. Breath in and exhale, long, feeling the breath flowing through you body to the ground
2). Become aware of your hips area, upper legs, calves, feet. Feel how your lower body connects with the ground. (you can imagine a tree trunk)
3). Uplift your upper body, feel like there is a little more air in your chest.
4). Breath in again, long exhale. Become aware of the energy around your body, in front, at the back, left and right, below and above.
Now you are ready to face your initial challenging situation being more grounded, and centered. You will immediately notice that your mind is much more clear and you are able to take sound decisions. There is a new quality now to your presence. Enjoy!
Are there days when you wish you had more clarity, and the constant chatter in your mind would stop? Do you sometimes find yourself caught up in your thinking, worrying, and planning, not able to focus? Would you like to experience more ease, clarity and focus, to make better life and work decisions and become more productive?
Many of us experience the above situations when we feel stuck in our thinking.In fact, we spend the most of the time in “our head” – thinking, planning, worrying, calculating. In doing so, we focus most of our energy in our heads / thinking process. The solution to this problem is to reverse the energy spread, meaning moving the energy from the head and allowing it to spread over our whole body, to spread it evenly, allowing our brain to take a break in order to function more efficiently.
In the last few weeks I experimented a lot with body energy and its influence on my mind and its efficiency & focus. I discovered that when I activate the energy of my body, move the focus from my head to an even distribution over my body, I relieve my mind, so to speak. Doing so I get rewarded – my mind become more relaxed, at ease, and efficient and focused at the same time. Giving my mind a break, I nourish it and help it to function better. At the same time, I honor my body as well.
Let me give you an example. Some time ago I bought myself a sport trampoline. Every now and then when I feel that I am “stuck” in my mind, not able to think creatively, I simply jump on my trampoline. I play dynamic music and jump around like crazy. I truly feel my body and in time I feel like happiness energy is being released from my body. Just notice next time you are at the playground and see children jumping on the trampoline – how happy and energetic they are after spending some time jumping! (I learned this secret trick from my niece and nephew ). Usually after some time on the trampoline I sit for 10 minutes or so, feeling my body. It is amazing how this jumping quiets the mind. When I sit, I face an incredible calmness. And very often my creativity starts kicking in enormously.
I encourage you to cultivate this practice of activating your body energy – it is very simple, yet have a powerful impact on your state of mind, focus, creativity and happiness. Ideally you do this exercise in the morning, before going to work and starting your day. This is a great day to prepare you for the coming day, assuring that you will be at your best the whole day long.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
1. Find your favorite way to activate your body energy. Make sure that this is something simple, energetic and can be done almost everywhere. You may choose running, or spinning on your bike/ indoor bike. Or skipping the rope. Or simply dancing to your favorite music. The choices are endless and you need to find something what speaks to you the most.
2. Make your own activation music playlist! Music activates our energy in the fastest way. Make a playlist of your favorite music and keep it handy if you need it for your body energy activation exercise. Sometimes if you don’t have time to do it with some body movement, just listen to this music in your car or on your iPod, it will also help you release energy, especially if you associate this music with the previous exercise.
3. Whenever you need more clarity, self-confidence, practice your energy activation exercise.
Remember, you can make the shift from fogginess / fear / doubts to clarity / focus and joy in a very simple and fast way. It only takes a few jumps!
). Usually after some time on the trampoline I sit for 10 minutes or so, feeling my body. It is amazing how this jumping quiets the mind. When I sit, I face an incredible calmness. And very often my creativity starts kicking in enormously.
