Shift Your Mind

photo by poolie

One of the keys to personal change is increasing your awareness.  This is true whether you are trying to change a bad habit, develop a new skill, or connecting with people.  In all cases you have to be aware of how you are feeling, what you are thinking, and be able to adapt to changes in your environment.

I have an ongoing addiction to soda.  I have been trying to kick the habit for some time now.  I can go long periods of time without one, but invariably I always go back to my dark master, Dr. Pepper.  Thankfully, I am down to one a day, but I really want to kick the habit as the health benefits, in my mind, are enormous.

Over the last few weeks I have started to take note of when and why I crave a Dr. Pepper.  It’s usually in the morning, right after my coffee.  I’ve knocked off a couple of tasks and want to keep the momentum going.  Dr. Pepper gives me a nice jolt due to the high sugar and caffeine content.  Another contributing factor is I enjoy the walk from my office to the break room.  I pass by all the members of my team and really enjoy taking 5 minutes to to check in with everyone.  It breaks up the morning for me a little bit.

This simple step of asking myself why do I want a Dr. Pepper, at the moment the craving hits, will go a long way to helping me kick the habit.

Becoming aware takes time and effort, but can be very rewarding.  You have to teach your mind to send you little reminders whenever you are about to shift focus.  By doing this, you begin to question why you feel happy or down, you react to your surroundings differently, and you can engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations with people.

Here are 4 things you should be aware of throughout your day:

How are you feeling, physically? Did you get a good nights sleep?  Are you fighting a cold or some other illness?  How is this affecting your energy level?  If you have a low energy level, concentrate on finishing several smaller tasks instead of focusing on a large one.  Nothing like having a low energy level and starting on a 10 page report for you boss.  Instead, focus on just a couple of paragraphs, just to keep the task moving forward.  You will be able to focus a lot better if you have a high energy level.

How are people reacting to you? As you engage people, it’s critical you watch their body language and listen to how they are responding back to you.  Do they understand what you are saying? Are they shutting you out?  Are you intimidating or offending them in some way?  If the person is quiet, or looking away, it could be sign that you are not engaging them. Change your approach and find ways to draw people into the conversation, meeting them on their “terms” if it’s a uncomfortable topic.

Where are your emotions? It’s important you recognize your emotional state throughout the day.  Are you happy?  If so, spread some of that happiness to others, it’s infectious!  Are your feeling bitter or angry?  Then try to avoid other people until the anger has passed, otherwise you might say something you regret.  Take a 5 minute walk if you are feeling down, or unmotivated and let some fresh ideas pop into your head that you can dive into.

What is your state of mind? What are you focused on trying to accomplish today?  Are you fully committed or is something distracting you?  Do you recognize what, why, and how you are going to complete the task at hand?  If you’re not committed 100% to what you are working on or who you are talking with, then consider moving on to something else.  You can always come back later.  Time is a valuable commodity, so make sure you are maximizing your use of it

Think about these things throughout the day or as you are about to shift your focus to something new. Done well, it will only take a few seconds.  You may have to start by keeping a little cheat sheet and writing down, throughout the day, the answers to the questions above.  Soon enough though, you may find that your mind will start to send you little signals which will trigger awareness.

Prior to walking into a meeting, are you upset about something that just happened?  If so, you may want to be a little more low key.  If you are about to start work on a project, are you in the proper state of mind to focus and complete the next action?  If not not, perhaps you should work on something else.

By spending just a few seconds when I notice myself starting to make that walk to the break room for a Dr. Pepper, I can start to plan for how to kick this habit.  I recognize that I want it to: keep my energy level high, to interact with my peers, and that it has become a habit more then a outright need. Next week, it’s tea for me!

Tweet This Post  Delicious  Stumble This Post