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Many strategies for combating procrastination emphasize personal self-discipline —setting timers,making to do lists,even becoming accountable to a third party such as a life coach —or affirmation-centered strategies such as making a list of one’s accomplishments or using self-hypnosis. These are all worthwhile strategies to try,and I will write about some of them in other posts (for example,see “Leveraging the Pomodoro Technique to Improve Productivity:Keeping It Simple“,which is a wonderful strategy for defeating procrastination).
Sometimes,however,a timer- or affirmation-based approach to defeating procrastination is doomed to failure because our thoughts are racing around to all the things we are worried about or all the other things that we are interested in thinking about besides what needs to be done. And where our thoughts have wandered,our energy has followed. In these cases,we may need to literally call our spirits back into our bodies and,more specifically,into the frontal lobe of the brain so that we can concentrate on the task at hand. A good way to do that is to ground,or center oneself:pull all that scattered energy back into one place. Taking time for a few deep breaths,a short meditation,or visualizing being rooted like a tree can help with this. But sometimes we need more help. That’s when we have a choice:we can go and see a psychiatrist and be treated medically for ADD or depression or whatever other psychological issue might be interfering with our natural ability to center and focus. Or we can try nature’s pharmacy:the pharmacopia of herbs and essential oils that may not work as dramatically as drugs,but may operate more gently to bring the body back into alignment. (Essential oils typically act on the body in very gentle ways,but I’m cautioning you to take time to do your own research on particular oils and your own health conditions. Always start slowly with any herb or essential oil,taking your potential allergies and other special health conditions,such as epilepsy,into account,and checking with a doctor as needed. NEVER,EVER replace a medication you are currently taking with an herb or oil without checking with your doctor first —especially if you are taking a psychiatric medication that acts on your brain.) If you have decided to try an aromatherapy approach,one of the best places to start is Grounding oil by Young Living. Grounding is a mix of several oils designed to bring us out of our daydreams (or nightmares) and back to the real world so that we can walk on our path (and not merely dream about it). It contains oils of white fir,spruce,ylang ylang,pine,cedarwood,angelica,and juniper. Why so many tree oils? Of all the plants,trees are the most grounded,sending roots deep into the ground and holding steady to their purpose,in some cases,for hundreds of years. Meditating on trees,too,can help us to ground ourselves emotionally in the present time and place. To use Grounding oil,diffuse in a diffuser,or simply apply it as perfume. Young Living recommends that you apply it to your temples or the back of your neck,while I have also had good results applying it to the center of my forehead. If the scent of the oil bothers you or those around you,another option is to apply it to the soles of your feet and put socks over it. It will still help. Or simply go easy on it,diluting the oil in a vegetable oil and using just a drop or two at a time —that’s all you will need. Like rose quartz crystals,Grounding oil and other essential oils will act on your emotions and your energy almost immediately. Unlike herbs or drugs that must be filtered through your digestive system,aromas are inhaled and can quickly reach your brain’s limbic center,including your amygdala (which is critical to your emotional processing) and hypothalamus (which,among other things,helps to regulate the release of hormones,including stress hormones,into your body). If you hate to take medication,avoid caffeine,and need a solution that will help you to focus and dispel brain fog first thing in the morning,Grounding oil (or other similar oils) may be your go to remedy. If you are having trouble finding Grounding oil,another option that can give you similar results is to burn a lavender-cedarwood candle in your work area. Candles made with essential oils can often be found in neighborhood pharmacies —not all of us have a Young Living distributor nearby! If you decide to try this route,however,be sure to find a candle that contains real essential oils,not just a lavender scent. Ground and center and call back your spirit —in whatever way works best for you. You will find that this one strategy,more than any organizer or GTD system,will help you to get more done.  unpolished rose quartz crystal Some of you are thinking,“This is a productivity blog. What’s with the crystal? Where are the calendars and organizers?”Answer:In my opinion,if you are having problems being productive and you are already doing work that you love,then your problem is not likely to be a lack of organization. If you put off doing the work that you love,it’s likely because something is bothering you on an emotional level:worry,anxiety,grief,heartache,loneliness,anger,fear. Negative emotions are terrible productivity busters. And when we’re feeling emotional,nothing helps us as much as a few missed deadlines,right? Wrong. There are lots of different ways to defuse negative energy,and I can’t think of a single one that involves calendars and to do lists,so you’ll have to bear with me on the crystals,even if it seems a little out there. This will seem like a wild claim,but rose quartz CAN and WILL pull negative energy out of the body. If you are one of those people who feel heartache as a literal physical pain,you may very well be able to physically feel rose quartz doing its work. To try this,place a good-sized hunk of rose quartz (the less expensive unpolished kind is just fine) in the palm of your hand and hold on tight. Putting the rose quartz in your palm presses it against the end of a meridian,or line of energy,leading to your heart chakra. It’s also helpful if you can hold the rose quartz near your heart. In times of grief or high anxiety,you can sleep with a rose quartz crystal clutched in your hand —you will probably get much more restful peaceful sleep that way. Once you connect the rose quartz with your heart chakra,relief from your heartache or pain in your heart area (assuming the pain is emotional in nature) will come almost immediately. The rose quartz will not take away your emotions (some people worry about this because they feel their emotions,even when negative,are an integral part of who they are). But it will take away the edge,the physical ache,and the sharp unbearable intensity that can make it totally impossible to function —leaving behind a feeling of being soothed and calm. Rose quartz is a wonderful tool to have on hand if you experience a sudden emotional jab that is so sharp as to cause you or a loved one to tumble into a first-aid level state of shock (though if that is the case,productivity should be the last thing on your mind!). It is also a wonderful tool to have if you experience chronic difficulty with anxiety,heartache in general,low self esteem,feeling unloved or rejected,or if you are a very sensitive person who tends to feel the emotional pain of those around you almost as keenly as you feel your own emotions. If you are a woman and have a chronic situation of this sort,you might want to tuck a hunk of rose quartz inside your bra (choose one without too many sharp edges,lol). You can also use rose quartz to pull purely physical pain out of the body–for example,it’s great for taking away the pain of menstrual cramps. Just press it against your lower back–move it around until you find just the right spot. Yeah,you’re still skeptical. So try it. One good-sized hunk of unpolished rose quartz will cost you about two or three dollars —less than a good calendar will run you,and your crystal won’t expire at the end of the year. (At Natural Productivity,we are all about frugal approaches to feeling better and getting more done!) One more thing:after using your crystal,spritz it with a mixture of water and esential oils,and then put it in a sunny window. This will help to clear the negative energy from your crystal so that it will be ready to help you again the next time you need it. To that end,consider this quotation by Pema Chödrön,from her book,The Places That Scare You. More on meditation and productivity later–meanwhile,this quote is courtesy of Shambhala Publications. CULTIVATING THE GROUND FOR JOY How do we cultivate the conditions for joy to expand? We train in staying present. In sitting meditation,we train in mindfulness and maitri:in being steadfast with our bodies,our emotions,our thoughts. We stay with our own little plot of earth and trust that it can be cultivated,that cultivation will bring it to its full potential. Even though it’s full of rocks and the soil is dry,we begin to plow this plot with patience. We let the process evolve naturally.
 the timer used by Francesco Cirillo to develop the Pomodoro Technique The thing I hate about most productivity advice (as I think I’ve said before in this space) is that it assumes that unproductive people procrastinate or get distracted because they are not organized enough. But some of us are beautifully organized and still have trouble being productive —because we are stressed out or depressed or worried about a particular issue and as a result simply cannot focus on the task at hand. That’s where the Pomodoro Technique comes in. Unlike most productivity books,The Pomodoro Technique does not require the user to set up a whole new system of organization. There are no context-based task lists,complicated virtual or physical organizers to set up,or filing systems to implement. If you are depressed,anxious or worried,and try to implement a typical getting things done system,your will to get something done will be used up by the time you set up your new organizational system —leaving you even further behind on your work and more worried than ever. The Pomodoro Technique,though,you can try right away. While Pomodoro refers to the tomato shaped kitchen timer that the author chose to use,you can start by setting an alarm using your cell phone or an online alarm clock —or even an ordinary alarm clock. Chances are that you have some form of timer available to you somewhere —no procrastinating going out to buy the perfect timer! The system is simple:set your timer for 25 minutes,and sit down to work. If you are distracted by worries,thoughts,and the sudden desire to do laundry,tell yourself that whatever it is can wait until your 25-minute Pomodoro is done. I tried this system and it works. I modified it,of course (I love tweaking other people’s productivity systems) —I made my Pomodoros 30 minutes long instead of 25,so that I could record the Pomodoros on my time sheet more easily without having to calculate what percentage of an hour 25 minutes adds up to. (I avoid opportunities to do math at all costs.) According to the rules of the Pomodoro Technique,if you stop in the middle of a Pomodoro to do something else,it doesn’t count. You can’t record half a Pomodoro. You have to throw that Pomodoro out and start over. That one simple rule activates (and harnesses) my obsessive nature,so that I feel I truly cannot stop what I am doing until the timer goes off. (You see,neurotic obsessions can be harnessed as forces of good,not merely as evil temptresses of procrastination.) There is one more rule you’ll want to keep in mind if you try this technique. After each Pomodoro,take a five minute break and do something that might normally tempt you to procrastinate. Go throw that load of laundry in the washer,or do the dishes. Or spend five minutes on Facebook (in which case I’d recommend you set your timer to make sure that you stop after five minutes in order to get back to another Pomodoro). Why does the Pomodoro Technique work? I believe that it works because the units of time are short —it would really be embarrassing if you couldn’t focus for 25 minutes! —and because it harnesses our natural OCD tendencies in order to use them for getting things done. And it’s simple:no trips to the office supply store,no new filing systems,no downloading new to do list software —just setting a timer and getting to work. You can start right now if you want to. All you need is your work,a timer,and a 25-minute block of time. For more information,visit http://www.pomodorotechnique.com.  What better way to cool off in the middle of a summer heat wave than to have a milk shake for dinner? Or maybe two milk shakes? Well,substitute “green smoothie”for milk shake,and you’ve got a recipe for increasing your energy levels severalfold,reducing your body temperature by several degrees (it was 88ºF/31ºC here today),and jumpstarting weight loss,if that’s an issue for you. Plus,there is no way you’ll be hungry after drinking two of these (if you really need energy,you might as well drink the whole blender’s worth). Here’s how to make a simple and splendiferous green smoothie:
Buy some of those 49¢/pound bananas that are on sale so many places at this time of the year,along with a good quantity of greens (I used spinach,but you can also use lettuce,cilantro,parsley,any green leafy vegetable that you feel your blender can handle —but probably not kale —save your kale for salad or homemade veggie chips). Let them ripen until they have about as many spots as the bananas in the picture at right. Peel them and toss them in a ziplock bag,along with enough lemon juice to coat them (so they won’t turn brown without the peels). Then put your banana bag in the freezer. When you are ready to make your smoothies,fill your blender half full with greens. Add three frozen bananas from your freezer bag. Then add two cups of water (filtered if you have it). Blend. And voila! You can see the results in my photo. My blender will make two tall glasses of smoothie,and no,it does NOT taste like spinach. It is as sweet as a vanilla milk shake. Why do I call this an energy drink? If you’re a fan of Red Bull and other carbonated energy drinks,you know that they are always loaded with B vitamins. What do spinach and bananas have in them? Here is what you’re getting if you drink the entire recipe (the full contents of the blender,which I’m assuming contains 2 cups of raw spinach and 3 medium-sized bananas): 118% of your day’s worth of vitamin A 79% of your vitamin C 10% of your thiamin (vitamin B1) 21% of your riboflavin (vitamin B2) 14% of your niacin (vitamin B3) 12% of your pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) 72% of your vitamin B6 48% of your folate 9% of your calcium 16% of your iron 36% of your magnesium No,the B-vitamin content of your smoothies does not equal that of a small can of Red Bull,which has 100% of your niacin,250% of your B6,80% of your B12,and 50% of your pantothenic acid for the day. But the smoothie recipe still contains a fairly respectable level of B vitamins,and besides,it’s a trade off. Red Bull won’t give you any vitamin A or C to help strengthen your immune system,iron to stave off anemia (a potential cause of exhaustion),or magnesium to calm you and stave off the effects of stress. Red Bull won’t provide you with a meal’s worth of food or satiation. And Red Bull won’t give you 45% of your fiber for the day,as your green smoothies will. And nourishing your body is very important when you are trying to keep your energy levels up after they have been depleted by stress,depression,overwork,or other life demands. Try a green smoothie and you’ll find out just how much of your normal hunger is true hunger and how much is your body’s way of crying out for green food. Two caveats to keep in mind:spinach (like tomatoes) does have more nutrients if you cook it. But I’m not putting cooked spinach in my smoothies (if you try it and find that smoothies with cooked spinach are even more delicious,please let me know!). Also,bananas are fairly high in sugar,so if you need to monitor your sugar intake carefully,you’ll want to be careful with those bananas. “Take five minutes,find something you can write fast with,and dump everything that pops into your head. Don’t analyze or organize. Later on,you can figure out what,if anything,it means. For now,just dump. Give yourself the freedom to do one thing at a time. Be creative,be a visionary,express yourself,[...] “…the inclination to force one’s personal will,when resistance is being encountered,can only result in an energetic nose-dive and the manifestation of circumstances calculated to cause frustration.”—Rasha,Oneness This quotation may seem arcane at first,but I want you to think about it. Let me paraphrase Rasha for a moment:when you [...] Lemon. Most of us think of it as an ingredient in salad dressing or cleaning products. Can it really help you to be more productive? In my experience,the answer is yes. Lemon helps with improving focus and concentration. Quite honestly,I also think that it wakes me up better than a morning cup of [...] First the disclaimer. I am a huge fan of productivity systems,time management techniques,and organization. I could spend hours in an office supply store checking out the latest in file folder technology,organizers,in/out boxes,and the like. I read Julie Morgenstern’s books. I read Zen Habits. I read Productivity Magazine. I try to [...] | |
