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The Discipline of Mastering Mental States : zen habits
The Advanced Antifragile Skill
Learn that you don’t need to change your mental state to do what you’re committed to doing.
If you need the perfect mental state and a perfect set of circumstances to do your commitments, this is a fragile system. Anything that keeps you from doing the actions you need to do to get into the right mental state … throws you off and prevents you from doing your meaningful work.
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Key Ideas
Mental States
It’s really important to monitor mental states. They will usually affect whether we do our exercise, eat healthy, binge watch TV shows, drink alcohol, eat junk food, or are open-hearted (or rude) with the people we love.
It’s also an incredible skill to be able to move into the proper mental state to do focused work, to create, to meditate, to exercise, or do whatever you find meaningful.
Moving Into a Mental State
- Recognize that you’re in the wrong mental state. It’s not likely to lead to a calm focus. It will lead to you doing busywork or seeking distraction.
- Experiment to find a set of actions that can help you move into the right mental state. This is going to be different for each person, but with some experimentation, you can discover things that work for you.
Activities For A Better Mental State
- Meditation
- Go for a walk
- Get up and move around
- Talk to someone (if you’re worried about something)
- Having a cup of tea
- Taking a power nap
- Having a cup of coffee (differs for each person)
- Getting into a quiet, uncluttered environment
- Turning off your wifi router
- Using full-screen writing apps
- Playing calming music
- Reading an inspirational quote or article
- Talking to someone (including a therapist, if needed)
- Bringing playfulness to the task
The Advanced Antifragile Skill
Learn that you don’t need to change your mental state to do what you’re committed to doing.
If you need the perfect mental state and a perfect set of circumstances to do your commitments, this is a fragile system. Anything that keeps you from doing the actions you need to do to get into the right mental state … throws you off and prevents you from doing your meaningful work.
Training for Antifragility
- Recognize that you're not in the ideal mental state to do the thing you need to do.
- Ask yourself if you're committed to this or not. If it’s not that important, you can put it off until I get into the right state. If you’re very committed, you'll do it if at all possible.
- Make it happen, despite the mental state.
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Obstacles to Getting Stuff Done
- The habit of putting off starting, because it’s uncomfortable.
- Maybe you get started, but then constantly switch to other tasks.
- You put off starting (or finishing) because con...
Picking one important thing
If you focus on getting the small stuff done but not the big stuff, or switch between tasks all the time, you’ll be less effective.
Pick one important thing to focus on at a time and learn to evaluate what tasks and projects are of higher value to you.
Starting
It's best done by focusing on the smallest first step and practicing just launching into that.
Pick the tiniest first step, and launch into it.
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The "One Thing"
We all have that 'One Thing' on our task list that is the most important thing on the list, that would be the most meaningful and yet we’re not doing it.
It's so meaningful and import...
Create a space
Put aside all the messages, social media, distractions, smaller tasks, organizing and tidying.
Instead, have a small space (even just 10-15 minutes) for this important task, and nothing else.
Meditate on meaning & feelings
For just a minute, mindfully drop into your body and feel your fear, resistance, frustration, overwhelm. Let yourself feel it fully.
Then let yourself feel the love you feel for those who you’ll be serving by doing this task.
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Eliminate
See if you can cut your tasks and projects lists in half. Then try to cut them even further a few days later.
See which tasks aren't necessary anymore and find the ones that can be del...
Know what’s essential
You really should focus on one goal at a time, but if you want to do 2 or 3, that’s OK too.
Any smaller tasks are essential if they help you accomplish those goals, and not essential if they’re not related.
Simplify your commitments
You can't do it all. Only stick to those commitments in your life that really give you joy and value.
For the rest, you need to learn to say no, and value your time.
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