Not only Swami Vivekanand but also every successful man in this world says “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. Someone has rightly said that our biggest foe is not someone else but its right here inside us. Laziness/Sloth is our biggest enemy and hinders us to achieve our goal. Laziness is of two types – physical and mental.
Whenever we feel sluggish, our soul becomes lazy and tells us “Let’s do today’s work tomorrow”. Many a times we think of several excuses to pacify our inner self- as its drizzling outside, weather is not pleasant or today I got acne so I can’t go out etc. We need to get rid of this laziness which has restrained our mind and soul. The thoughts that you are going to read in my blog will be fruitful only if you have a purpose/motive in your life because motive is engine’s fuel. Motive ignites the soul and motivates it to chase the goal.
INTEREST CREATES ALERTNESS. If you don’t have interest in the task in hand, your mind becomes dry as dust which leads to the low productivity of your brain and body. On the contrary, if you are interested in the task in hand, automatically your brain directs your body to work diligently and finish the task in hand as soon as possible.
How will you put your interest in the tasks or activities that you find boring? So, to create your interest in those tasks which you feel boring, first of all, you have to do future visualization. Suppose, If you want to shed some kilos then you have to put in your earnest efforts and you have to control your taste buds but it seems really hard to achieve and it is a monotonous task. But, here future visualization can create wonders. One must imagine the outcome of the process while working on it. For instance, while working on weight loss process you should imagine yourself as you want to look like after the weight loss. What kind of clothes would you like to wear? How will you impress others with your pleasing personality? If one should start visualizing the future outcome of one’s task in hand then automatically the whole process becomes interesting and worth. Because one will be able to understand the input one need to invest while working on the task in hand. For example, if I need to stay healthy then I have to leave all the bad habits. It doesn’t mean that only visualizing the outcomes is sufficient. Just visualize once and start anchoring…. means make a connection with your brain that if I keep on doing the exercise daily I will turn into a charming and fit human being. So, here the anchoring is connected with the charismatic future personality that you are going to become soon.
Second thing that caters interest is your ROUTINE. Sometimes people complain that it is difficult to meditate even for half an hour. But according to me it is really a torture with one’s self because before starting meditation its necessary to pay attention to your breath, prepare your mind and body. So before taking any step towards any activity first of all you have to follow a certain routine and then work continuously in that direction. As it is rightly said, slow and steady wins the race. So, before starting meditation, you need to start slowly by sitting for 2-3 minutes daily and then gradually increase the time of your sitting and breathing. You have to be careful that you should not miss your routine, make it your habit and follow it regularly. Due to the hectic work schedule often we don’t have much time to complete our daily routine but here we have to manage our time by taking out the minimum time that we have to follow our routine whether we take out 10 minutes or 20 minutes.
So, if you follow these two things –future visualization and routine, you will automatically generate interest in your boring tasks even. Because these two factors will lead you towards the outcome of the whole process. This will help you to achieve your goal faster and eliminates the baleful thought of not doing anything.
Next beautiful thing that develops interest is “BREAK IT NOW”. Let’s take the most relatable example. Imagine you have promised yourself to go for a morning walk tomorrow but when tomorrow becomes today you just simply press snooze button in your alarm and only thing that comes to your mind is “I will go tomorrow onwards” and you go back to the biggest termite of everybody’s life that is morning sleep and then in your subconscious mind you start satisfying yourself by giving excuses…. I will join gym from tomorrow, I will stop smoking from tomorrow and so on….what did just happen? You took an action and simply postponed it. You should break it now. If your brain is getting stimuli to let go a bad habit or adopt a good habit you should consider it as now or never. If you got a message from your brain that you can’t go to gym because it’s night time, then you should prepare your mind by doing a little bit of jogging or at least do some pushups just do it…. so that your mind can have a feeling of it. If a thought strikes your mind that you should stop smoking, it can’t be done in a moment it will take time so just give a signal to your mind to not to smoke for next five minutes. Whenever your mind is urging you to stop a bad habit you should break it now, just convince yourself to not do it for now, if a good thought is popping up in your mind just break it now. You’ll see it’ll act as a prodigy, your mind will become an apparatus for you because you are invariably transmitting one signal to it that is, whatever I oath for, becomes my aspiration.
If your mind is not ready to wake up in the morning or ready to stop smoking, don’t worry, just remember one thing if your mind wants to inculcate a bad habit “BREAK IT NOW”.
Next thing that will bring awareness and alertness in your mind is “DRESS FOR PRODUCTIVITY”. Sometimes we are not able to do something because we don’t come to its dressing mode. Let us understand this crucial concept with the help of a basic example. You must have seen a lot of advertisements in the T.V. say an advertisement of toothpaste and the role of doctor is performed by some celebrity. You must have observed that the doctor is wearing a white coat so that he can impersonate a doctor. In our mind we know it’s an actor but our eyes get fooled by the advertisement as we assume them to be a doctor. How is this possible? It is possible through the dress. You will have to bluff your mind. If your mind is passive about doing something you will have to hoax it by saying I am ready to do it. If your mind transmits you a signal that it is not ready for jogging, simply get ready and tight your shoelace.
Your dress plays massive role in building your confidence and actions.
Next thing that you need to understand is “BODY AND MIND CONNECTION”. You must have observed anything happens to your body the same is perceived by the mind and if your mind is stressed the same reflects on your body by various means. Simple reason for that is both are deeply interconnected. When body and mind are synchronized half of the battle is won. Your body develops an environment which pushes your brain to achieve the milestones.
Last but not the least “CRAFT YOUR DAY”. Sometimes your brain becomes lethargic to do anything because you didn’t plan your day. If you don’t have any plan, then your brain will fall in the vicious circle of overthinking and random thoughts. If you plan your day, you’ll see your days will get conquered. For that you will have to divide your day into two parts. Like a Pareto principle 80% of your day should rule in the first half because you are most energetic, futuristic, highly productive and your brain releases most positive brain cells in this half. You should do 80% percent of your work from morning till afternoon and after that you will left with 20% of work which can be completed with mild energy. If you want to go beyond 20% in the second half, you’ll have a lot of time but in first half you should seal the deal. Just remember one thing, everything starts from a day and if you don’t plan your day random thoughts and distractions will exhaust your mind and nothing will be achieved. If you have a planner, very good if not then pick up your pen and a paper and write down all the activities that you want to be fulfilled by the end of the day. Trust me this one thing will make you disciplined, and today’s discipline and sacrifice will reflect in the accomplishments of tomorrow.
