It behooves you to take care of your mind. Good sleep and good eating go a long way, but some days will still feel off even with my latest life alterations (Continued interment fasting, general mindfulness, an end to complaining thoughts, and mindful morning rituals). It is these off times that will allow those less helpful voices to speak up again as it is hard to maintain the flow of a good working mind. The continued self-training of the mind will reduce their effectiveness, but you may still find yourself in their grips. But even here, taking the steps to remain mindful will help. Case in point I found myself having an off day. Most likely the result of the work going into rebuilding gut bacteria after a bad bout, and failing to get enough a sleep. Sleep tracker says it still shy of my optimum operating minimum for the second day in row. Interestingly the mindfulness has helped me recognize the big difference between enough sleep to operate and operating optimally. My general sleepiness from a mostly sedentary job I thought meant, as long I was up I was operating well, and being off was the result of the many annoyances of life. Amazing how great life becomes when you become mindful, grateful and don’t allow they naysayers in your mind to make up stories of victimization and irritation. 

 

But back to the off day, and the indicators of the less helpful voices speaking up. I was in a bland mood. Not a bad mood, just a bland mood. The usual story of “poor me, I’m tired, and it will make my day hard” was one my first first successfully dropped mental stories. But then it left a bit blank with no negativity to fill my thoughts, but not enough mental energy to be excited things to do. 

 

Or was I lacking in mental energy? I examined my thought processes. I kept looking at things to occupy my time, but not actually work on anything productive. I was feeling hungry, or in need of conversation or some other distraction. My willpower against food (until dinner) was holding, thanks to previous mindful work that noticed that food never made me feel better, just full, more hungry, and even more tired if it was too much sugar.

 

No this was not a lack of mental energy, but another story. I can’t work on this or that because I won’t be able to muster the concentration to get it done, and so I should just put it off. That’s when I recognized the procrastinator. That what sparked a bit of determination. I recognized that I was operating at less that peak efficiency, but that was no reason to think I could not get anything done. So I stopped and analyzed what I could do to just get started begin productive. So I started with basic physiological support. Feeling hungry? A bottle of water and some salt. Feeling achy? A quick round of stretching and breathing. And then to the mind. Feeling unfocused? Some speed metal (or whatever makes you feel powerful). Then to knock the foolish procrastinator’s story out. Get some stuff done. I started with my new favorite tool in this endeavor, task lists. First look for completed ones to check off. Done. Then bring them up to date. Done. Then add new ones. Done. Coordinate with email. Done. Clear old emails. Done. Write new emails. Done. Research tasks. Done. Make some calls on that research. Done. 

 

I continued like this until lunch, then took a break to further recharge. This time with walk in the sun and some fresh air. I find that self-care may the most important and neglected skill many fail to schedule in. it is critical to remaining mindful and all the mental bonuses that provides. Done. Back to the office. 

 

The small tasks, to include the self care, shut up the procrastinator. I felt productive and ready to engage larger tasks. So I began. A couple hours of flow later, I wonder why part of me thought I could not achieve this. Flow energizes. 

 

So if you find part of yourself saying it can’t be achieved, recognize that part is just addicted to the rush of last minute work. Such rushes are a bit of a cheat to partial flow. But with mindfulness and proper self-care one can achieve flow far easier and without the need for external enforcement. And when you take that control in to your hands, you can shut that procrastinator voice up with greater ease.