Focus - Leo Babauta [36]
Small tasks. If intimidation stops us from creating, we need to make things less intimidating, less overwhelming. We do that by making mini-tasks, as small and non-threatening as possible. Need to write a book? Don't focus on the entire book, or even a chapter. Focus on a thought, on a page, on half a page, even on a paragraph. If you only need to write a paragraph, that's not difficult. Any creative task can be made smaller by focusing on less. Do the task, take a quick break, and focus on the next small task.
Constant practice. Set aside time for creating each day, even if it's just for 10-15 minutes a day. Clear away distractions and put yourself in isolation, and just do something small. By practicing, we become good at it, and we keep away the rust.
Enjoyment. If you enjoy the creating, it becomes something you look forward to. Find ways to enjoy the creation, to have fun with it, to do what you love.
Relaxation. If you start to feel pressure, start to become tense, practice relaxation methods: massage your own shoulders, try deep breathing for a few breaths, or do a short meditation where you focus on your breath coming in and going out, for a minute. Having a nice cup of tea also helps -- enjoy the tea in silence, without working, and after 5-10 minutes of that, you should be happy and ready to create.
Inspiration. While it might seem contradictory, you need to connect with others sometimes in order to find inspiration. That might just mean reading, watching, or listening to others' work, or it might mean working with others, talking with them, finding ways to collaborate. This means finding a balance between connecting and solitude -- split your day into times for connecting and inspiration, and a time for solitude and creating. We need inspiration from without, but we need creation from within.
Shake things up. When things begin to stagnate, get out of your routine. Try new things. Find something exciting to do. Take a new route home. Stir things up, and see what new ideas emerge.
7: finding stillness and reflection
"Silence is a source of great strength."
– Lao Tzu
It's a busy day, and you're inundated by non-stop emails, text messages, phone calls, instant message requests, notifications, interruptions of all kinds.
The noise of the world is a dull roar that pervades every second of your life. It's a rush of activity, a drain on your energy, a pull on your attention, until you no longer have the energy to pay attention or take action.
It's an illness, this noise, this rush. It can literally make us sick. We become stressed, depressed, fat, burnt out, slain by the slings and arrows of technology.
The cure is simple: it's stillness.
pause
Take a minute out of your busy day to do this little exercise: pause in the middle of all you have to do, all that's going on around you. Close your eyes, and sit still. Breathe in, and breathe out, and pay attention to your breath as it comes in and goes out. Just sit still, for about a minute.
This stillness might seem like inaction, which we're taught is a bad thing. It's lazy, it's passive, it's against our Puritan work ethic. And yet, this simple inaction can change our world.
Stillness calms us. It gives us a small oasis of quiet that allows us to hear our thoughts, that allows us to catch our breath, that gives us room to breathe at all. It is the antibody to the stress and rush we feel daily.
the strength of stillness
Stillness has a calming effect on the world around us as well. By becoming still, we cause others to pause, to pay attention. Our quiet also quiets others. We set the mood for those who work