This topic is going to be hard to address, because I barely understand it myself. You have all heard the phrase live in the moment. I never got that, still don’t. Never really knew what this really meant. I suppose that I should enjoy what I am doing right now and not what went wrong yesterday or the evils of tomorrow. Nice theory. Impossible to implement sometimes.
I have talked a lot about self visioning. Looking to the future with such intensity that it becomes a memory. You remember your future self so well, it feels like it has already become reality and in so doing it does become reality. That is important – however – the moment is equally powerful. Let me explain.
When you are faced with a daunting task, something that really sucks, something you know that you need to embrace because you will be better for it in the long run. Better way to say it – when you have made a commitment to get to your future self and you know that you are going to have to do a task that you do not want to do – that is when the power of the moment comes into play. Let me use an example for clarity sake.
I am about ready to do 400 pushups. It will be horrible. I will hate it. No matter how many that I do, they still suck. If I sit here and think about doing 400 hundred and let myself dwell on that, I will end up talking myself out of it. You cannot give the mind that thought for even 1 second – do not go there. You cannot think 400. Instead you have to think the moment or the next step. So I am going to play a game. 400 divided by 50 is 8. I am going to setup 8 pennies on the ground, all facing with heads up. Then I am going to focus on the first moment – which is that I need to do 50. 50 is a end state that I can visualize. Once I do 50 then I will flip a penny over and then I will only have 7 more to do. Does this make sense?
It is like this – when you go hiking. You might pick an object to walk to and once you walk that object you will pick another one down the way a bit. You are focused on achievable small steps, easily seen steps. The brain can handle that. The brain cannot handle 400 – but it can handle 50. The brain cannot handle 26.2 miles, but it can handle 6 X 4 + 2.2 miles. You let the brain think some large number and you are done, you will quit before you ever started. Rather the power of the moment works when you can conceive of the end, you can see the finish.
The increment that you pick or the next step you pick in your in the current moment depends on your capacity. If today was the first day that you started doing burpees, then perhaps you should just focus on doing 1. That is your moment at first – 1. Eventually 10 might be your new moment. If you goal is not related to a physical activity, it is very similar. You will always have a first step, something to get going. At first just doing the basic step will be the moment. Do not think of the complete end state – you will quit and you will never even lift a finger to start.
Come up with your vision, decide on what you have to do to get there and then forget about the daunting complete task. Focus your current capacity to make progress in that moment. That way your brain can get in the way and overpower you. It is a mental trick that just works. I been doing a lot of pushups and running a lot of miles this last year and never once did I do the full amount in any given moment. Rather I did some smaller amount repeated 8 times. A nuance you say? Perhaps, but I have done this enough now to realize the mind does not know any better.
The subconscious is designed to protect yourself from your conscious mind. It will only let you go so far. In my case it will only let me do 50 pushups. I probably have the physical ability to 400 in a single effort, but my subconscious will stop me from doing so out of self preservation. However, it will let me do 50. So the trick is, I will do 50 – 8 times. I started doing pullups about a month ago. I have the ability to only do 1, because I am a total wimp. However, I can do 1 – 10 times! Funny how that works – but it does!
So eat the elephant one bite at a time, or whatever trite saying you want to use. The point is that you can only really achieve what you can conceive of in a moment. Do not let your brain even 1 second to think through the entire task at hand.
Guy Reams (444)
365 Alumni
69 Days Left to 1st Marathon
