I’ve been feeling really productive lately, and I attribute it to my ability to stay in flow.
What the heck is flow, and how do you go about finding your flow?
Flow is focussed attention.
Most of us have experienced at least one moment in our lives where we were completely focused on completing a task. In that moment of complete and utter focus, we excelled. We finally rode that bike, or found ourselves floating on water. We entered the moment of being and feeling at one with our task, free from fear, anxiety, or any other distractions.
In my case, finding my flow is finding my productivity rhythm for the day. It’s my ability to stick to my schedule, my goals, my intentions, my plan for the day… free from mind-body distractions. It is presence, and the outcome is greater clarity and productivity.
If you think about how much practice was involved before you were able to ride your bike on your own, then you’ll appreciate the practice required to find and nurture your productivity flow.
Once you find it and own it, life truly gets better.
In my video, I tell you which self-care rituals I use to help me stay in flow. Click here to watch my video now.
Something else I do, that I didn’t mention in my video, is my daily scheduling routine. After I’ve completed my morning rituals, I write down my work and self-care plan for the day. It’s detailed with specific work times AND break times. During break times, I’m specific about what I want to accomplish. That could be 5 minutes of checking social media or checking emails. But the important thing is that whatever I’ve outlined to accomplish during my “break” — I don’t (or at least TRY NOT TO) welcome during my “work” time.
The more specific and detailed we are with our intentions and goals, the more our brain can work with us to help us stay in flow and on target. I learned this from one of my teachers, Dr. Srini Pillay (Harvard Medical School).
I love crossing off my targets with a different coloured pen, for added emphasis! And I love celebrating my achievements at the end of the week with a night off, and perhaps a dinner out with my love. Rewarding myself for my hard work makes me want to try even harder the following week.
But remember, we’re all going to experience off days, and it’s important to forgive ourselves quickly on those days. If we notice ourselves feeling off for an extended period, perhaps it’s time we shift gears and create space in our schedules for deeper self-care.
The breakthroughs we reach during our self-reflective moments can be just as rewarding as crossing off items on our to-do list. (Deep breath…).
I’d love to hear from you. What do you do to stay in your flow?