In this article I will show you what I want my mind to be used for. You will learn how to free up space to focus on the things that really matter – being grateful for the past, happy in the now and idealizing your future.
I recently came back from a trip Australia and New Zealand with 50 other coaches and consultants. It was an educational trip combined with sightseeing. Every day we had different seminars on personal development. Very inspiring!
I had the chance to do a presentation about “smartphone coaching” and how to use your phone to create a better life. I picked a few techniques from the book and explained them in detail. I got several positive comments from coaches that have worked with personal development since the 70s and 80 s, which was great.
I also got some comments related to stress and the negative impact of technology. One comment was: “you must be stressed with all these devices with you that you keep looking at” or “I get stressed just by thinking of doing all these techniques with my phone that I hardly know how to operate”.
The techniques that I show are of course supposed to be the opposite. They are suppose to help you so that you get less stressed. I also focus on techniques that are easy to use.
What are you focusing on?
At any point in time you can in your mind be in the past, present or the future. It has been said that all fear, worries and anxiety comes from either living in the past or the future. When we are 100 % in the now there are no problems or if there is, we are doing something about it. Worry is wasting emotional energy over something in the future that has not yet happened. If you worry it means it has not happened yet because if it had you would not worry you would act.
Feeling bad over past events is another time waster. Things that have happened are things you cannot do anything about so why spend time thinking about it?
So to summarize:
I want to use my mind for:
Past – think of all the happy and great times + learn from my struggles
Now – being in the now and enjoying it. For me this means: being in nature, working with my passions, doing sport, cuddling with my wife, enjoying good food and company. Mindfulness is about being in the here and now and something that we all need to practice on.
Future – idealizing the future. Coming up with goals and dreams. Visualising them as already real and coming up with the action plan to get there.
I don’t want to use my mind to:
Past – being upset with others or myself for things that have happened in the past.
Now – forgetting to be in the now, thinking about things I can’t do anything about
Future – worrying about things that have not yet happened.
One of the best ways to free up your mind so you can use it the best way is to have a system to collect thoughts that come up when they are not suppose to.
Most of us have loops of thoughts that keep coming when we cant do anything about it. When you are driving you start thinking about things from the office, when you are in the office you think of the things you need to buy on the way home… As soon as these thoughts come up I recommend you to take out your phone and put it in there. This will end the loop and free up space so you can focus on what really matters (more about this is in the book). This is a very powerful way to use your phone to create a better life.
For more on how to use your phone to keep focus on the positive things from the past, being in the now and idealizing your future check out the book here.
Oskar
