Some Strategies To Help Refocus And Be Present
One of the largest issues I personally struggle with in my daily life is not being present. Part of it is what I believe to be a coping mechanism from years of lots of long travel. Being able to drift off into my mind helps make the amount I travel much easier to cope with, but the other effects are not as great. Because I have the tendency to let my mind wander when I am doing tasks that do not require my attention, like driving, cooking, cleaning etc, I often find myself doing the same in things that do matter, like conversations, family time and relationship building. As a result I often find myself tuning out when I really do want to focus on what is happening in front of me. Does this sound familiar? If you find yourself not being present in moments you wished you were it could be a result of not being able to practice mindfulness.
Often we are so busy, with so many things happening in our daily lives with careers, family and more that it feels like the only way we can accomplish everything is to multi-task and try to marathon through as many objectives as possible. While this may help you in some of your work life, it can be difficult to turn it off when it is time to relax. Technology also doesn't help. With work being able to contact you 24/7 it can be really difficult to turn it off and just be present. It is a struggle especially when you have to leave tasks to be completed until the next day but your mind is still reviewing them. But how can you turn your mind off? There are several strategies.
1 - Tune out from Work at Closing
One of the largest issues with being present that we face in our modern world is knowing when our work day ends. No longer is it when you leave the office, you may have work from home to do or you may now work from home permanently. Without an official end of the work day it is easy to let yourself be mildly distracted with work for all of your off time. To combat this, start creating boundaries and let your coworkers know of them. Make an out of office reply and turn the work phone off, let everyone know that after a certain time you are no longer available and it can wait till the next day. Unless you work a job with true emergencies I would hesitate to even allow a caveat of an access in case of emergencies cause that will allow people to reach out when it is an emergency for them but not necessarily an emergency for you or the company.
2 - Create a Ritual to End the Day
Now that you have created an end of your work day for your coworkers, you need to create an end of the work day for yourself. This can be something quite simple or elaborate. It can be as easy as changing clothes as soon as you get home or giving yourself a hard reset with a gym session and shower to divide the day. You can take time to meditate or call a friend, watch a certain show, the list goes on. The important thing is that you make sure that it feels like the end of the day for you.
3 - Mindfulness Session
You knew that we wouldn't get through an article about being present without mentioning mindfulness. Mindfulness is literally the art of being present, so it only makes sense. Creating the time off is great, but until your brain actually learns how to be present and mindful it won't do much good. Once you have ended your day for yourself and your coworkers give yourself even just 5 minutes of mindfulness. Be it a breathing exercise, a body scan or simply observing your surroundings in a mindful way. It will take literally no time out of your day, but make a world of difference in how you spend your leisure time. We have many of these exercises you can try in our blog https://www.bullionite.com/blog-index.
Far too often, successful people are not happy. We see this and wonder why and how someone with everything can be so unhappy. While of course there are many answers, it usually lies in the fact that they long ago lost touch of what makes them happy or sacrificed the things they loved for their success. Mindfulness, while not a cure all, will help you see your life for what it is and be able to appreciate what you have. We don't have to lose ourselves to our careers and goals. Remember that all of this is for that life you live when you are not working, and if you aren't present for that life then it really is an effort in vain. Look out for the next part in our series on our blog and contact us with your comments or questions at info@bullionite.com.