I just came across this from a Wikipedia article discussing physiological cause of procrastination:
" Research on the physiological roots of procrastination mostly surrounds the role of the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is responsible for executive brain functions such as planning, impulse control, attention, and acts as a filter by decreasing distracting stimuli from other brain regions. Damage or low activation in this area can reduce an individual's ability to filter out distracting stimuli, ultimately resulting in poorer organization, a loss of attention and increased procrastination. This is similar to the prefrontal lobe's role in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), where underactivation is common."
When we are not being productive it can be so easy to put ourselves down, to think that our personalities are somehow tragically flawed.
Somehow it is encouraging to know that our character is not the whole picture.
Perhaps part of what we need is just higher activation in the prefrontal cortex of our brains.
How do we get that? Stay tuned... I plan to get more information about this soon.
Anything you know about prefrontal cortex activation is welcome in the comments section.
I had a darshan with Mother Meera yesterday. Perhaps that is helpful.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Our Behind The Scenes Fear Of Change
Hello. I have been unusually proactive recently. I have been taking many new steps and venturing beyond my comfort zones. Bravo!
In many respects this is good news. I love that I am doing this. Yet, for part of my psyche it is "bad news." Being productive has impact. My life starts to change.
Change! When I am really honest with myself, I see places inside that really don't want my life to change. I want to "be right" in my previous limitations.
Here is one example. I put an ad out on Craigslist yesterday for something that would really help my life move forward. Great, I said to myself. Yet, the only problem with my taking that action step has been that people have started to respond!
"Oh my God, I am not sure I want that. I do not want to move forward, I don't want to step out of the life I am so used to."
Another example: Years ago, when I was first starting my coaching practice, I went to a networking meeting and presented my work quite eloquently.
This felt great until...until a woman came up to me and was actually interested in my work. I didn't want to have to deal with that. I wanted to keep my small little life and keep on scrubbing boats at a local marina.
As we take more and more steps to be productive, I see that we need to grow bigger inside to be able to surf with the results of that productivity.
How can we work with the part of ourselves that holds fiercely to the opinion that "Change sucks"?
I would love to hear your thoughts on how you work with your fear of change, and how you navigate the stretch of growing yourself bigger.
Thanks,
Bruce
In many respects this is good news. I love that I am doing this. Yet, for part of my psyche it is "bad news." Being productive has impact. My life starts to change.
Change! When I am really honest with myself, I see places inside that really don't want my life to change. I want to "be right" in my previous limitations.
Here is one example. I put an ad out on Craigslist yesterday for something that would really help my life move forward. Great, I said to myself. Yet, the only problem with my taking that action step has been that people have started to respond!
"Oh my God, I am not sure I want that. I do not want to move forward, I don't want to step out of the life I am so used to."
Another example: Years ago, when I was first starting my coaching practice, I went to a networking meeting and presented my work quite eloquently.
This felt great until...until a woman came up to me and was actually interested in my work. I didn't want to have to deal with that. I wanted to keep my small little life and keep on scrubbing boats at a local marina.
As we take more and more steps to be productive, I see that we need to grow bigger inside to be able to surf with the results of that productivity.
How can we work with the part of ourselves that holds fiercely to the opinion that "Change sucks"?
I would love to hear your thoughts on how you work with your fear of change, and how you navigate the stretch of growing yourself bigger.
Thanks,
Bruce
Friday, December 7, 2007
Proactive-ness Is Next To Godliness
When I am rapidly getting a lot done and multi-tasking with great efficiency, I have this sense that I am closer to the frequency of God. God is ultimate productivity and efficiency.
Look at what God is accomplishing right in this moment. God is creating star systems and planets. God is birthing new babies on these planets and birthing whole civilizations on these planets. God is keeping my laptop going right now. God is running the public transportation systems in Hong Kong.
God is clearly a Getting Things Done sort of dude. If God can do all that, so can we.
Look at what God is accomplishing right in this moment. God is creating star systems and planets. God is birthing new babies on these planets and birthing whole civilizations on these planets. God is keeping my laptop going right now. God is running the public transportation systems in Hong Kong.
God is clearly a Getting Things Done sort of dude. If God can do all that, so can we.
The Inner Game Of Productivity
True productivity comes from the inside out rather than the outside in.
We can have perfect systems for being more efficient, we can have a strong commitment to being productive, we can have read many books and taking many workshops about being productive, we can hire great productivity coaches and yet still not be productive.
True productivity is a frequency, a state of being, an assemblage point. It is a context. When we are in the right context internally, the content of getting specific things done falls into place easily.
A powerful way to return to this zone of productivity on the inside is to recall some times when you were on a stunningly zinging productive roll. It just thinking about those times you can access the frequency that was operative there. What was going on for you at those times? What did your inner landscape look like then?
What were you holding as true then? What were you believing?
You can reclaim that space now. You can reoccupy that domain. Climb aboard that spaceship.
We can have perfect systems for being more efficient, we can have a strong commitment to being productive, we can have read many books and taking many workshops about being productive, we can hire great productivity coaches and yet still not be productive.
True productivity is a frequency, a state of being, an assemblage point. It is a context. When we are in the right context internally, the content of getting specific things done falls into place easily.
A powerful way to return to this zone of productivity on the inside is to recall some times when you were on a stunningly zinging productive roll. It just thinking about those times you can access the frequency that was operative there. What was going on for you at those times? What did your inner landscape look like then?
What were you holding as true then? What were you believing?
You can reclaim that space now. You can reoccupy that domain. Climb aboard that spaceship.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Naming Our Productivity Thieves
An effective strategy for taking our productivity to a whole new level is getting really honest with ourselves about the personal Productivity Thieves which break our moving forward momentum. Here are some of the thieves I personally notice.
1) Codependency. Being overly nice. Not setting boundaries. I find that I am most productive when I am focused on what I need to take care of for myself in my own life. I am much less productive when I am no longer "on my side of the net" and am involving myself in others' experiences rather than my own. In taking over responsibility for what others are choosing to experience I trip up my own momentum.
2) Fatalism. The belief that "That is just too hard" or "I can't do that well enough." There are items that stay on my action lists week after week, sometimes month after month, sometimes year after year. This is because I am still believing in some story I came up with a long time ago without questioning it.
3) Being A Rebel. "No one can make me do that." What helps me stop this accomplishment thief at the gate is my realizing that no one is making me do that. No one out there really cares. It is to my own benefit that I complete that task.
4) Self-Denial. Not eating when I need to eat or not sleeping when I need to sleep. This is a brilliant and reliable strategy to slow down my moving forward. It works every time.
5) Not Being Organized. If there is a task I am telling myself I do not want to do, how convenient it is to misplace the paperwork I need in order to do it. Then I have a perfect excuse to not move forward with that yet. What helps me with this one is to focus on the joy I feel when I am able to find a piece of paper within a minute or two of needing it. There is really nothing quite like this.
6) Avoiding Details. There is a saying in financial circles that "just a small leak can sink a big ship." This is true of our productivity as well. A single missing detail can sink a whole hour of our time, or a whole day.
7) Indecision and Ambiguity. Not being willing to commit to a certain direction.
8) Unrealistic expectations.
9) Delegating Phobia.
10) Withheld Communications.
11) Relationship Drama.
What are your productivity thieves?
Stay tuned for my next post: "Naming Our Productivity Angels"
This is fun. Thank you for being part of this dance.
1) Codependency. Being overly nice. Not setting boundaries. I find that I am most productive when I am focused on what I need to take care of for myself in my own life. I am much less productive when I am no longer "on my side of the net" and am involving myself in others' experiences rather than my own. In taking over responsibility for what others are choosing to experience I trip up my own momentum.
2) Fatalism. The belief that "That is just too hard" or "I can't do that well enough." There are items that stay on my action lists week after week, sometimes month after month, sometimes year after year. This is because I am still believing in some story I came up with a long time ago without questioning it.
3) Being A Rebel. "No one can make me do that." What helps me stop this accomplishment thief at the gate is my realizing that no one is making me do that. No one out there really cares. It is to my own benefit that I complete that task.
4) Self-Denial. Not eating when I need to eat or not sleeping when I need to sleep. This is a brilliant and reliable strategy to slow down my moving forward. It works every time.
5) Not Being Organized. If there is a task I am telling myself I do not want to do, how convenient it is to misplace the paperwork I need in order to do it. Then I have a perfect excuse to not move forward with that yet. What helps me with this one is to focus on the joy I feel when I am able to find a piece of paper within a minute or two of needing it. There is really nothing quite like this.
6) Avoiding Details. There is a saying in financial circles that "just a small leak can sink a big ship." This is true of our productivity as well. A single missing detail can sink a whole hour of our time, or a whole day.
7) Indecision and Ambiguity. Not being willing to commit to a certain direction.
8) Unrealistic expectations.
9) Delegating Phobia.
10) Withheld Communications.
11) Relationship Drama.
What are your productivity thieves?
Stay tuned for my next post: "Naming Our Productivity Angels"
This is fun. Thank you for being part of this dance.
Where Those Distractions Are Really Located.
One thing that really helps me stay on an accomplishment roll is keeping close track of how productive I am actually being. Measurement supports mastery.
I use a scale of one to ten for this. "10" is the score for "Wow, I am really sizzling here" and "1" is the score for being frozen in the ice of perplexing and mortifying inertia.
I have been doing this tracking while starting this blog. I came into this project as a 10. In fact, most mornings for me look like 10 10 10 10 10. I wrote a long introduction to this blog and the words were flowing thorough like melted butter. More of 10, 10, 10, 10.
And then, oh my god, the program was not taking all my text. I had to keep editing down and editing down and editing down and my productivity scale went down with it. 9,6,4,2,1. From watching this I got an important insight about sustaining productivity.
The limitation of this blog template had nothing to do with my productivity drop; it was my attitude about it, my inner aversion to having to edit my words.
Distractions are not about what is on the outside -- they are about what we do inside with what is going on outside. Good! As I recognize this, as I release my reactions, my scores are on the way up again...6,7,8,9. I can't get higher than 9 right now. I think it is time to get something to eat.
I am a lover of comments and feedback and taking in the different universes of different folks. I would love to hear from you.
I use a scale of one to ten for this. "10" is the score for "Wow, I am really sizzling here" and "1" is the score for being frozen in the ice of perplexing and mortifying inertia.
I have been doing this tracking while starting this blog. I came into this project as a 10. In fact, most mornings for me look like 10 10 10 10 10. I wrote a long introduction to this blog and the words were flowing thorough like melted butter. More of 10, 10, 10, 10.
And then, oh my god, the program was not taking all my text. I had to keep editing down and editing down and editing down and my productivity scale went down with it. 9,6,4,2,1. From watching this I got an important insight about sustaining productivity.
The limitation of this blog template had nothing to do with my productivity drop; it was my attitude about it, my inner aversion to having to edit my words.
Distractions are not about what is on the outside -- they are about what we do inside with what is going on outside. Good! As I recognize this, as I release my reactions, my scores are on the way up again...6,7,8,9. I can't get higher than 9 right now. I think it is time to get something to eat.
I am a lover of comments and feedback and taking in the different universes of different folks. I would love to hear from you.
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