This is the 4th in this series. In the first article, we discussed chance, in the second, the Body, and in the third, the Environment . In this one, we will discuss Time and how it can hijack our goals and leave our outcomes to chance, circumstance, and fate.

3. Are You Betting on Time?

Is time your friend or does it cause you stress? Does time dictate what you do, or do your goals and mission dictate your daily schedule?

• Are your actions controlled by the time of day or do you listen to your mind, heart, and soul?
• Do you eat because it’s a certain time or because you are hungry?
• Do you sleep because your body is tired or when the clock tells you to?
• Do watch television at a certain time because broadcasters have decided that works for them, or do you watch when it is best for you?
• Do you work according to your natural rhythm or circadian clock or do you adapt to the society’s man-made divisions of time?

Dan Pink in his new book, When, states that our emotions and cognitive abilities change throughout the day. He says that we each have a Peak, Trough, and Recovery period and we should plan our work according to those times and not the clock. It is more important to listen to our own clocks and do specific kinds of work during the day when we are most prepared.

“…the evidence shows that we’re better off doing certain kinds of work at certain stages of the day. We do better on heads-down analytic problems during the peak (which for most of us is the morning) and on more iterative, insight problems during the recovery (which for most of us is the late afternoon and early evening.) Dan Pink

Each day we wake up with a brand new fresh day that hasn’t been lived yet in which we get to create. Each night, we go to sleep taking a bet on life that we will wake up in the morning and have the bounty of seeing another sunrise and living another day. While some dread tomorrow, some are excited by it, grateful for another tomorrow, and bounce out of bed renewed. However, many are not!

I know that many people live on autopilot and do not think or act this way. But, we do have the power to create our new day, even if only in our mind. And, quantum physics suggests that the mind is the best and most important place to start.

We must realize that time, just as the environment and the body, are all just input that create our perceptions of reality and help us maneuver through this maze of life on this side of the sod.

Time is just a tool, and a man-made one at that. The concept of the second, minute, and hour are all man-made. Only the concept of the day is a scientific reality based on the revolution around the sun. These other divisions are tools to break up our day, measure our performance within a specific span, and coordinate action. They are useful, but should not be allowed to rule us, cause us undue stress, and control our productivity and creativity.

As you can see, all are important, the body, environment, and time and all can influence how our days turns out, if we don’t take control.

In another article, I will share some ideas about better ways to start our day.

Thanks for viewing. Please leave your feedback and share with friends who would find this information valuable.

Barbara Talley
Educator, Facilitator, Keynote Speaker
Appreciative Inquiry Interventions
Strengths-based Leadership
Generative Leadership
Heartmath Certified Instructor
Brain-based Conversations Coach

In the two previous posts, we’ve talked about choice or chance and the three main protagonists, our body , environment, and time.  In this post, we will discuss the impact of our environment.

2. Are You Betting on the Environment?

While some check in with their body first, others look at the environment to see what’s happening or has happened in their world while they were asleep.  Surprisingly, only a small few proactively decide how they will feel in their new day.

Some wake up to the news of the day, social media, and emails. Who did what and why can easily hijack our energies and prime our thoughts, conversations, decisions, and behaviors throughout the day. Many let other people’s perceptions of reality influence what they think, believe, feel, and expect from our environment and the world.

Others start with emails, or what’s going on in the household, their friends or family, the weather, or the world and allow their outer environment to dictate how they will emotionally present themselves to the world.

Some wait to have their emotional state shaped by how people in their environment (school, work, household, or community) treat them. Did they respect us? Did they ignore us? Did they support us? What are people thinking and saying about us. Frankly, that is their business. We must focus on what we wish to contribute to the world and make our own individual impact based on our personal missions of service to humanity.

We each have a circle of influence where we can and should make a difference. We must be careful to not let our thoughts, emotions, and creative energies be dissipated by focusing on things outside of our control. We must begin our day with our goals in mind.

Hopefully we have practiced Ikigai which is the work we do that stands at the intersection of what we love, what we are good at, what the world needs and what we can be paid for. Ikigai, is a Japanese concept that balances the spiritual with the practical and connects our passion, profession, vocation, and mission to help us create a fulfilling and purposeful life. We must let our life’s mission prime our day and not the chance happenings of the world.

Finally others remember how they felt yesterday and choose to continue feeling the same way. They wake up remembering past angers or joys, frustrations or excitements, pains and hurts, possibilities or hopelessness, missions or apathy, or encouragement and happiness. In the next post in this series, we will discuss Time.

Thanks for viewing. Please share your thoughts.
Barbara

My passion is in connecting hearts, to help people see our oneness and common humanity, and to teach people strategies for handling the individual, family, societal, and workplace stresses that zap our energy, enjoyment of life, productivity, and well-being. I have been training adult audiences for over 40 years. I work with people at all levels, but especially with top leadership in organizations with a focus on employee engagement, dysfunctional teams, communication challenges, culture, implicit bias, change management, and rebuilding trust. I

am a keynote speaker and also train nationally for businesses, associations, colleges, community groups, and government organizations. My focus over the past decade has focused neuroscience of well-being, positive psychology, strengths-based leadership, generative change, emotional resilience and Appreciative Inquiry. My current or recent contracts have been working with leadership in high stress organization: correctional facilities, emergency communication centers, and high stress government agencies. I am a wife, mother of six, and entrepreneur and also an author of six books.

In the previous article we discussed how the Body, Environment and Time can hijack our goals and leave our outcomes to chance, circumstance, and fate. So, let’s delve further into the Body.

Is is so easy to get distracted these days with 24 hour news cycles, hundreds of channels of live or programmed content, info on demand with a voice request, and smart gadgets on our arms, body or walls. That’s why it is so easy to get hijacked even before we begin our day.  The smart alarm while waking you up also tells you the headlines, many of which are negative. We must be vigilant, because, it is the start of our day, that we have the greatest chance to take control of.

1. Are You Betting on Your Body?

Many check in with their body to see what it wants and needs when they first wake up. We check to see if anything hurts, or is it hungry? Does it need to go to the bathroom or have other hygienic or biological needs or requests? Or, perhaps the body wants coffee, food, sugar, or an even worse habitual stimulants like cigarettes, alcohol, pills, or drugs.  Now, of course I am not saying to ignore the body, but realize that it is biologically programmed to alert us of any serious problems. What I am saying is to not let it rule and dictate our first thoughts and daily trajectory because energy goes where attention flows.

The body has memorized all your habits (good and bad) and uninterrupted will play the program over and over again. It is designed to conserve energy and it does that by not having to make you think.

Most of our mornings  routines are robotic, habitual, and automatic. We do the same things. We wear the same few outfits, eat the same few meals, park in the same spots if possible, sit in the same seats, hang with the same few people, and if we drive, take the same routes. The body wants us to be comfortable and any change even the changes that are good for us are uncomfortable. Be clear, if the body rules, we are being reactive and living according to a past program, not the present.

Be Mindful of Your Physical State

With that said, the mind and body are partners and the body must be taken care of and be physically fit in order to make the most of our day. Having a physical routine that synchronizes with our mind and heart is a great way to begin our day. Yoga, a brisk walk in fresh air, and exercise are great ways to jump start your day and improve your health and well-being.

In our next post, we will discuss the impact of environment.

My passion is in connecting hearts, to help people see our oneness and common humanity, and to teach people strategies for handling the individual, family, societal, and workplace stresses that zap our energy, enjoyment of life, productivity, and well-being. I have been training adult audiences for over 40 years.

My focus over the past decade has focused neuroscience of well-being, positive psychology, strengths-based leadership, generative change, emotional resilience and Appreciative Inquiry. My current or recent contracts have been working with leadership in high stress organization: correctional facilities, emergency communication centers, and high stress government agencies. I am a wife, mother of six, and entrepreneur and also an author of six books.

What primes your day, your body, the environment or time?

Like priming a pump, our first thoughts in the morning and throughout our days must be intentional, positive, and proactive, otherwise we have no choice but to be reactive to what our Body, Environment, or Time dictates to our emotions.

The will of the collective mind, body, and spirit as partners in achieving our life’s mission should start our days, but unfortunately, three powerful hijackers, body, environment, and time can stress us, redirect our energies and set our day in motion and in a direction that we did not choose. This is because each of these powerful protagonists can control what we feel, think, and ultimately do or not do.

Each of these influences also has a powerful impact on our daily outcomes because over 90% of our decisions are controlled by our emotions. Clearly our reactions to and the importance we place on our body, environment, and time affect our feelings, how we start our day, and influences how we feel and act throughout our day.

Chance Is The Default

We each have the power of creation in our heads, hearts, and hands and yet most of us BET our days on chance. Now, we don’t intentionally bet our precious lives on circumstance, but chance is the default if we do not proactively choose the kind of day we want and channel our creative energies (thoughts, emotions, behaviors) towards those intentional goals. Conscious intention, not fate, gives us the best chance to create the life we desire. If we convince ourselves that fate is the only power and we have no control over our lives, we are doomed to accept whatever life offers.

Put it this way, if we do not consciously and intentionally create our days, we will have to accept what fate, chance, and circumstances offer us.  Any one of these powerful hijackers, body, environment, and time can set our day in motion and in a specific direction because each of these can control what we feel, feel, and do. So, what are you betting on?  In the next post, I discuss each. 

My passion is in connecting hearts, to help people see our oneness and common humanity, and to teach people strategies for handling the individual, family, societal, and workplace stresses that zap our energy, enjoyment of life, productivity, and well-being. I have been training adult audiences for over 40 years. I work with people at all levels, but especially with top leadership in organizations with a focus on employee engagement, dysfunctional teams, communication challenges, culture, implicit bias, change management, and rebuilding trust. I am a keynote speaker and also train nationally for businesses, associations, colleges, community groups, and government organizations. My focus over the past decade has focused neuroscience of well-being, positive psychology, strengths-based leadership, generative change, emotional resilience and Appreciative Inquiry. My current or recent contracts have been working with leadership in high stress organization: correctional facilities, emergency communication centers, and high stress government agencies. I am a wife, mother of six, and entrepreneur and also an author of six books.