Shift: Shift Tasks to Increase Energy
May 12, 2014 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Adults, in our infinite wisdom, think that children have short attention spans. Children know they are just shifting to a task that brings them more energy when they are getting drained from the task at hand. Shift from left-brain tasks such as budgeting and “administrivia” to right-brain-oriented tasks such as reading your mail, playing with a pet, or talking on the phone. Your productivity will increase and your mind will feel refreshed with this shift in gears. The same shift is needed when working on a right-brained creative project. If the ideas stop flowing, shift gears to something more mundane or something fun to give your brain a break.
Shifting your body also shifts your way of thinking and gives you a new perspective. Get up and move to jostle your body, jog your memory, and get that blood flowing to your brain to carry more vital oxygen to your cells upstairs. If you have been staring at a computer screen for too long, even shifting your gaze and your focus to something else will help with your energy.
Shift your tasks according to your body and brain rhythms to be more productive. If you are brain-dead after lunch, use the morning hours for creative tasks and the afternoon for less taxing projects. If you are not a morning person, then make sure your important meetings and difficult tasks are scheduled after your body wakes up and is alert enough to handle the task. Becoming more child-like, which is not to say childish, will give you more energy by going with the flow of energy and shifting your tasks, your brain, and your body to something that excites you and holds your attention.
Listen to your body and when it is fighting the urge, take a break and come back to your task when you are fresh. It will save you stress, mistakes, and mishaps. Sometimes you have to shift your space and move towards the Escape key to shake things up and shift into high gear. As I wrote this revision for my book Keys to Energize, I was floating aboard ship in the Caribbean harbor of St. Kitts to have the solitude I needed to think and type without interruption. Cruising solo having the world come to your balcony is a fantastic way to write and recharge. Take stock of your needs and figure out if you need to downshift or shift into high gear to charge up your energy.
Sometimes it’s a shift in thinking, a shift in perceptions, a shift in your environment, a shift in attitude, a shift in your belief system, or a shift in movement. It’s up to us to figure out the category, intensity, frequency, or duration of the shift for the most positive results.
Unplug & Disconnect to Reconnect, Recharge & Reboot
August 31, 2011 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Sometime’s you gotta just unplug and disconnect in order to reconnect with yourself, your loved ones, your world, your purpose and your goals. I’ve been on a several-month “self-battical” to get reconnected to friends, celebrate a life mile-stone, get re-centered and renewed so I can come back refreshed and recharged. When you give out lots and lots of energy, there’s a time when you need to give that energy back to yourself. That’s why I haven’t blogged in a while, I was staying out of touch so I could get back in touch with myself.
Sometimes it takes a power outtage to get us back in touch with our friends, family, community – we lose touch to easily in this connected world. When I lived in blizzard country and now moving back to it; you would see lines upon lines of people in the video stores – just in case they were snowed in with loved ones and wouldn’t have to talk or deal with them. Hmmmm. Now I’ve heard some parts of the country before the hurricane had lines and lines in the liquor stores… a bigger hmmmmm. Blessings to those who have been affected by recent storms, but I’m talking about personal turbulance here and having your peace and personal retreat on your terms and not a forced situation such as unemployment, although you could use that time to take stock….
We can’t serve others well if we don’t first serve ourselves. If we don’t have enough energy for ourself, there’s not enough left over to give to others. We really do need to serve from our overflow rather than our cup. Our cup need to runneth over before we have extra to give, or else we run dry. I see it in so many people, more women than men. I’m thinking maybe the men hide it better. I see so many professional women serving everybody else and there isn’t anything left over for them or maybe their partner. That’s when we need to practice radical self care, which is not the same as being selfish, mind you.
I believe that’s precisely why the book and subsequent movie Eat, Pray, Love was a runaway best-seller and hit in theatres. I think it touched on the heartstrings of so many women (who make up 80% of the buying population) who just want to chuck it all for a short time to regroup and reboot so they can come back even better than ever.
So I did my own version of the popular story and travelled to faraway islands and driving across the country reconnecting with friends and my fun side. I’ve offered up some posts and pictures along the way as requested by my tribe. I didn’t carry a computer (oh horrors of horrors some of you may be thinking – a whole several months without a computer … egads!) I did have my iphone so I could infrequently check email – I do have a few businesses to run and still needed to coordinate a cross-country move. But oh the jubilation of living a lifestyle produced by being your own boss and having a network marketing business to support me while I danced across land and sea. Danced, sailed, scuba dived, kayaked, flew, snorkeled, zip-lined, hiked, swam, cruised, ate and drank my way from sea to shining sea. With Send Out Cards, I was able to stay in touch and still earn income while I was out of the office because my office was in my phone. Be my guest and send some free cards on me at BizBuilderCards.com.
It takes courage to unplug, hit the pause button and tell your circle of people you won’t be available. Some will support you, other won’t understand and think you’re shirking your responsibilities, some still want to stay connected and keep contacting yu, and still others want to join you. The bottom line is that it’s not their path – it’s yours. And if you have no energy to walk your path, what good are you to anybody else?
My friend Jean Ann rents a villa in Mexico for 6 weeks each year and then invites friends down for a weeken or a week so she gets to reconnect with her tribe in a lovely setting. She hires a cook and housekeeper so she can also enjoy her time down there. Another friend rents villas around Europe and invites her coaching clients to have their session on site – it’s all a business write-off. Wonderfully creative ways to disconnect and reconnect at the same time.
So you may not be able to take off weeks or months, but at least a weekend jusat for you at a local B and B – the point is to get out of the house and leave electronica at home. Eat well, drink well (and responsibly), surround yourself by beauty and good company or be alone and do some introspection to get to know yourself again.
I highly, highly support the self-sabbatical approach to energizing yourself, your life, your relationships and your business. There’s no need to go to Italy or an ashram or take a vow of silence to do it – do whatever you darn well feel like doing to support whoever it is or whatever it is you want to be, do or have. Give yourself permission to unplug and go with the natural flow.
Here are some pics of how it flowed….. what are you waiting for??? You deserve a break today, so get out and get away… to find yourself…..
