Mindlessness

LIFE: THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

With so many people using smartphones these days, it seems our minds are increasingly taking a back seat from taking on previously human-powered tasks. From simple things like finding our way home, reminding us of important dates ie. our loved ones' birthdays or remembering a friend's phone number - even everyday memory feats such as keeping a basic to-do or shopping list of items which could be counted on one hand, are now typed into a smartphone app. Consequently, we are becoming ever more reliant on our pocket computers to make our lives better/easier, that we are neglecting the super computer powers of our perfectly capable biological equipment.

Human 2.0
It could be said that we're in an evolutionary period of growth - one where the basic human being is getting an upgrade through the soft/hardware of our pocket computers and via an always-on connectivity to the information on the internet. Studies performed on high-level internet users, have initially shown through brain MRI scanning, that pre-frontal activity is enhanced through browsing after a short period of a week, with just one hour of browsing per day. But on further investigations, findings have concluded that the cognitive overload on someone flitting around on the net, can impair memory function, which over time, affects one's ability to focus on a subject or task for sustained lengths of time for little longer than a goldfish does. It seems the capacity for learning, hasn't evolved as fast as our broadband speeds have done. So we're outsourcing memory function to our smart devices rather than patiently working towards improving the upgradable hardware we've been born with.

Virtual Life Coaching

Just a short while back - maybe less than 15 years in the past, we would have written a list of our goals down on a sheet of paper. We'd keep a regular check on our progress and take incremental steps to get what we desired from life - crossing off, adding and deleting as we progressed through the list. Many of these goals would have been confined to memory. It's been shown that visualisation is a great tool for bringing goals to life, and so the focus would have helped to achieve them. Potentially, due to our sheltered existence, a lot of these goals would have been simple and therefore very achievable. When connection speeds improved about 10 years ago and as more people gained access to the Internet, we started to see more of the world and what could be achieved in a lifetime. Our horizons widened. Suddenly, life coaches and success advisers, once solely the provisos to the success-hungry, power elite, sprouted up - advertising their success strategies to the everyman. Consequently, as the confines to goals opened us up to a wealth of possibilities way beyond our back yards, we began paying someone else to keep a check on our progress and to press us to meet the greater goals we'd been helped to forge out. 

Moving on to the present day - even motivational experts like our fitness/wellbeing personal trainers, who up until just recently, were a highly-regarded motivational tool for pushing us in the gym - are being replaced by smartphone apps more and more. It seems that humankind's willpower, memory capacity and our ability to use this superior brain power, are now becoming so weakened, that we are all-too-readily believing it's necessary to get an app for everything running our lives rather than apply ourselves more to take control. 

Return Of The Mindfulness Mind 

If the perceived (failed) human evolution to 2.0 is anything to go by, it feels to me like a revolution in mindfulness is just around the corner. Because we are on the verge of becoming mindless fools if we allow our computers to do all the work. Sure, computers can be useful, but it's no wonder there's been a bit of a break-away by a few key people, who are now removing all their technology, previously used as a brain replacement. Instead, they are strengthening their minds through focused meditation, the practise of mindfulness and purely by not instinctively reaching for the iPhone, without first thinking for themselves. In the process, they are also enhancing their social lives and experiencing quiet, reflective and creative moments once again - free from distractions.

Record - Not Fade Away

If, like me, you really want to take some control back over your life, then recording your movements is the best way. Use a smart phone to do this if you wish, but a good old fashioned pen/pencil and paper works a treat for keeping a diary - plus it's less distracting, not reliant on batteries and there's better memory retention when you physically write stuff down on paper.

An Example In Memory And Control 

I'll use myself as an example for how to better remember your days, keep tabs on having more positive outcomes and avoid the many traps of self-deceit. First of all, we need to make some plans of what we wish to achieve. So following on from this point, here's what I'm currently monitoring:

Health, Wealth & Happiness
Number one priority on everyone's list, should be health. Without it, we have no happiness or enriched life. 

I have gained a bit of weight and become a bit flabby in places over the summer. I also have a shoulder injury from snowboarding that I got back in March this year. So I have set a goal for losing some weight and through my Personal Training qualification, I now have a better idea which exercises I need to do for attaining muscle tone/size/strength plus help repair my injuries.

Next steps: I have set some dates/times I can realistically commit to. I have signed-up to a gym, plus I have some daily home exercises and rules set in place to encourage more healthy lifestyle habits.

Nutrition is key for health and a major factor when an increase in performance is required playing a sport/engaging in an energetic pursuit or working out in the gym. The right fuel is essential for obtaining optimum muscle growth and repair. So it follows, that in order to learn more about what best fuel to take in and how many calories to have daily, both at rest and when exercising, we need to plan our meals. I write down everything that goes into my mouth - referencing/researching nutritional benefits and adjusting what I take in to stay within my daily quota. I keep tabs throughout the day. This helps me to avoid snacking and ensures there's no cheating myself. The calories are tallied up for whatever I eat/drink and I make adjustments/allowances for any extra calories burned off above and beyond those burned in a sedentary hour.

Your stationary hourly burn rate depends on a number of factors, but calories used up can be roughly estimated - as can calories consumed in your gym exercises. Work within these approx calorie figures and your weight readings after a week, clothes and mirror, will all start to give you clues as to how well you're doing with the calorie counting. I've taken a picture of myself at the start of this current exercise/physical improvement program as an additional reminder of where I started. Taking pictures of each meal, will also help to determine portion sizes and also remind us of often missed calorific additives like condiments, rich sauces, gravy, bread and butter etc.

Wealth Retention

Wealth is not all about money, but having more of it, means we can have better life experiences. So spending less is an easy way to become more financially wealthy. 

I start off by removing the credit cards from the wallet and setting aside some cash for the week. I then set a tight budget for the main monthly spends. I use an app for this one, because it saves time and is easier to track at a glance. Write down EVERYTHING that money is spent on. Prioritise the essentials in the budget - things like travel, accommodation and food. Everything else could likely be removed or moderated in some way. 

Once you start writing daily spends into the budgeting app, the costs of things will start to register more and their value will come into question. It's pretty simple to save - we just have to stop spending on the things we can do without. Obviously, we need to hydrate and take on fuel to survive but there's easy savings to be made with what we consume. Eating out is expensive compared to eating in - plus it's harder to accurately measure the nutritional content unless you make meals yourself. An easy saving per month is to buy food for lunches, to take them in to eat whilst at work. To save time, I prepare simple lunches simultaneously whilst making the evening meal, so I'm not 'eating' into my evenings - that way it's cost-effective as well as convenient.

Uppers
Caffeine addict? The cost of buying hot drinks is high and the addiction is more likely about the actual process of purchasing drinks in a fancy coffee/tea shop than it is for the coffee. Forget getting a 'special' cup with your name on it - buy the premium coffee if that's your thing and make your own hot drinks or try swapping them out for tap/filtered water. Or else, try alternative beverages. Hot water with lemon and honey/organic maple syrup is a good example and you may find yourself sleeping better as a result. 

Another impulse purchase (especially in the queue of a coffee shop), is on snacking. Simply stop buying snacks. They can easily add up to 500 additional calories per day and are often overlooked or forgotten foods when dieting. They are also either high in sugar or rich in saturated fats.

Downers
'Need' to let the hair down with a drink just to relax? Break the alcohol habit and meditate for 5-6 minutes when you get home, instead of glugging a glass of wine. For social engagements, give up alcohol altogether for 6 days a week. Alcohol, which is high in (empty) calories, plus expensive when bought out, can break the resolve, making us less able to resist unhealthy lifestyle choices. If alcohol is too difficult to give up, take a drink at home but pick the best ones to help with keeping a slim waistline and remember to include their calories in the food diary. Once you educate yourself about how many calories a particular drink contains, you'll soon realise where the main calories are being consumed on top of the daily food calorie limits and if the cost savings don't help, your realisation of high calorie content, may help you limit consumption levels at least.

The spends/budget diary, food diary and exercise diary - all combined, will help to keep life in the balance. But to be happy, we have to keep a tab on how we feel too. A good way to do this is to write a mood diary or make an addition into a general daily diary. Write down what thoughts or feelings come to you, immediately after you have them, to find out more about what triggers negative emotions or moods.

Realising Happiness
We have to plan for happiness. The best way to start is by realising the love, luck and life you have, is already full of happiness. Appreciate what you have. 

My gratitude realisation starts with my waking moment and ends with an appreciation thought before I sleep. I write a daily diary of my everyday events. I include the mundane, the important tasks and any reflections on mood. I then assess the reasons why the day may not have gone to plan and make an additional note to remind myself for any future learnings.

Preparation for the Day: Here's a classic example of my thinking and actions taken after I wake.

Taking deep breathes to fill my body with fresh oxygen, I run through a 20 second mental check-list of what I want to achieve that day, citing any potential issues that could throw me off track. My typical morning's to-do list is:
– Drink a glass of chilled water
– Get a bag of gym stuff together
– Take my lunch out of the fridge
– 10 minutes of light exercise: Qi Gong, followed by 3x planks plus a couple of yoga stretches.
– Gather Keys, Wallet, phone and earphones

– Line up my listening and reading material for my day

Before I leave, I think about the day's work & personal objectives:
– I will be working with someone I know to be a difficult character
– Travelling on a packed tube train, so be aware of other people's stress
– Will need to complete today's work tasks within a tight deadline
– Need to call my accountant
– Got to arrange a lunch booking
– Have to leave work 10 minutes earlier, so be nice to the boss

Get Ahead Of Yourself
I am organised and ready in minutes. I'm refreshed, awake without caffeine, have plenty of time to get to work and I have already made allowances for any potential issues dealing with the grumpy, tired & rushed public. I make a note to show willingness to the person I'm helping this morning so I can get away 10 minutes early. Whilst on the train, I will update my food/daily diary plus set reminders for people I need to call and tasks I need to complete for myself. I update my blog and practise my daily Spanish, before listening to an audio book sat at my desk - the first person in the office. 

I'm happy because I've been in control of my day. I'm also happy because I've not been caught out by another person's stress. Mood is affected by a multitude of factors like what we eat, how much sleep we have, who we have to deal with and how we relate to their needs and other environmental stressors. Get these bits right and we're on our way to a positive day.

By getting ahead of ourselves, we can tune out the things we already know about. Work can be dull, people can be difficult and life can be rushed = bad mood. But if we harden ourselves with some tough tasks (planks), make allowances for other people's behaviour (mentally prepare for the packed tube ride) and negotiate our requirements from an advantageous viewpoint (Get in early and confront the boss), we can have success = good mood.

Know Yourself
Food, mood, finance, goals and experiences. Keep track of all these things throughout the day. Monitoring these factors will teach us something about ourselves and help to gain more control over our lives - to ultimately bring about more success in everything we do. Nobody else can manage our lives better than we can - although some people will try to take control. BUT, we can't allow packaging/advertising/marketing claims to sway us, other people to make decisions for us and we needn't rely on a computer to teach us how to really live.