What if I gave you a simple method that if used, you could cut your stress level by 63% while focusing your mind like a laser beam? Would you try it? Or better, would you try it and post your results here?
I’ve mentioned this method before here. But it is easy to overlook it as being too simple or basic to amount to anything constructive.
I’ll admit when I first heard about it, I ignored it too. Brian Tracy used to speak about it in his seminars and I’d think “That’s ridiculous. That will never work.” However, after doing it over the years, I’ve come to value it for not only the great ideas I’ve gained, but its ability
as a “stress buster.” Whenever I am overwhelmed or stressed with a project or deadline, this technique always kills the stress and focuses my thoughts and ideas in the direction I need to go.
From there, the juices are flowing. My work becomes easy and almost effortless. And I have a sense of peace and optimism that can sometimes keep me going for days.
So what is this extra-simple technique?
Technorati Tags: focus, Goals and Goal Setting, Inspiration, creativity
It is focused solitude.
Like I mentioned above, it seems easy to do, but as you’ll find out, it isn’t easy to do. In fact, it might be one of the more difficult tasks you do all day.
All you do is find a quiet place where nobody will disturb you for ½ hour to 1 hour. Find an office with a door you can shut or you can sit in your car.
Once you are in this quiet place, turn off all cell phones, pagers, radios and any other gear that could disturb you.
Then just sit quietly.
Don’t drink or eat. Don’t read. Don’t twiddle your thumbs or fidget.
Sit still for one half hour to an hour.
It may help if at the beginning of the session if you picture your #1 goal for a second. You can think for a moment about your most pressing problem if you prefer.
Then let it go.
“So I just sit still for ½ hour to an hour and do nothing? What’s so hard about that?” You say.
You’ll see.
Odds are you spend most of the day in movement. You fill up your schedule doing stuff. Not moving or doing anything is not easy.
You might want to fidget. You might remember something important to do later that you want to write on your task pad. You might want to drink some water.
Not now. Now is not the time.
Eventually, it may happen in 20 minutes, it may happen in 40, but what you’ll see is a clearing of the stress and clutter in your mind.
You’ll begin to relax.
You’ll begin to focus.
Then you’ll be able to see!
Optimism is a natural result of finally seeing what is important and right for you to be doing.
Then you will not want the session to end.
Resistance
You might resist trying this method. If you are busy like all of us, you may say “I’m stressed out of my mind! I don’t have enough time to sit for an hour and just think.”
However, let’s look at that for a second. Do you always trust negatively stressed people to make the best decisions? If there is a surgeon about to perform brain surgery on a loved one, do you want the doctor relaxed and focused or stressed with his mind on 1001 things?
If you are so stressed, how do you know you have your priorities in line? How do you know what you are doing is the most efficient way to your goal?
The superconscious is counterintuitive.
It works best while you are quiet. If you push, it will push back. So just sit quietly – for the entire time.
Give this a try and let me know what you think.
Be sure to write down a “before” and “after” on your stress level and your focus. You might find your stress down by more than the 63% I promised. It might be gone 100% when you finish.
This post is part of the Achieve-IT! Series Tapping Your Superconscious where you can learn unique ways to gain solutions to problems, inspirations and life changing ideas.
{ 15 comments }
27 minutes into it, I felt the pressure drop. But man, I was itching for the first 10 minutes or so.
Sounds interesting…I’m skeptical but I’ll give it a try.
I haven’t tried it yet but I will make this a part of my everyday life from now on. I feel the stress leaving me right now as I prepare to add this to my busy life. Thanks
Be sure and let us know your results after you try it.
I tried this today. I lasted 37 minutes and then I gave up because I felt like I was forcing myself. It was relaxing, but I don’t think I quite achieved what you talk about here. I can see why I often have a hard time getting to sleep — I just can’t empty my mind or let go of thoughts. It was so hard to not follow thoughts. This is going to take practice for it to be meaningful, I imagine.
I think meditating is good. Just being aware of the present moment.
yeah, this works for me. I tend to just sit. and sit. and it just calms me down and stuff. I used to just go onto other things but it doesnt really work becauseyou end up more stressed later.
Excellent tips. This could really help a lot of people
Okay, whoa. I tried this for about half-an-hour and I definitely began to relax. God, I love the Internet. I’m trying my best to lead a more happy life with more meaning and, well, more happiness! There’s another article I read about the chances of losing your life to a strange death. It’s really opened my eyes to life, and has helped to convince me to stop worrying about death, and to just live!
I have realized from my experience that this helps out very much. The thing is to not get away from doing this on an everyday basis. It does help, as long as you do go somewhere in a private area where you are not distracted or disturbed with any distractions. Thanks for the advice, i will make it an effort to make this an everyday basis in my life in order to get, and stay refoused…
In battling against stress and other elated problems, one effective solution I must say, is the aforementioned. Strange some people may think of it as a solution to stress but its one way of achieving inner peace. Its important that sometimes we get to be alone so we can recollect and ponder on some parts of our future plans or life in general that we might probably have forgotten to focus on. Because only through being able to be alone and be with oneself that people realize a lot of things. This can be a problem needing a solution or us needing a change in the way we deal with things to become more effective as employee, parent, brother, sister, son, daughter, boss, or an individual.
It is our responsibility to protect our selves from all those sorts of sufferings. We don’t have to suffer. We have a choice. We free ourselves from the shackles of stress by simply emptying our minds and think positively. That it’s not the end of the world if ever we are experiencing any difficulty. The reason God has put our brains atop of our body to be able to overcome almost everything by right thinking.
jesses last blog post..A very inspirational blog by Gail Goodwin with great stories/parables found thanks to Twitter!
It most certainly works. You would think:”I have so much to do and so little time to do it in….” But just doing nothing and being quiet for a while will increase your productivity when you start to work again.
I find that when I read a book or newspapers during a break, it does not give my brain any rest. And after reading half an hour, I have to go back to work with a tired brain. That is not very useful.
I’d like to add that a little break to physically work out helps a lot too. Just a brisk walk for a couple of blocks can be very restful too. It empties my mind from other things and I find that after a while I do not think about anything anymore and my brain starts to relax. The extra plus is that it is good for your body as well.
Yes indeed it does work , thanks !! stress is very problematic not to mention hazardous to our health. this could lead to several possible health problems , so any method that lessens stress is greatly welcomed.
Quit interesting approach. I’ll definitely try this because I’m looking for a stress killer before going to bed. Maybe this one is right for me
I was looking at ways for inspiration of what to draw, and I came across this article. When I was in high school, they tried a similar method but it didn’t work, so I was sceptical at first, but this method honestly worked for me.
Before I tried it, I was tired, irritated, aggravated and I really was trying to force myself to conjure up a idea. So, I gave this a go, and the session lasted just over 40minutes. I got so relaxed that I felt my body sort of droop to one side, and my breathing slowed.
Then finally I had a enterprise, pushed the idea, and came up with several more, all completely different! Now I’m relaxed, focused and even more tired. I guess my first priority is to get to bed C:
Thanks for the Article!
-Velle