How Do We Move Into Thriving

These are difficult times for most as they are concerned about the costs of living, the difficulty of competition, overwhelm at work, raising families, sufficient free time, health, and how to take advantage of other opportunities.

It becomes clear that feeling centered and balanced is a challenge. Where does one place their priorities? How does one balance responsibilities with the desire to have more freedom at both work and in one’s personal life? How does one find themselves in the chaos of so many demands?

We Become Centered and Focused

One becomes centered with the right habits for self-improvement which could also be called self-actualizing. This process powers a person through the troubles that surround us by focusing on the only thing that can be controlled, our own habits.

Habits can be routines which can be a good thing. Developing self-improvement habits that become a daily routine is a path to steady improvement. In this process we become better at desirable skills, gain prowess in desired activities, feel better with the right health habits, and find the path to contributing more.

Progress Daily

Each day is built on yesterday’s progress. Like compound interest, everything builds measurably over time. The difference from start to the new levels is measurable. We can take pride in our progress and benefit from our self-development.

What are some important areas of self-improvement that impact our lives? Just a few would include learning, creativity, contributing, caring, protecting, health, and exercise. Each of these will change who we are over time. Getting better is how we increase our contribution and our opportunities. Our habits don’t have to be subject to the surrounding environment or world events.

Time Management Becomes Our Secret Weapon

These improvements are possible with improved time management. The most efficient time management for improvement is creating time blocks for activities that are priorities. We have to decide which activities would add the most to our self-improvement or life enjoyment and schedule them. We eliminate the time wasting or non-productive activities and create a lot of extra time.

Important criteria for these activities is challenge and risk. Growth comes from challenging our capabilities and risking failure. For great achievers, failure is not a fear but an opportunity to learn faster. A start up wants to fail often to learn faster than its competition.

Flow Takes Us to New Heights

Seek flow in challenging activities in which we understand the mechanics and try to raise the bar on a slow but steady pace. Stephen Kotler, flow specialist, says a 4% increase in difficulty is all that is needed to enter flow. In flow, we engage in an activity in which we have some competence, and we block the judgmental prefrontal cortex and act with complete confidence. We become creative in meeting the challenge. All the happiness hormones and neurotransmitters rush in to assist us.

Find areas of learning which will contribute to our goals. Find areas to be creative to find new ideas, make us better competitors, or solve problems that will advance our cause. Look for our learning to make us better contributors. Our rewards come from increasing our value. Improve our relationships with ourselves, our intimates, our friends, co-workers, organizations, community, and Nature. Our connections are our lifelines.

Health and Exercise are Central to Thriving

Health and exercise are important for our vitality and support our constant challenges. We need energy, stamina, resilience, relaxation, recovery, solitude, and spiritual connections. We need to be vibrant regardless of our field of endeavor. Improving health and vitality are their own rewards and create a thriving all their own.

Select each area of growth and list the activities that can be included. Create the time block for the highest energy activities to match our highest energy periods during the day. For many, creativity requires the most energy and the calmest nervous system so creativity is the first activity of the day.

Learning is a Tool Exercised by Most Leaders

Learning requires energy and a clear mind so it has to be scheduled when we can focus. Exercise is demanding and often refreshing so select the right time spot. Time for creating healthy meals and doing the shopping has to be scheduled. Solitude is important for our nervous system to deliver creative energy. Meditating first thing regardless of my schedule is a priority.

Daily habits develop momentum. Each day we become more efficient and productive. We enjoy our progress. We become more optimistic because our discipline delivers measurable results. We soon realize that our discipline pointed at any goal can achieve measurable results and success.

As we develop passions for our progress which is a natural by product, we develop resilience against anything that would stand in our way. Pretty soon we are a force. We have a path that transcends all the other occurrences in our environment. We are on our own trajectory that can transcend the difficulties and obstacles that are part of any reality. We will emerge into a new level of productivity that clearly is our purpose and the reason we are here.

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As a Thriving Worker Consultant, I can engage in conversations with employers on how to begin the process of helping workers thrive and reach peak performance. It begins with a conversation to see how far an organization is willing to go to change the culture for workers.

Great practices for daily living can be learned with the Markap Series of Books. If your organization would like live presentations or Zoom meetings, they can be arranged for small to large groups.

The Markap Books:

Self-Leadership, Gratitude, Happiness, and Start Now

See Books on the Home Page

Contact me at Mark@markap1.com

Call for a Free 20-minute consultation. 442-288-3364