Latest / Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development Podcast by Daryl Chow, Ph.D. / HomeKit: Helping Your Clients Get Unstuck (Parts III to VI)⭕️
Transcript
- 0:02SPEAKER_00: In today's episode,
- 0:04I'm going to be featuring the last four parts of the sneak
- 0:09preview of HomeKit,
- 0:11which is an audio whisper-in-your-ear companion to help you get
- 0:15unstuck in sticky
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: situations.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: And the last four parts that we'll be covering today are on the topic of
- 0:23SPEAKER_00: discipline,
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: expressing love,
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: procrastination and stress.
- 0:31SPEAKER_00: There's more to come in this series in HomeKit.
- 0:35SPEAKER_00: You can use these ideas and apply them
- 0:38with your clients or with yourself or with other people that
- 0:41you're trying to be of
- 0:42help with and this series will be released in its full entirety
- 0:47throughout the year
- 0:50and you will be able to access them when they get released if
- 0:53you are interested
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: the coupon code for 25 off will expire by tomorrow on the 12th of october
- 1:042025 the promo code to use is full circles vip that's
- 1:10f-u-l-l-c-i-r-c-l-e-s vip and
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: the link to go to access for subscribing to the use of home kit
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: is darylchow.com slash homekit.
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: That's D-A-R-Y-L-C-H-O-W dot com slash homekit.
- 1:35SPEAKER_00: That's H-O-M-E-K-I-T.
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: This is not a subscription service,
- 1:41SPEAKER_00: it's a one-off payment,
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: or rather it's a payment that is paid every month for the first
- 1:47SPEAKER_00: 12 months.
- 1:48And the reason for this is so that I will take time off from my
- 1:52clinical practice,
- 1:53some time off that so that I will be able to record and get
- 1:56this available to as
- 1:57SPEAKER_00: much people as possible.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: That's my aim for people to be able to use this as and when you need it.
- 2:04SPEAKER_00: So once again,
- 2:05go to darylchild.com slash home kit to check out more and don't
- 2:09forget to use the
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: promo code which expires tomorrow.
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: For now, you get to access
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: These four more episodes,
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: if you've missed them,
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: there were two more previously that were featured in this podcast.
- 2:23SPEAKER_00: The first one that we talked about was about anxiety.
- 2:27SPEAKER_00: And then we had the second part on assertiveness.
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: And if you like to jump around,
- 2:32I'll put the timestamp in the show notes so that you can look
- 2:36through them.
- 2:37SPEAKER_00: But without further ado, let's turn to HomeKit.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: The amateurs have goals, says the creator of Dilbert comic, Scott Adams.
- 2:56SPEAKER_00: And the pros have a system.
- 3:00SPEAKER_00: A system is how discipline looks like.
- 3:05Let's look at how we could do this with three different related
- 3:09strategies.
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: The first, make a big decision to avoid small decisions.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: Making a big decision requires commitment.
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: And to commit is to say,
- 3:24I care about this thing enough that I make a promise to show up
- 3:28for this even when
- 3:29SPEAKER_00: my feelings aren't feeling it at the moment in time.
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: To commit is to bind your intentions with your actions.
- 3:38To commit then is to say,
- 3:40I'm making a pre-big decision so that I avoid all other big
- 3:47decisions.
- 3:49For example,
- 3:50I commit to meeting my mates every Thursday evening to play
- 3:54soccer.
- 3:56I commit to this woman that I love so that I stop looking to
- 3:59hook up with someone else.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: I commit to writing every morning because I want to be a writer.
- 4:07What is something that you care about that you need to make a
- 4:11practical pre-decision?
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: That is, making a big decision to avoid small decisions.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: Once we make that big decision,
- 4:22we outsource the moment-by-moment decision-making to our better
- 4:27self and lean on
- 4:29SPEAKER_00: it.
- 4:30SPEAKER_00: And you can also think about using pre-commitment devices,
- 4:34SPEAKER_00: as the social sciences would name it as,
- 4:37SPEAKER_00: to help you in this process.
- 4:38SPEAKER_00: So for example, I use a particular app called Beeminder.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: Basically, it's a free app except that
- 4:48When you do not meet the things that you state that you want to
- 4:52commit,
- 4:53you lose money.
- 4:55So this particular app taps into this very strong psychological
- 4:59factor of loss
- 5:01SPEAKER_00: aversion,
- 5:01SPEAKER_00: which is spending money,
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: let's say $2 or $5 to buy something.
- 5:07It's very different from losing $2 or $5 because you didn't do
- 5:13something where you
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: lost that value.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: So the first time when I started using BeMinder some years ago,
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: I wanted to track one thing that I really care about,
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: which is I want to consistently be writing every day,
- 5:29SPEAKER_00: every morning,
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: in fact.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: And to do this,
- 5:32it means that I would have to update the app whenever I punch
- 5:36in 500 words or so or
- 5:38SPEAKER_00: more,
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: and then that will calculate as an input.
- 5:42one time i forgot to update the app and i remember losing like
- 5:46two dollars or
- 5:47something and you know two dollars isn't much comparing the
- 5:51fact that we spend
- 5:52twice that amount for a cup of coffee these days and i remember
- 5:56feeling really
- 5:56upset about just losing the money and i had to write to them
- 5:58and say hey you know
- 5:59that was just a honest mistake that i didn't update it on time
- 6:03because of traveling
- 6:04SPEAKER_00: and the time clock was different at different countries and so on
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: But basically, I was tracking things that really matter.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: And I got to tell you, it's a really funny thing because
- 6:16Just that idea that I might lose money if I don't do the thing
- 6:20that I said,
- 6:21SPEAKER_00: I really find it important,
- 6:23SPEAKER_00: that I really care about,
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: that I'm not doing it.
- 6:26SPEAKER_00: And then I might lose money because I didn't do it.
- 6:28SPEAKER_00: It just sucks.
- 6:29SPEAKER_00: It just feels really bad about that.
- 6:32SPEAKER_00: So you could think about binding yourselves,
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: as I mentioned,
- 6:35SPEAKER_00: about binding your intentions together with your proactive intention.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: actions that you take, but the things that you want to commit.
- 6:43So this is really useful for habit formation when you think
- 6:47about making a big
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: decision to avoid small ongoing decisions.
- 6:53SPEAKER_00: The second strategy is to create a daily, weekly rhythm.
- 7:01SPEAKER_00: Once you learn to make big decisions so as to avoid small ones,
- 7:04SPEAKER_00: you understand that discipline comes from having a system.
- 7:11SPEAKER_00: And a system comes from having a rhythm.
- 7:16SPEAKER_00: Now, I know you might be thinking, wait, doesn't this mean a schedule?
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: Yes,
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: it's related to a schedule,
- 7:24but I'm using rhythm specifically because it connotes a very
- 7:27important thing that
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: you want a consistent rhythm,
- 7:31SPEAKER_00: a consistent set of tempo of where you're going.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: And when you design the tempo, you're locked in.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: Just like when a band is playing,
- 7:39SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 7:39SPEAKER_00: lots of stuff can go on on top in the melody or the guitars that plays.
- 7:44But the bass and the drums has to be locked in to provide this
- 7:48foundation for you
- 7:50SPEAKER_00: to do what you need to do.
- 7:52SPEAKER_00: So a system is something that is repeatable.
- 7:57And I would argue to create a rhythm that is based on two
- 8:02things,
- 8:03the daily and the weekly.
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: Now, why daily and weekly?
- 8:08SPEAKER_00: Daily because how we spend our days is how we experience our lives.
- 8:13SPEAKER_00: So when we can manage our days from the way that we begin,
- 8:17it really helps when the way we come to the end of the day
- 8:20weekly because that's
- 8:22typically how far we can make a consistent plan for and when
- 8:25you have that rhythm
- 8:27stretch across seven days it really helps to ease in because
- 8:31not every day is the
- 8:32same so for some people every monday they would do something
- 8:36specific in their work
- 8:37and tuesdays to be something else so you can't be the same for
- 8:40all across the days
- 8:42SPEAKER_00: that's one of the other reasons why daily and weekly would work
- 8:45SPEAKER_00: Now, can we do monthlies?
- 8:47Well,
- 8:47monthly plans are possible,
- 8:49like a special outing each month with the family.
- 8:52But monthly plans can only work when the daily and weekly
- 8:57rhythms are locked in place.
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: What about quarterly, yearly, and five-yearly sort of plans?
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: Those are fine, but they are goals and are much harder as a system.
- 9:11So you could make really audacious long-term plans of where you
- 9:15want to be
- 9:16financially or where you want your business or where you want
- 9:19your relationships to
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: be.
- 9:21SPEAKER_00: Those are fine, but those are
- 9:23SPEAKER_00: ultimately goals that you set out for.
- 9:26We're talking about creating a system and how we can create a
- 9:31system is to have
- 9:33SPEAKER_00: good rhythmic value.
- 9:35These things start to mesh up to give you the thing that we
- 9:39call discipline.
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: The third strategy is to measure progress.
- 9:49A sense of progress is one of the biggest dose of daily
- 9:52motivation you can give yourself.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: Use visual means if you have to.
- 9:58SPEAKER_00: In fact, I would suggest that you do have visual means of progress.
- 10:02SPEAKER_00: So when I was writing the last book,
- 10:04SPEAKER_00: Crossing Between Walls,
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: I would have a thing called a snake chart,
- 10:09and I would just plan out each little thing that I'll be
- 10:12working on as if it was
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: little snakes and ladders that are climbing.
- 10:16on a piece of butcher paper on the wall you could do this
- 10:19digitally you could do
- 10:20this analog it doesn't matter as long as you could see it and
- 10:23you're tracking where
- 10:24are you and where you're going and how much more is ahead
- 10:28that's really helpful
- 10:29because it gives you a sense that whatever you're doing you're
- 10:32not procrastinating
- 10:34or doing something else that's deviating from that path you're
- 10:38doing things that's
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: progressive what's visible becomes visceral so make
- 10:46the measure of your progress visible to you so that it feeds
- 10:51this loop within you
- 10:53SPEAKER_00: of each step that you're taking,
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: no matter how fast or slow you are making progress.
- 11:05Now that we've covered grounds about how the strategies to
- 11:10develop discipline,
- 11:12here's why.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: Discipline cannot solely be relied on willpower.
- 11:22Discipline requires the will to commitment plus a system to see
- 11:28it through into future days.
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: Think of discipline as the following equation.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: The will to commit plus a system plus rhythm and progress.
- 11:49SPEAKER_00: As mentioned at the outset of this particular section,
- 11:53SPEAKER_00: famed cartoonist for Dilbert Scott Adams notes,
- 11:57SPEAKER_00: My preposition is that if you study people who succeed,
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: you will see that most of them follow systems,
- 12:04SPEAKER_00: not goals.
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: He has more to say about this distinction between goals and systems.
- 12:10Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success
- 12:15failure at best and
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: permanent failure at worst if things never work out.
- 12:22Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems in
- 12:27the sense that they
- 12:28SPEAKER_00: did what they intended to do.
- 12:32The goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at
- 12:36each turn.
- 12:38SPEAKER_00: The systems people are feeling good every time they apply their system.
- 12:44That's a big difference in terms of maintaining your personal
- 12:47energy in the right direction.
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: Now,
- 12:52SPEAKER_00: if you have an allergic reaction to this sort of system and structure,
- 12:57SPEAKER_00: treat all of this as a creative constraint.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: Now,
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: take for example,
- 13:04SPEAKER_00: if you were given a brief to make anything,
- 13:08SPEAKER_00: that could be too vague and overwhelming.
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: On the other hand,
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: if you were given a brief that says,
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: use colors from our logo,
- 13:15SPEAKER_00: which consists of red,
- 13:16SPEAKER_00: blue,
- 13:17SPEAKER_00: and white,
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: along with the themes of Legos,
- 13:21SPEAKER_00: Now that's much more useful creatively because of the constraint.
- 13:27SPEAKER_00: Purposefully giving yourself that little constraint is very helpful.
- 13:31SPEAKER_00: A system to help you develop your daily,
- 13:35weekly discipline is going to help you close the gap between
- 13:42your intention and
- 13:44SPEAKER_00: your actions.
- 13:55SPEAKER_00: Expressing love.
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love.
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: Thich Nhan Ha.
- 14:07In the way that we love people in our lives,
- 14:10are we loving or wounding others?
- 14:16Here's three ideas to think about taken from my last book,
- 14:21Crossing Between Walls.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: The first is, I see you.
- 14:27When Roseanne was a preteen,
- 14:29she expressed a desire to do something important in her life.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: She wanted to write and be a musician.
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just a passing feeling, but her mother was worried.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: To a degree, her concerns were warranted.
- 14:44Her mother wondered whether Roseanne would follow in her
- 14:48father's footsteps.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: Not only was he on the road most of the time,
- 14:53SPEAKER_00: he also struggled with alcohol and substance abuse.
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: Her father was the cultural icon country singer Johnny Cash.
- 15:04Roseanne Cash was conflicted because she saw how her father's
- 15:09addiction affected him.
- 15:11SPEAKER_00: Still, she wanted to connect with him.
- 15:15I remember when I was about 12 years of age,
- 15:17I wrote a letter to him,
- 15:18said Roseanne.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: I said that I had things inside me I wanted to do.
- 15:23I was opening up,
- 15:26telling him I wanted to do important things,
- 15:28to write and so on.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: He wrote back and said, I see that you see as I see.
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: This meant the world to Roseanne.
- 15:42SPEAKER_00: I always held on to that.
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: Being seen by another is truly powerful.
- 15:51SPEAKER_00: Our task is not to change others,
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: but to see who they really are,
- 15:57to nurture their nature and encourage them to find their own
- 16:01path to fully express
- 16:03SPEAKER_00: their gifts.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: Picture someone you care about right now.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: Take a moment to vivify this person in your mind's eye.
- 16:16SPEAKER_00: Begin to see who that person really is on the inside,
- 16:22SPEAKER_00: who they are as an individual,
- 16:24SPEAKER_00: and imagine yourself embracing that as completely as you can,
- 16:29SPEAKER_00: and then say,
- 16:31SPEAKER_00: I see you.
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: Many times in our lives,
- 16:38SPEAKER_00: we are unable to say to the person we love,
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: I see that you see as I see,
- 16:45SPEAKER_00: because we simply see different things.
- 16:48SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
- 16:51Our task,
- 16:52if love is our highest aim,
- 16:55is to be able to say,
- 16:58I see you and I love you.
- 17:03Call to mind others who saw you and encouraged more of you to
- 17:10come to the fore.
- 17:13SPEAKER_00: Keep these people close in your memory.
- 17:18SPEAKER_00: Practice loving by nurturing the nature of others.
- 17:24SPEAKER_00: Then you can say, I see you.
- 17:30SPEAKER_01: Second, soften.
- 17:35SPEAKER_00: Tenderness is not a weakness.
- 17:39There is a deep fear that when we open up and soften down,
- 17:44we become woundable.
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: There is a risk of getting hurt.
- 17:51Placing your heart in a glass bottle is a way to protect it
- 17:55from the wounds of
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: living,
- 17:57SPEAKER_00: but it makes it as much harder for anything,
- 18:01SPEAKER_00: much less love,
- 18:02SPEAKER_00: to come in.
- 18:05SPEAKER_00: Trust requires risk, and who we trust matters.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: We can't just say, learn to trust.
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: We must think, who am I going to learn to trust, to end trust?
- 18:22To work on things you care about requires you to exert a level
- 18:26of strength and
- 18:27SPEAKER_00: focus on the task at hand.
- 18:30SPEAKER_00: it requires you to fortify your will and discipline.
- 18:34SPEAKER_00: To love the people you care about,
- 18:37SPEAKER_00: on the other hand,
- 18:38SPEAKER_00: requires you to do just the opposite,
- 18:42SPEAKER_00: which is to soften.
- 18:45To soften is quite literally to loosen our masculine grip,
- 18:50to ease our body.
- 18:54SPEAKER_00: Then it is to catch our breath and regulate our emotions.
- 18:59SPEAKER_00: We don't need to stare with laser-like focus or squint with intensity.
- 19:06SPEAKER_00: We can consciously soften our eyes.
- 19:11SPEAKER_00: On the inside,
- 19:12we begin to open and avail ourselves of others to make room for
- 19:16the people you care
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: about,
- 19:18SPEAKER_00: to inhabit in our hearts.
- 19:21You might want to do this after a day's work before you open
- 19:25the door to your home
- 19:26SPEAKER_00: and say,
- 19:27SPEAKER_00: Hi kids.
- 19:31SPEAKER_00: We can only grow things when the ground is soft.
- 19:35SPEAKER_00: We can only connect when our hearts are softened.
- 19:40SPEAKER_00: Practice softening your heart when you go home to the people you love.
- 19:49SPEAKER_00: And here's the third idea.
- 19:52SPEAKER_00: Close the gap between our intentions and its effects.
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: In his seminal book,
- 19:58SPEAKER_00: The Art of Loving,
- 20:00SPEAKER_00: Eric Fromm writes,
- 20:02SPEAKER_00: people think that to love is simple,
- 20:04SPEAKER_00: but that to find the right object to love or to be loved by is difficult.
- 20:12If you're in any kind of long-term relationship,
- 20:14you know this to be true.
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: Love is hard work.
- 20:19SPEAKER_00: Love is more than a noun.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: Love is a verb.
- 20:24SPEAKER_00: It is asking for us to align our behavior with our intent.
- 20:29What we need to do in perspective getting is learn to ask
- 20:34questions in order to
- 20:35SPEAKER_00: hear them and alter our perspective.
- 20:40SPEAKER_00: For example, asking the following questions.
- 20:45SPEAKER_00: What's on your mind?
- 20:47SPEAKER_00: And don't stop there, follow up by asking, what else?
- 20:51SPEAKER_00: Tell me.
- 20:53SPEAKER_00: What is something missing that you need?
- 20:55SPEAKER_00: Help me see what you see.
- 20:59SPEAKER_00: What's happening for you that I might be unaware of?
- 21:05Outrospection acts as a potential inoculation against our good
- 21:11intentions going bad.
- 21:15SPEAKER_00: Outrospection is different from introspection.
- 21:19SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is the thought that counts, but also the thought's effects.
- 21:26SPEAKER_00: I can religiously water my plants on a daily basis,
- 21:28but if I'm not opening my eyes to the effects of overhydration
- 21:33on my green
- 21:33SPEAKER_00: companions,
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: it can kill some of them.
- 21:38We can learn to understand the impact of our intentions through
- 21:42inquiring about the
- 21:43SPEAKER_00: effects on the other.
- 21:46Your good intention of doing everything for your loved one may
- 21:50come from a place of
- 21:51SPEAKER_00: love,
- 21:52SPEAKER_00: but if you learn about its effects,
- 21:55SPEAKER_00: you might find out that it robs the person of feeling like they have any
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: self-agency.
- 22:03Love is an expansion requiring you to look outside of yourself,
- 22:09therefore outrospection.
- 22:12By closing the gap between your intentions and its effects,
- 22:16you expand the size of your heart.
- 22:19SPEAKER_00: When our hearts are small,
- 22:21SPEAKER_00: we can't accept or tolerate others of their shortcomings,
- 22:25SPEAKER_00: and we demand that they change,
- 22:27SPEAKER_00: said Thich Nhat Ha.
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: But when our hearts expand,
- 22:32SPEAKER_00: we accept others as they are,
- 22:35SPEAKER_00: and then they have a chance to transform.
- 22:40SPEAKER_00: So practice checking the effects of your intentions,
- 22:44SPEAKER_00: followed by the willingness to recalibrate your actions.
- 22:53Now that we have looked at those three ideas,
- 22:56the first,
- 22:57which is,
- 22:57I see you.
- 22:59SPEAKER_00: And second, to soften your heart.
- 23:02SPEAKER_00: And then third, to close the gap between our intentions and effects.
- 23:06SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the reasons why.
- 23:10Expressing our love to love is probably the most important art
- 23:16form to learn.
- 23:17SPEAKER_00: Pioneering Family Therapist Virginia Satir wrote the following poem.
- 23:25SPEAKER_00: I want to love you without clutching,
- 23:28SPEAKER_00: appreciate you without judging,
- 23:32SPEAKER_00: join you without invading,
- 23:34SPEAKER_00: invite you without demanding,
- 23:37SPEAKER_00: leave you without guilt,
- 23:40SPEAKER_00: criticize you without blaming,
- 23:42SPEAKER_00: and help you without insulting.
- 23:47If I can have the same from you,
- 23:49then we can truly meet and enrich each other.
- 23:57If we fail to treat it as an art form,
- 23:59we risk wounding the ones we love.
- 24:03SPEAKER_00: We grip too tight or we hold too loosely.
- 24:07SPEAKER_00: We become too possessive or we become too passive.
- 24:12To love is to act on what is hidden in our hearts and direct it
- 24:18to the ones we care about.
- 24:21SPEAKER_00: In a deep sense, union is what we are all seeking.
- 24:43Procrastination happens when we are facing something important
- 24:49on the outside that
- 24:52SPEAKER_00: elicits inner anxieties beckoning us.
- 24:57SPEAKER_00: Can you face your own frontier?
- 25:03Isn't it interesting that when faced with a task at hand that
- 25:08requires us to sit
- 25:09SPEAKER_00: down,
- 25:09SPEAKER_00: focus and get the work done,
- 25:13SPEAKER_00: go get the vacuum cleaner,
- 25:15SPEAKER_00: approach the guest room,
- 25:17SPEAKER_00: clean out all the little corners of that room,
- 25:20SPEAKER_00: and then proceed to the kitchen and wash the dishes.
- 25:25This is because when we are faced with a task,
- 25:28especially one that we care about,
- 25:31we are faced with our inner thoughts and all the feelings that
- 25:36would arise from
- 25:37SPEAKER_00: doing something that really matters,
- 25:40SPEAKER_00: or even when we need to get some things done,
- 25:42SPEAKER_00: like an assignment or a project or a proposal.
- 25:48SPEAKER_00: As such,
- 25:50one of the key ways is to face our inner thoughts and feelings
- 25:55that arises when
- 25:56SPEAKER_00: we're trying to get something done.
- 25:58SPEAKER_00: And one of the gateways to that
- 26:01SPEAKER_00: is boredom.
- 26:04SPEAKER_00: This is one of the most common challenges that many of us,
- 26:10SPEAKER_00: especially in this modern age,
- 26:12SPEAKER_00: we face.
- 26:14SPEAKER_00: That is procrastination.
- 26:17SPEAKER_00: Procrastination,
- 26:18it is like a beast that haunts us every time when we have
- 26:21something important or
- 26:23SPEAKER_00: even meaningful that we want to do.
- 26:26I want to talk about the three things you can be doing and then
- 26:30we'll look at why
- 26:32SPEAKER_00: that is the case.
- 26:33SPEAKER_00: And here is how.
- 26:35SPEAKER_00: The first is boredom.
- 26:39SPEAKER_00: Boredom is the antidote to the issue of procrastination.
- 26:45SPEAKER_00: Boredom is something that we want to avoid.
- 26:48SPEAKER_00: But the thing is,
- 26:49SPEAKER_00: if we know how to sit with boredom,
- 26:53SPEAKER_00: even for a handful of minutes,
- 26:55SPEAKER_00: it will be a great help to getting you started.
- 26:59SPEAKER_00: Remember,
- 27:00SPEAKER_00: the thing is not about getting from A to Z.
- 27:03SPEAKER_00: The main issue is getting from A to B.
- 27:08SPEAKER_00: And boredom,
- 27:09SPEAKER_00: boredom is our gateway.
- 27:12SPEAKER_00: Second, a fixed time.
- 27:15SPEAKER_00: So give yourself about 15 minutes.
- 27:18SPEAKER_00: Turn on the timer.
- 27:20And sometimes the pain of actually sitting with the bottom is
- 27:24worse than actually
- 27:26SPEAKER_00: doing the task at hand.
- 27:28SPEAKER_00: You might just end up doing it straight away.
- 27:31SPEAKER_00: So learn to bear with that.
- 27:33Learn to sit down with no other things to distract or get your
- 27:38attention focused on elsewhere.
- 27:40SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting down and you're trying to do some piece of writing,
- 27:45SPEAKER_00: just stare at that screen,
- 27:46SPEAKER_00: that blank page.
- 27:48SPEAKER_00: Let that cursor blink and blink as if it's trying to curse at you.
- 27:53SPEAKER_00: But don't worry, it's not going to harm you.
- 27:55SPEAKER_00: Nothing's going to happen to you.
- 27:57SPEAKER_00: Just sit there for 15 minutes,
- 27:59SPEAKER_00: turn on the timer and allow yourself with no substitution,
- 28:03SPEAKER_00: but just you and your mind.
- 28:06SPEAKER_00: And then the next thing is to do before planning.
- 28:12SPEAKER_00: This is a bit counterintuitive.
- 28:13SPEAKER_00: Usually we would say,
- 28:14SPEAKER_00: plan on what you're going to do,
- 28:16SPEAKER_00: draft it all out,
- 28:17SPEAKER_00: and then jump and go ahead and do that.
- 28:20SPEAKER_00: That's fine if that gets you going,
- 28:22but sometimes it's actually useful to just fly off and shoot
- 28:27from your hips.
- 28:29SPEAKER_00: Just go ahead and get it started.
- 28:32SPEAKER_00: So for example,
- 28:33SPEAKER_00: if you have a topic about writing a certain topic,
- 28:38let's say you're trying to write about why modern buildings are
- 28:42built that way,
- 28:43SPEAKER_00: you do not need to do the research first.
- 28:45You could actually just go with the constraint of what you
- 28:49already know or what you
- 28:51SPEAKER_00: think you know,
- 28:53SPEAKER_00: and just fire it up,
- 28:54SPEAKER_00: do the outline,
- 28:56SPEAKER_00: get it started.
- 28:57And then after you've got that piece done where you squeeze all
- 29:02the lemon juice out
- 29:03SPEAKER_00: of whatever information you have in your mind prior,
- 29:07SPEAKER_00: then go back and start doing the research.
- 29:11SPEAKER_00: That is because you really are trying to get from point A to B first.
- 29:18SPEAKER_00: Point A to B is the steepest slope.
- 29:22SPEAKER_00: When you get that started, it feels really rewarding.
- 29:27SPEAKER_00: The motivation would come from doing that.
- 29:30SPEAKER_00: And then you can go B to C,
- 29:32SPEAKER_00: which is doing a little bit more planning,
- 29:34SPEAKER_00: mapping a little bit out,
- 29:36SPEAKER_00: maybe even starting to tweak and to adjust and realize that,
- 29:40SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 29:41SPEAKER_00: you might've got some things wrong initially.
- 29:44SPEAKER_00: This sounds relatively simple, isn't it?
- 29:46SPEAKER_00: Just be bored when you're trying to get something done.
- 29:49SPEAKER_00: But boredom is something that we experience as a form of psychic pain.
- 29:56SPEAKER_00: Here is why boredom,
- 29:59SPEAKER_00: giving yourself a fixed time and do before planning really helps with
- 30:04SPEAKER_00: procrastination.
- 30:06Tim Wilson and his colleagues did a really interesting study
- 30:10with undergraduate
- 30:11SPEAKER_00: students,
- 30:12and they were basically asked to just sit in an empty room by
- 30:14themselves with
- 30:15SPEAKER_00: absolutely nothing to do and be alone with their own thoughts.
- 30:20SPEAKER_00: But they had one other option,
- 30:23SPEAKER_00: which was to zap themselves with a mile-level electrocution,
- 30:28SPEAKER_00: pressing a shock button.
- 30:30SPEAKER_00: Even though many said that they won't,
- 30:32SPEAKER_00: but when they are asked to sit down with absolutely nothing to do,
- 30:36SPEAKER_00: many of them end up hitting that button.
- 30:40SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing.
- 30:41SPEAKER_00: If you can train yourself to sit with no substitution,
- 30:47SPEAKER_00: that is,
- 30:48SPEAKER_00: no doing other things,
- 30:49no doing the laundry or go wash the dishes or scroll through
- 30:54your social media
- 30:54SPEAKER_00: feeds,
- 30:56SPEAKER_00: absolutely no substitution,
- 30:58SPEAKER_00: Turn on a timer and do that for about 15 minutes.
- 31:04Learn to sit with that before engaging on the project or the
- 31:09task that you're about to do.
- 31:11SPEAKER_00: This will really help you to get you started.
- 31:16SPEAKER_00: So boredom 1%.
- 31:18SPEAKER_00: about a situated time of 15 minutes.
- 31:22And sometimes the pain of actually sitting with the bottom is
- 31:25worse than actually
- 31:27SPEAKER_00: doing the task at hand.
- 31:30SPEAKER_00: You might just end up doing it straight away.
- 31:32SPEAKER_00: So learn to bear with that.
- 31:34Learn to sit down with no other things to distract or get your
- 31:40attention focused on elsewhere.
- 31:42SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting down and you're trying to do some piece of writing,
- 31:46SPEAKER_00: just stare at that screen,
- 31:48SPEAKER_00: that blank page,
- 31:49SPEAKER_00: let that cursor blink and blink as if it's trying to curse at you.
- 31:54SPEAKER_00: But don't worry, it's not going to harm you.
- 31:57SPEAKER_00: Nothing's going to happen to you.
- 31:58SPEAKER_00: Just sit there for 15 minutes,
- 32:00SPEAKER_00: turn on the timer and allow yourself with no substitution,
- 32:05SPEAKER_00: but just you and your mind.
- 32:08SPEAKER_00: On a side note,
- 32:11Testing yourself and squeezing as much as you can before doing
- 32:15any sort of learning
- 32:16SPEAKER_00: or research is actually a really helpful way to increase your learning.
- 32:21So this is sometimes called pre-testing in the learning
- 32:24sciences instead of
- 32:26SPEAKER_00: Learning for the test you are testing in order to know.
- 32:30So when you test yourself based on your prior knowledge and you
- 32:34try to squeeze and
- 32:37try to think about all that you might remember or you might
- 32:40have come across and
- 32:41SPEAKER_00: then get into the material,
- 32:43SPEAKER_00: you're more likely to be surprised,
- 32:44especially if the facts that you learned were surprising or you
- 32:49were wrong.
- 32:50SPEAKER_00: So that's also helpful.
- 32:51SPEAKER_00: But we are talking about procrastination.
- 32:54SPEAKER_00: So the three things about how you can beat this common beast is boredom,
- 33:02SPEAKER_00: giving yourself a fixed time,
- 33:05SPEAKER_00: and do before you start planning.
- 33:19SPEAKER_00: The late poet,
- 33:21SPEAKER_00: theologian and philosopher John O'Donohue said,
- 33:25SPEAKER_00: stress is a perverted relationship with time.
- 33:31SPEAKER_00: Stress is a perverted relationship with time.
- 33:38SPEAKER_00: Think of this in another way, stress as an equation.
- 33:43SPEAKER_00: Stress equals time multiplied by expectation.
- 33:49In other words,
- 33:51it's the lack of time multiplied by an increase of expectation
- 33:58on the self.
- 34:00SPEAKER_00: So here's how you could deal with stress.
- 34:05The first is aim to achieve less in a day so that you can
- 34:10achieve more in a year.
- 34:14One of the strategies about this is to do a multiplication of
- 34:191.5 times when you're
- 34:22SPEAKER_00: trying to do an activity.
- 34:24SPEAKER_00: This is one of my biggest struggles.
- 34:27SPEAKER_00: I tend to believe that I can squeeze in more than I can manage in a day,
- 34:30SPEAKER_00: especially the beginning of the morning.
- 34:34SPEAKER_00: I imagine I can get more done than I really can.
- 34:37So I usually take a piece of paper and I write down things that
- 34:40I would like to aim
- 34:41SPEAKER_00: for or get done.
- 34:43SPEAKER_00: And this is usually unrealistic.
- 34:46This is usually a sort of planning fallacy,
- 34:48which we'll talk about more later.
- 34:51Because of this planning fallacy,
- 34:53I tend to schedule more than I can actually handle in a day.
- 34:59SPEAKER_00: So consider your work activities.
- 35:01Meetings often end later than schedule,
- 35:05and that causes you to be late for the next appointment.
- 35:08SPEAKER_00: This lateness then snowballs until the end of the day.
- 35:12SPEAKER_00: Even your dinner gets delayed and even your bedtime gets delayed.
- 35:17SPEAKER_00: You know,
- 35:17SPEAKER_00: you sort of push for sleeping later and later,
- 35:19SPEAKER_00: sometimes referred to as sort of a revenge nighttime,
- 35:23SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 35:23SPEAKER_00: where you're trying to squeeze in a little bit more.
- 35:26A good method to inoculate yourself against this bias is to
- 35:31multiply all your
- 35:32SPEAKER_00: activities that you do roughly by 1.5 times.
- 35:36SPEAKER_00: Some people actually multiply it by two.
- 35:39SPEAKER_00: In other words,
- 35:40SPEAKER_00: if I have a one hour meeting scheduled at,
- 35:43SPEAKER_00: say,
- 35:44SPEAKER_00: 9am,
- 35:44SPEAKER_00: instead of locking in the next appointment at 10,
- 35:47SPEAKER_00: I would block out 9 to 9.15.
- 35:52SPEAKER_00: If the meeting ends on time,
- 35:53SPEAKER_00: which is often a rare treat,
- 35:56SPEAKER_00: take that time to consolidate key points from that encounter,
- 36:00SPEAKER_00: that engagement,
- 36:02SPEAKER_00: and get started on any follow-up.
- 36:03SPEAKER_00: So even, God forbid, give yourself a little breather.
- 36:09SPEAKER_00: I do this in my clinical practice now.
- 36:11SPEAKER_00: So I start off the day at 9.30 seeing a person.
- 36:15And then usually in the past,
- 36:17what I do is I would schedule back-to-back like 10.30 and
- 36:1911.30.
- 36:19SPEAKER_00: But instead now I buffer everything with a 15-minute schedule.
- 36:26SPEAKER_00: break in between,
- 36:27which sort of gives me some time in case if the session spills
- 36:31over or if it ends
- 36:32SPEAKER_00: on time,
- 36:33then I get a little breather or I take the time to consolidate
- 36:36what I've discussed,
- 36:37SPEAKER_00: write my notes and plan for the next person.
- 36:41The second sub-component of this strategy about aiming to
- 36:45achieve less than a day
- 36:46so that you can achieve more in a year is to build white space
- 36:51into your schedule.
- 36:53SPEAKER_00: White space is the direct opposite of doing something.
- 36:59SPEAKER_00: Build slack into your busy schedule.
- 37:03SPEAKER_00: Treat it like any other event in your calendar.
- 37:06SPEAKER_00: In fact, take a look at your schedule.
- 37:10SPEAKER_00: See how many events are squashed back to back each day.
- 37:16SPEAKER_00: Build some white space into your schedule so that you can breathe,
- 37:21SPEAKER_00: you can live a little,
- 37:22SPEAKER_00: and also paradoxically,
- 37:24SPEAKER_00: you can get more things done,
- 37:26SPEAKER_00: not in a day,
- 37:28SPEAKER_00: but in the longer time span of even quarterly,
- 37:32SPEAKER_00: half a year or a year.
- 37:36SPEAKER_00: So far,
- 37:37we've talked about this strategy of multiplying your activity
- 37:41time by 1.5 and
- 37:44SPEAKER_00: building in white space into your schedule.
- 37:48SPEAKER_00: The second strategy is to take the view of stress as the following.
- 37:56SPEAKER_00: Stress is not the problem.
- 37:59SPEAKER_00: A lack of recovery is...
- 38:05This is what Jim Lora and Tony Schwartz of the book The Power
- 38:10of Full Engagement say.
- 38:13SPEAKER_00: In order to build capacity,
- 38:15SPEAKER_00: we must systematically expose ourselves to more stress,
- 38:21SPEAKER_00: followed by adequate recovery.
- 38:25SPEAKER_00: You see,
- 38:26SPEAKER_00: most of us,
- 38:26SPEAKER_00: when we start a day,
- 38:28if you can imagine like an XY graph where X is the time and Y
- 38:34is the stress level,
- 38:35we kick off the day and stress sort of increases over time as
- 38:39we try to get focused
- 38:41and do multiple things at one time and straddle between our
- 38:44phone and our laptop.
- 38:45SPEAKER_00: And maybe when the message comes in,
- 38:46SPEAKER_00: or then when you have another task,
- 38:48SPEAKER_00: or then when an email bings,
- 38:50SPEAKER_00: We try to stay focused on that and reply.
- 38:52SPEAKER_00: And then where was I again?
- 38:55SPEAKER_00: What was I working on?
- 38:57SPEAKER_00: You know, we get scattered.
- 38:58SPEAKER_00: And then finally,
- 39:00SPEAKER_00: when we get into the flow of things,
- 39:02we stay in our seats and we work and work and work and work
- 39:06until when we are
- 39:07SPEAKER_00: totally exhausted.
- 39:10SPEAKER_00: What Jim Laura and Tony Schwartz recommend,
- 39:13and I recommend you reading the book if you have a chance to
- 39:15pick that up,
- 39:16SPEAKER_00: is that it is not stressed as issue.
- 39:19SPEAKER_00: It's the fact that we do not build in recovery periods.
- 39:24SPEAKER_00: Recovery meaning taking a short stroll,
- 39:27SPEAKER_00: going away for a short nap even,
- 39:30or even just getting off your seat and doing some stretches or
- 39:34relaxing your eye.
- 39:35SPEAKER_00: Because
- 39:36You know,
- 39:37we have an amount of attentional energy,
- 39:41metabolic energy that we can put all in.
- 39:43And it's usually about 60 to 90 minutes for others who are able
- 39:48to do that.
- 39:49But because of sometimes when we get stuck into the groove,
- 39:52we want to stay there.
- 39:54SPEAKER_00: But we think that we are in the flow,
- 39:56but actually we are burning out very quickly and we're
- 39:59stretching ourselves too
- 40:00SPEAKER_00: much.
- 40:01SPEAKER_00: So it's always good to plan for the balance,
- 40:05SPEAKER_00: like a rhythm of juxtaposition between stress and then recovery,
- 40:12SPEAKER_00: stress and recovery.
- 40:14SPEAKER_00: So now I have a clock that goes for an hour.
- 40:17SPEAKER_00: And then when the clock finishes, it reminds me.
- 40:20SPEAKER_00: that I need to step out,
- 40:21SPEAKER_00: maybe even for five minutes,
- 40:23SPEAKER_00: walk away,
- 40:24SPEAKER_00: go get a drink,
- 40:25SPEAKER_00: go for a toilet break,
- 40:26SPEAKER_00: and then come back.
- 40:27SPEAKER_00: I turn the clock again, and then the clock dials at a 16-minute span.
- 40:32So if you're interested,
- 40:33there are many digital tools like that that has a countdown
- 40:37timer.
- 40:37I would avoid using the phone because the phone has got other
- 40:41sort of apps that may
- 40:42SPEAKER_00: distract you from things.
- 40:44SPEAKER_00: I use one called a time timer.
- 40:46SPEAKER_00: I use this for myself, and I use this
- 40:48My kids take it and use it as well when they need to stay
- 40:51focused on doing certain
- 40:52things to remind them when reading time is up so that they can
- 40:56stop and they could
- 40:57SPEAKER_00: go and do something else.
- 41:00Professional athletes know this relationship between stress and
- 41:04recovery.
- 41:05SPEAKER_00: That is,
- 41:06SPEAKER_00: you cannot be pushing yourself all the time without periods of recovery,
- 41:12SPEAKER_00: because it is during the periods of recovery that actually we grow.
- 41:17That's where we start to expand and we will start to have
- 41:20muscular growth as well
- 41:22SPEAKER_00: in those periods of recovery.
- 41:24SPEAKER_00: But if it's stress all the time, you just run the risk of injury.
- 41:29SPEAKER_00: So more concretely for you,
- 41:32what I would suggest in this strategy is that you have periods
- 41:36where you're in deep
- 41:38SPEAKER_00: focus when you are working on something.
- 41:41SPEAKER_00: Give yourself a specific time.
- 41:43SPEAKER_00: And then when the alarm rings, take a break.
- 41:47SPEAKER_00: Have periods of recovery.
- 41:49SPEAKER_00: Go away from that environment for a little bit.
- 41:51SPEAKER_00: Step out of the office if you have to.
- 41:54SPEAKER_00: Go and take a walk.
- 41:55SPEAKER_00: Go get a glass of water.
- 41:56SPEAKER_00: Chat a little bit with your friends.
- 41:58SPEAKER_00: Come back again at the work that you're doing.
- 42:03SPEAKER_00: Now that we have looked at strategies to deal with stress,
- 42:07SPEAKER_00: that is your relationship with time and expectation.
- 42:11So you could multiply your activities by 1.5 and building in
- 42:15white space and also
- 42:17SPEAKER_00: understanding that stress in and of itself is not the issue.
- 42:21SPEAKER_00: It is the lack of recovery.
- 42:23SPEAKER_00: We need to start to think about why this is the case.
- 42:28SPEAKER_00: So here's why.
- 42:31SPEAKER_00: Another way of seeing this issue with stress,
- 42:34SPEAKER_00: machines are harmed by low-level stressors,
- 42:38SPEAKER_00: by material fatigue,
- 42:40SPEAKER_00: and organisms are harmed by the absence of low-level stress,
- 42:46SPEAKER_00: or homasis.
- 42:48SPEAKER_00: This is taken from Nassim Talib's Anti-Fragile,
- 42:51SPEAKER_00: and in Talib's framework,
- 42:52SPEAKER_00: he describes three different categories,
- 42:56SPEAKER_00: which is the fragile,
- 42:58SPEAKER_00: the robust,
- 42:59SPEAKER_00: and the anti-fragile.
- 43:01SPEAKER_00: So this is what he has to say about fragility.
- 43:04SPEAKER_00: Things that are vulnerable and are weakened by stressors and shocks.
- 43:08SPEAKER_00: They break under pressure.
- 43:10SPEAKER_00: Robustness.
- 43:12Things that are resilient and can handle or withstand stress
- 43:17without being
- 43:18SPEAKER_00: significantly affected.
- 43:20SPEAKER_00: They remain unchanged, minimally impacted.
- 43:24SPEAKER_00: Anti-fragile.
- 43:26is where things that are not only being able to withstand
- 43:29stress and volatility,
- 43:32SPEAKER_00: but actually improve and gain from such experiences,
- 43:36SPEAKER_00: they become stronger,
- 43:38SPEAKER_00: more resilient,
- 43:40SPEAKER_00: and better adapt to uncertainty.
- 43:44SPEAKER_00: Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire.
- 43:50SPEAKER_00: We need to take up that perspective of what it means to be anti-fragile.
- 43:57But that means that our relationship with time and expectation
- 44:02has to also evolve
- 44:04SPEAKER_00: along with that.
- 44:06SPEAKER_00: You know, the Japanese have a word for working yourself to death.
- 44:12SPEAKER_00: They call that karoshi.
- 44:14Karoshi is describing those men in Tokyo where they will be
- 44:19working themselves
- 44:21SPEAKER_00: really long hours.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: And then in the middle of the night,
- 44:24SPEAKER_00: as they're walking down the street,
- 44:25SPEAKER_00: they just collapse out of sheer overexhaustion,
- 44:29SPEAKER_00: probably from cardiac arrest,
- 44:32SPEAKER_00: and they pass away.
- 44:34SPEAKER_00: We don't want Kuroshi for ourselves.
- 44:37SPEAKER_00: And for the sake of people we love,
- 44:39we do also have to take care of ourselves and not to push
- 44:42ourselves like that.
- 44:44You know,
- 44:45we attempt to lead at the speed of life as if we can travel in
- 44:49the speed of light.
- 44:51SPEAKER_00: But the speed of life does not move at the speed of light.
- 44:56SPEAKER_00: This,
- 44:57SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 44:58has only dawned on me recently in my life and my attempts to
- 45:01deal with stresses was
- 45:03SPEAKER_00: in a civilized 21st century approach to living is to speed things up,
- 45:08SPEAKER_00: to go faster,
- 45:10SPEAKER_00: read faster,
- 45:11SPEAKER_00: write faster,
- 45:11SPEAKER_00: do things more efficiently,
- 45:13SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 45:14SPEAKER_00: even get the kids to bed even faster so that they could get enough sleep.
- 45:18SPEAKER_00: But all this adds up and mounts a lot of pressure.
- 45:24SPEAKER_00: Worse still, I've become impatient with other people in my life.
- 45:29People who were walking slow,
- 45:32people who were late,
- 45:33people who were blocking my way.
- 45:35SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 45:35SPEAKER_00: the truth is I was becoming agitated with the people I love in my family,
- 45:40SPEAKER_00: my wife and kids,
- 45:42SPEAKER_00: simply because in hindsight,
- 45:43SPEAKER_00: they weren't traveling in the same speed as I was.
- 45:49SPEAKER_00: I remember when my daughter was five years old,
- 45:52I remember very distinctively that my five-year-old at that
- 45:55time has a very
- 45:57SPEAKER_00: different concept of time.
- 45:59SPEAKER_00: It takes a fair amount of time to get ready and to go out.
- 46:07If we just pause and reflect that something's not quite right
- 46:13to live life at the
- 46:15SPEAKER_00: speed of light.
- 46:18SPEAKER_00: Therein lies the paradox.
- 46:20SPEAKER_00: Time speeds up when we are rushing.
- 46:25We see much more when we are walking by a same familiar street
- 46:30than we are driving
- 46:31SPEAKER_00: by in the comforts of our car.
- 46:34SPEAKER_00: So I'm grappling with this daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
- 46:39SPEAKER_00: This happens.
- 46:41SPEAKER_00: And the plan,
- 46:43the thing that we have to do is to subvert this urgency so that
- 46:49we can be part of
- 46:51SPEAKER_00: life and we can catch our breath.
- 46:55SPEAKER_00: The other issue,
- 46:56SPEAKER_00: as I kind of mentioned earlier in the strategy,
- 46:59SPEAKER_00: is this thing of planning fallacy.
- 47:01SPEAKER_00: This is a cognitive bias that many of us face.
- 47:04SPEAKER_00: I know I face this.
- 47:05SPEAKER_00: So for example,
- 47:06SPEAKER_00: like the last book that I wrote,
- 47:08SPEAKER_00: Crossing Between Walls,
- 47:10when I sat down to make the plans of how much time and what
- 47:15needs to be done from
- 47:17SPEAKER_00: the writing of the manuscript
- 47:19SPEAKER_00: the editing process with Sean Michalik,
- 47:21SPEAKER_00: my editor,
- 47:23SPEAKER_00: and also the book design recording of the audio book.
- 47:28SPEAKER_00: I thought,
- 47:28SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 47:28SPEAKER_00: give and take,
- 47:29SPEAKER_00: the draft,
- 47:31SPEAKER_00: the first pass could be done,
- 47:33SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 47:33SPEAKER_00: within nine months or 12 months.
- 47:37SPEAKER_00: But the truth is,
- 47:38it took me close to three years to finish that and three and a
- 47:42half years for the
- 47:43SPEAKER_00: whole process to be done.
- 47:44SPEAKER_00: And this is not the first time I'm writing a book.
- 47:48SPEAKER_00: This is probably my sixth book.
- 47:50And it's still,
- 47:51you know,
- 47:51I still fall into this sort of planning fallacy.
- 47:55Which is why the strategy of buffering by multiplying 1.5 more
- 48:02times seems to help.
- 48:03SPEAKER_00: I probably need to multiply bigger projects by twice, actually.
- 48:08But for the daily sort of stuff,
- 48:09you could think about multiplying by 1.5 times.
- 48:13The other issue that causes us stress is actually,
- 48:16strangely,
- 48:17the cost of interrupted work.
- 48:20A famous study published to show that when we are trying to
- 48:24focus on something,
- 48:25SPEAKER_00: it takes about 20 to 30 minutes before we are locked in.
- 48:30SPEAKER_00: And can you imagine when there's a lack of singular focus?
- 48:35SPEAKER_00: Primarily because our digital devices,
- 48:38SPEAKER_00: say our laptops,
- 48:40SPEAKER_00: are not primary functional devices,
- 48:42SPEAKER_00: meaning they don't operate like a typewriter.
- 48:44SPEAKER_00: There's like one single thing that you're doing.
- 48:47SPEAKER_00: It has our emails,
- 48:49SPEAKER_00: it has our messaging services,
- 48:50SPEAKER_00: it has our music devices,
- 48:52SPEAKER_00: and all of things that we could be doing.
- 48:56SPEAKER_00: So we get interrupted all the time.
- 48:59SPEAKER_00: That is why protecting your attention to focus on a singular thing,
- 49:04SPEAKER_00: to get into a state of flow,
- 49:06SPEAKER_00: which usually is more than 20 to 30 minutes,
- 49:08SPEAKER_00: it's really critical.
- 49:10SPEAKER_00: This is important that you protect your attention that way.
- 49:14Simon Sinek says,
- 49:16working hard for something you don't care about is called
- 49:20stress.
- 49:21SPEAKER_00: Working hard for something we care about is called passion.
- 49:26SPEAKER_00: That's quite well said.
- 49:28SPEAKER_00: You know,
- 49:29SPEAKER_00: when you're working at something that you care about,
- 49:31SPEAKER_00: you're less likely to feel like it's meaningless,
- 49:35SPEAKER_00: where there's no purpose in doing that.
- 49:38SPEAKER_00: More on this in the section on purpose.
- 49:55SPEAKER_00: This has been a sneak preview to HomeKit,
- 49:58SPEAKER_00: a whisper in your ear,
- 50:00just-in-time audio companion to help you get unstuck in sticky
- 50:03situations.
- 50:05SPEAKER_00: For more,
- 50:05SPEAKER_00: you could subscribe to my other Substack,
- 50:08SPEAKER_00: which is at fullcircles.substack.com,
- 50:12where I provide you my feel notes of my reflections of the
- 50:16inner and outer life.
- 50:18SPEAKER_00: And there's more to come in HomeKit.
- 50:21SPEAKER_00: Other topics would be available in due time.
- 50:24SPEAKER_00: Topics such as dealing with social anxiety,
- 50:29SPEAKER_00: burnout,
- 50:31SPEAKER_00: creating process,
- 50:32SPEAKER_00: how to help you even with public speaking,
- 50:35SPEAKER_00: dealing with self-criticism,
- 50:37SPEAKER_00: and so on.
- 50:38SPEAKER_00: More to come on this.
- 50:40So to stay tuned,
- 50:41you will be able to get this if you subscribe to HomeKit,
- 50:45SPEAKER_00: HomeKit, once again, the URL is darylchown.com slash HomeKit.
- 50:51SPEAKER_00: And if you want to use the promo code,
- 50:53SPEAKER_00: which is available till the end of tomorrow on the 12th of October,
- 50:58SPEAKER_00: 2025,
- 50:59SPEAKER_00: you could key that in to get a 25% off.
- 51:03Just key in full circles VIP once again,
- 51:07F U L L C I R C L E S VIP all in one string.
- 51:14And I was told you should type this in full caps as well to get
- 51:17this as a 25% off.
- 51:19SPEAKER_00: Once again, the promo code expires on the 12th of October.
- 51:23I hope you find this useful for your work and working with
- 51:28people you care about
- 51:29SPEAKER_00: with your clients.
- 51:31SPEAKER_00: And if you have any thoughts about this,
- 51:33SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear your feedback through the Substack platform.
- 51:37SPEAKER_00: If you could let me know how this has been for you.
- 51:41SPEAKER_00: And if there are other topics that you'd like to be covered as well,
- 51:44SPEAKER_00: please feel free to note it down in there.
- 51:49Once again,
- 51:49a big thank you for tuning in to Frontiers of Psychotherapists
- 51:54Development.