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Life Lessons
3 Tips For Getting More Done With Ease
If you’re a doer, an enthusiastic let’s-grab-life-by-the-throat person like me, you focus on Getting It Done.
But whizzing by the Opening and Closing parts of life is a mistake. As humans, we actually embody Opening and Closing with each heartbeat and each breath.
If you slow down to Open and Close properly you will be more calm, mindful, and grounded. Three helpful practices:
Mise En Place: You “open” cooking by prepping all your ingredients first. When you do that, you will not be worried about burning the onions because it took you too long to chop the mushrooms. In between steps, good cooks clean up or “close” as they go. You are Paying Attention In The Moment.
Prewrite/write/edit: The mindset needed for each step is different. I fail to “open” by not thinking or researching enough before starting to write. I fail to “close” properly by editing before finishing my vomit draft. The mental process for each step is so different, that mixing them becomes a toxic brew of writer’s block.
A place for every thing and everything in its place: I take the time to retrieve or produce what I’ll need for a task ahead of time. When I then sit down to do it, I waste no time or energy with logistics. There’s no sand in the gears and I can just get right to work. And when I’m done, by tying up all the loose ends (e.g. filing), I am truly free. The project doesn’t resurface as virtual or tangible clutter, which will get in the way of starting the next project.
Open and Close with intention, and you will find more ease in your life.
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