Keeping it simple
While having a posh afternoon tea in Cheltenham the other day, I was drawn towards this book: Brooke Mclary’s Destination Simple.
It is a short and simple read, as befits its title, but it offers great advice to those who feel they are rushing about all day, every day, but are actually achieving very little.
The book explains five simple ways to make your life more deliberate and offers suggestions for rituals you can develop within your own lives too.
By far the part that resonated most with me was the idea of single-tasking; I have long been an advocate of focusing on one thing.
In fact, for New Year I don’t make resolutions, I chose a keyword and make that my mantra for the next 12 months, and for the last two years my word has been ‘Focus‘.
Mindful Intention
This advice comes with a warning – as Brooke points out in her book, it is near impossible to get through a day living so deliberately, and she, therefore, suggests you choose certain everyday tasks; making your morning coffee, or brushing your teeth, and ritualise them. Make them the tasks you devote to fully, taking time for yourself in “mindful intention”.
It is with such purpose that I have decided to become more focused and deliberate. I know what I want to be doing in five years time, namely to be teaching English in Japan, and that to get into a position where my dream is achievable I need to do 3 main things:
- Sort my house and finances out – this is a work in progress which you can follow on this site. Improving my health along with this can only help!
- Improve my Japanese Language skills – I work on this daily and feel there is slow improvement.
- Remember that life is not something that will happen in five years time – While I want to focus on the long term, I need to remember that I cannot put everything on hold; so I will use my lists to keep me busy and having fun in the meantime.
I leave you with this:
So consider what you need to do, to be where you want to be… and FOCUS.