A couple of thoughts came to my mind. One is related to human creativity. Few years ago I read a book, "The Burnout Society", written by Byung-Chul Han (highly recommended btw), and he shares the fact that our generation lives under so much pressure to being active and productive that even in our free time we are convinced that we should being active and time doing "nothing" is basically wasting time. However, doing "nothing" is absolutelly necessary in order to improve the creative process, since it allows our mind to work in peace and ideas come more freely. So, for me rigid "discipline" sounds like a misconception when we talk about creativity.
The other idea is more conected to the consistency. We can be consistent in your habits and activities, without being so rigid and so disciplined. As you said, sometimes it's important to set some schedule and time block, altough we also need to be gentle with ourselves and sometimes bring flexibility to our plans, in order to keep the balance.
Got any examples of how this has worked for you? Ive gotten good with a morning routine by simplifying it significantly over time. It was a LOT at first, and I was really inconsistent from week to week...but then when I stripped it down to just a few breath cycles and some stretches, I eventually found myself looking forward to it every day
Well, I try to swim 2-3 times a week as part of my exercise routine and I used to feel frustraded when a I missed one day. Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed early morning to swim(for several reasons), so I decided to take a walk/run at the end of the day when I miss my swim classes (or sometimes just accept that I cannot exercise that day, and that's fine). Since then, I feel better with my routine and (surprisingly) now I'm able to keep my swim practice more consistent during the weeks.
Love it. Perfect is the enemy of progress! I like that idea of substituting something a little easier in. Essentially what I've been doing as well by trying to simplify and be patient with myself. Funny how after a few weeks what at first felt impossible feels inevitable.
Amen. Couldn’t agree more -- and it’s that balancing act between all of this (plus the unrealistic expectations for fast results) that I think leads to the struggle. I need unstructured time. I need to just do nothing and let my mind wonder...but I do also have the tendency to do too that as a form of procrastination/avoidance. So giving myself some structure is super helpful. But when I block out all of my time and try the rigid discipline approach, as you put it, I get stressed and disgruntled. I do think the big key is a gentle consistency. Love how you framed that. If you try to do something every day, do it 4/7, but keep on that general pace for a few months...it becomes a real habit that then should allow for more nothing time!
A couple of thoughts came to my mind. One is related to human creativity. Few years ago I read a book, "The Burnout Society", written by Byung-Chul Han (highly recommended btw), and he shares the fact that our generation lives under so much pressure to being active and productive that even in our free time we are convinced that we should being active and time doing "nothing" is basically wasting time. However, doing "nothing" is absolutelly necessary in order to improve the creative process, since it allows our mind to work in peace and ideas come more freely. So, for me rigid "discipline" sounds like a misconception when we talk about creativity.
The other idea is more conected to the consistency. We can be consistent in your habits and activities, without being so rigid and so disciplined. As you said, sometimes it's important to set some schedule and time block, altough we also need to be gentle with ourselves and sometimes bring flexibility to our plans, in order to keep the balance.
Got any examples of how this has worked for you? Ive gotten good with a morning routine by simplifying it significantly over time. It was a LOT at first, and I was really inconsistent from week to week...but then when I stripped it down to just a few breath cycles and some stretches, I eventually found myself looking forward to it every day
Well, I try to swim 2-3 times a week as part of my exercise routine and I used to feel frustraded when a I missed one day. Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed early morning to swim(for several reasons), so I decided to take a walk/run at the end of the day when I miss my swim classes (or sometimes just accept that I cannot exercise that day, and that's fine). Since then, I feel better with my routine and (surprisingly) now I'm able to keep my swim practice more consistent during the weeks.
Love it. Perfect is the enemy of progress! I like that idea of substituting something a little easier in. Essentially what I've been doing as well by trying to simplify and be patient with myself. Funny how after a few weeks what at first felt impossible feels inevitable.
Amen. Couldn’t agree more -- and it’s that balancing act between all of this (plus the unrealistic expectations for fast results) that I think leads to the struggle. I need unstructured time. I need to just do nothing and let my mind wonder...but I do also have the tendency to do too that as a form of procrastination/avoidance. So giving myself some structure is super helpful. But when I block out all of my time and try the rigid discipline approach, as you put it, I get stressed and disgruntled. I do think the big key is a gentle consistency. Love how you framed that. If you try to do something every day, do it 4/7, but keep on that general pace for a few months...it becomes a real habit that then should allow for more nothing time!