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Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

jakobgreenfeld.com

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Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#81

Post by porknubbins »

jb_s wrote: post #71
zackmorris wrote: post #40

I had an unusual experience this weekend while I was sick. After laying around for 2 days with brain fog, I woke up early Sunday morning and watched TV, checked social media, etc, but was sick of consuming information and had the strangest feeling that I wanted to work on something productive but my body aches wouldn't let me concentrate. I also felt like.. playing video games? I haven't had the urge to play video ga…

I have ADHD. Being bored is simply.. not something that happens naturally. I have a zillion unfinished things, too many hobbies, too many games, too much work that I was supposed finish yesterday. My brain gets filled with all of this junk every day. As the day passes my thoughts progressively get more and more cluttered and noisy, like I've got every radio station on at the same time. I also get really anxious if I'…

I used to try to go for walks in the city and it was no relief from overstimulation at all. Aside from the need to be alert for threats you see or hear something like every block that distracts you. Then I moved to an older suburban neightborhood and walks were super boring for the first few months until I really learned to look at things. Now I can go an hour just like enjoying looking at the sky, grass and trees etc. I still bring my headphones by habit but its been months since I pulled them out and its extremely restorative for creativity.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#82

Post by Scarblac »

mod wrote: post #75
dageshi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a definition of "low filter" mode? I don't think I've heard of it before.

It's part of the article this comment section is discussing.

The article mentions it a few times, but never explains what it means by the term. It only says that it often occurs when he's a bit tired, but not what it is.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#84

Post by Falkon1313 »

DwnVoteHoneyPot wrote: post #55

I enjoyed the article, but I disagree. Back in the day, the Getting Things Done book said to organise tasks by energy level. That does make things easier; however, easy to procrastinate by saying I'll do it later when I have energy. I have taken to the more disciplined, priortized approach pushed by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger/Jocko Willink/David Goggins... the items that are a priorty or important get done fi…

Different strokes for different folks.

Forcing yourself to do something can be considered discipline, but for many that's just stubbornly using the wrong tool (mental state) for the job. Which usually takes longer, gives poor results, and leads to fatigue and burnout.

However that approach does work well for some. (Seems to work much better for morning people than night people in my experience.)

For others, discipline consists of using the right tool for the right job to maximize both productivity and health. Which means given the tools available, pick one of the many tasks that need doing and can be done with that tool. Resulting in more productivity, better results, and an uplifting energizing feeling that makes other tools available.

Although for some people, that second approach might just result in procrastinating, in which case they should consider trying the forced discipline approach.

So finding out which path fits your temperament and taking advantage of it is the way to go.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#85

Post by Falkon1313 »

dageshi wrote: post #27
_benj wrote: post #2

I loved the article! Over the years and after burning out I’ve learned observe my state of mind, but mostly for the distracted mode, and when I finding in it I’ll just stop whatever focus work I’m doing because very few good things come out during that mental mode, and a ton of frustration is built. The part that I haven’t been able to accomplish is a good use of the low filter mode. For me in this mode I have little…

Is there a definition of "low filter" mode? I don't think I've heard of it before.

He kind of defines it in terms of the opposite:

>But early in the day, my mind is hyper-analytical. It’s trying to analyze every word I write from ten different angles. Hence every tweet felt like hard work.

People who just blurt out whatever they think without considering its effects or even how to word it are often said to have "no filter". That is often saying things they shouldn't, things that are inappropriate, or insulting or demeaning toward other people. Or getting the tone all wrong.

Someone who over-analyzes everything before speaking or when writing and can never seem to find just the right perfect words, and therefore just stays silent could be said to be over-filtering.

I read "low-filter" mode as being a middle ground of casual, easy conversation mode. Not no-filter inappropriate, but also not overly analytical and formal and rigorous.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#86

Post by lazide »

jsyolo wrote: post #30
ozzythecat wrote: post #15

> The goal is to have moments of clarity where you’re able to see “ah that’s what’s going on in my mind right now”. I think this is valuable advice, and it applies not only in this productivity context but in any day to day situation. I feel worked up, angry, disappointed with those around me in certain situations. Whereas 5 years ago, I might get worked up and complain about all of it to my manager, I’ve learned to…

but because I need to control my emotion and how I respond. You discovered one the benefits of meditation.

Well, part of the problem meditation addresses is the desire to control one’s thoughts - which is usually counter productive. The more one tries to control and fight what is, the more pain that usually results.

It’s usually more productive to notice them, notice their nature, and let them go when and where they do not serve your interests. With a small pat on the head, and some not small amount of empathy and caring.

Which is hard of course, especially when there are real reasons for them. But if they do not help, it’s better for everyone.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#87

Post by anamax »

hanoz wrote: post #62
paulryanrogers wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try fixing up a project house. It's amazing how quickly once beautiful properties can get run down without maintenance. And the hundreds of hours you can lose trying to undo the damage.

That does sound really appealing, but, as is the case for increasingly more of us these days, it really takes the edge off when your landlord is the ultimate beneficiary.

Few people make money running, yet they do, and the fact that Nike makes money from that running doesn't seem to bother them.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#88

Post by mesaframe »

godDLL wrote: post #35
mesaframe wrote: post #23

Whatever the author mentions is part of meditation. But observing the mind requires concentration too otherwise it will wander away with thoughts. Anyway, if you feel connected with such kind of things then I'll heavily recommend to do meditation.

Concentration is a loaded word. It is not black and white, but feels like you're talking about a value that goes from zero to one possibly? How do you think about it? I came to think of it in terms of attention. In a model where your awareness of time, or of change is conditional on shifting your spotlight of attention it can be defined usefully, I think. So, in such a model your concentration is conditional on your…

Yes, concentration is attention. There are levels of concentration. With the final being Exclusive attention to the object.

Again meditation goes more deeper into the model.

If you are curious about it I'll suggest you to read the book. The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#89

Post by MrDresden »

I consider myself highly meta aware (and recognise all of the modes the author mentions), but have not been good enough at guiding myself to perform the right action for each mode.

I'll have to try his suggestions, seeing what works for me.

Re: Effortless personal productivity (or how I learned to love my monkey mind)

#90

Post by chanux » 

  You need to learn to observe what’s going on in your mind almost like a third-person observer.

  This is difficult and requires a lot of practice.
Oh it requires patience. It also needs "vocabulary" to refer to things with, and a framework to help achieving it if you will. A while back, I randomly found some video from Jiddu Krishnamurthi. I was in the right mood so watched a few and at the end of it tried to actually observe my thoughts. I was only able to do it because the mind was sufficiently wound down and JK really helped. It was a bunch of videos and I have not taken note of it. But I had the following in a playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZlkYPlS5s0

Hope that's the important one and it helps someone.

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