January e-news

Dr Suzy Green & Associates

Happy New Year! January provides us with an opportunity for new beginnings. New Year's Resolutions abound and our hopes for the future are shared with those we love. In this "slow month", many of us are still on holidays and basking in the warm weather, so it's also time to slow down, reflect on life and your place in it. How do you want things to be different as you take a deep breath and step into the future? It's also time to reflect and acknowledge all the changes you have embraced in 2007 and what you've learned about yourself during that time. Buy a new journal, take time out to acknowledge success and growth, plan for the future and set goals. However make the most of this "slow month" and learn to be idle, to be in the moment, to savour life.

Last month I spoke about the benefits of cultivating gratitude. Many of you will have either commenced a formal "gratitude journal" or at the very least be cultivating a mindset of abundance in being mindful and grateful for all you have and all you are. I would also suggest that as you "book-end" your day with mindfulness practice that you also use this time to sit in gratitude. Buddhist monks begin each day with a chant of gratitude for the blessings of their life. Even through periods of suffering, they continue to be grateful - "grant that I might have enough suffering to awaken in me the deepest possible compassion and wisdom" (taken from The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace by Jack Kornfield).

Month 1 - 2008 - Goal-Setting & Idleness: A Paradox Not!

There is over 20 years of research on goals in psychology. Much of this research lay in academic journals gathering dust. Fortunately the research is now making its way into the public domain. Many of you will have already heard of SMART Goals and if not, I'll provide an overview below as a basis for your goal-setting.

Goal-setting is about action, the "doing". However, as I sit in idleness (I am writing this on the last day of a 3 week summer holiday), I am acutely aware of the importance of "being" and amused at how a "goal-setting girl" has learned the wonderful art of idling over the summer break. However, as I will suggest below, goal-setting and idling need not be inconsistent. There is a way to synthesise these two apparent dichotomies.

This Month's Action Plan - Idle Goal-Setting

What is a paradox? The dictionary tells us it is "something absurd or contradictory". Many of you might already by intrigued by my suggestion that being idle (non-doing) can be consistent with goal-setting and enacting change (doing). Let's first start with what we know about goal-setting. We know from research (Lock & Latham, 1990) that when goals are SMART they have a greater chance of success.

Specific: Ensure your goals are very clear and specific ie fuzzy goal: be healthier; specific goal: exercise 3 x a week and consult with a dietitian (see www.susieburrell.com.au).

Measurable: Find a way to measure your progress ie use a wall chart to tick off your exercise sessions or ask your PT to identify indicators that your strength is improving.

Authentic: Yes, authentic goals are attractive and achievable. Authentic means aligned with your core values (revisit my January & February 07 e-news to refresh your memory on the importance of values & vision). How is this goal fulfilling your values and vision? This is the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of goal-setting - so don't leave it out!

Realistic: What evidence do you have that you can achieve this goal? Give yourself a reality check prior to embarking on unrealistic goals. Yes, goals need to be stretching, however they become demotivating if we don't make the progress we expect.

Time-Framed: We all know that setting a deadline usually means we put in the effort to meet it. Three months is a good period of time to see change. Revisit your "fuzzy vision" and then set your shorter term goals so they are one step towards creating that vision.

And now to being idle…..Being idle is the pause we all need to collect our thoughts and ourselves. We are constantly bombarded with the statistics that as Australians we work some of the longest hours in the world. Stress plays havoc with our health, both physically and psychologically. We all know we need to work less and live more or do less and "be" more. As a goal-setting junkie myself, I have been challenged by going slow and being idle. I've found all the excuses as to why I can't stop - "I'm too busy", "There's too much to do", "I'll let others down". In fact, what I've discovered is that if I don't stop, I can't think clearly enough to set priorities and stay focused enough to accomplish all that I want to achieve!

Being idle gives us time to reflect, reconnect and revigorate. Being idle helps our creativity and can assist us to find solutions to challenges we face that a focused problem-solving session might not have identified. Being idle is exactly that, "being"! Being idle helps us to practice our mindfulness and savouring practices. Being idle helps us to be in the "now", yet allows us to positively reminisce on the past. Being idle gives us the time and space to dream and from these dreams, we can then set more authentic goals!

For me, learning to be idle has been greatly assisted by a wonderful little book I have read over the holidays, "How to be Idle" by Tom Hodgkinson (Penguin Books). Chapter topics include "Sleeping In, "The Nap", "Sex and Idleness", "The Ramble" and "Death of Lunch". He refers to figures in history that understood the benefits of being idle and quotes Thomas Edison and Oscar Wilde as the "great idlers of the time". Edison might well be considered the enemy of idling with the invention of the light bulb, however it is believed that while he only slept 4 or 5 hours a night, apparently he took 2 or 3 naps during the day! Hodgkinson also quotes the genius of Keats who spoke of "delicious diligent indolence" elegantly referring to the paradoxical pleasures of productive inactivity.

So in January, if you're not working, sleep late, take naps, have long lunches, take afternoon strolls and simply be! If you are working, make the most of your lunch hour (I know plenty of people that don't leave the office building all day!), take a stroll, have an icy cold drink, meet a friend for a picnic lunch in the park. At the end of the working day, head home to make the most of the sun, go for a swim, have a cocktail or mocktail on your verandah and most importantly leave work at work!

Another great read that I'll come back to in future e-news is "The Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris (see www.thefourhourworkweek.com). He has some intriguing suggestions for reframing how we view work and how we structure our lives. Don't forget all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

Next Month…I'll be reviewing the research on love given Valentine's Day falls in February. In the meantime, don't forget to take time to smell the roses!

"Idleness is to be dead at the limbs but alive within"

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