Feb 23

Feb 23 Focus and Renew

Hi, I’m Liz Moser, and I'm a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach.

Today I want to explore the joy, ease, and simplicity of focusing on one goal, on one single priority while supporting yourself with truly renewing downtime.

Because you can’t have the focus without true renewal, it's a two-way street.

Lately, my one goal has been a national certification exam I’ll be taking today this afternoon.

As counterintuitive as this sounds, instead of feeling overly anxious these past weeks while studying, I’ve been thinking about what a luxury it’s been to have this outside deadline or priority that’s allowing me to laser-focus my life.

This test, this future deadline allowed me to cut through the distractions and cut out unnecessary activities.

Over the last 6 weeks, studying for the test was on my nightly checklist. As is my way, I picked up my books and or flashcards every day. I started with a nominal 30 minutes, graduated to 60 minutes, and for the last two weeks, I've studied on and off all day long.

My brain has about a 30-minute window, and then I need to refocus elsewhere, do a quick recharge, maybe fold some laundry, or a quick meditation in vipareeta karani, or I'll pick up my novel or a soduko. Then I go back to my studies.

Choosing the most effective renewal activities between bouts of mental exertion is essential.

An interesting side note, I’ve discovered I’m a kinesthetic learner. I stay more focused when I'm studying on my treadmill, and on a few of the warmer days, I've bundled up and taken my flashcards outside for a walk. That’s almost focus and renewal at the same time. Well, almost.

When I laser-focused on this goal, as you can imagine, I needed to put some of my current activities on pause, I needed to hold off on adding any new habits and the clarity of focusing on one goal allowed me the acuity to simply say no to other activities.

Letting go of some of my to-do’s and activities was so that I could create not only the time and energy necessary to focus on my studies but also so that I would be left with the optimal activities to renew and refresh myself in my downtime.

I noticed, I felt little or no guilt about the pausing, holding, and letting go of activities.

Part of the no-guilt, frankly, is it’s easier somehow saying ‘not now’ and or ‘later’ when it’s an outside event such as this exam. It's as if the external event is saying 'no,' not you. Not only do other people give your external ‘no’ more credibility, but I granted it more authority than a personally generated goal. And that surprised me because I’m pretty darn focused and committed to my personal goals.

Some of what I put on pause, hold, and or let go of are:

I’m excited about adding to my exercise routine, but that won’t happen until after my exam.

I stopped performing any speeches for my Toastmaster group until after my test.

I also want to add music back into my life, improve my writing and video production, add to and edit the services I offer my clients, but again not until after the test.

Also, I own a coffee shop (yes, I know that's ironic because I'm currently caffeine-free), and while studying for the exam, I've condensed my work and only went on sight 3 days a week, working more from home and delegating more to my manager.

Lastly, I eliminated Marco Polo, a video messaging mobile app, from my personal life. I realized it takes a lot of my time, and I no longer believe it's deepening my relationships with people, nor does it feel rejuvenating or renewing. Quite frankly, it felt like a chore to keep up with it.

As soon as an activity moves from fun and rejuvenating into a ‘should’ or a ‘must,' I get curious, and then most likely, I need to let it go, especially when I'm working so diligently towards one goal. I then need to optimize my downtime, which must be rejuvenating.

The harder you are focusing on your one priority, the more your downtime needs to hit that sweet spot of renewing. It's a two-way street.

I gently told my long time Marco Polo group that I would prefer several phone calls per month with each of them instead of Marco Polo

Marco Polo took up a lot of my time, and it filtered my connection with people. I’m craving more direct one on one time with both my closest friends and the newer relationships in my life.

In sum, the reason to pause, hold, and let go of activities when you are focused on one main goal is twofold; one, it creates the time necessary to focus on your priority and two, it leaves only truly rejuvenating activities in your downtime. What is renewing, or rejuvenating is a personal thing, but there’s one universal truth: it’s never a ‘must’ a ‘should’ or ‘have to.' It's neither the library book you feel you must read before the due date, nor is it the 40 Marco Polos you’re “behind” on.

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach, and I hope you have a week of more joy, ease, and simplicity, where your focus is narrowed, your priority or priorities are front-and-center and your downtime is filled with only truly renewing activities.

Thank you for reading to this blog, and if you have any questions about this video, or if you have any questions about health and wellness or wellness coaching with me, please contact me through my website at lizmosercoaching.com