Fun fact: when NASA fired the space shuttle into orbit, it needed a hug rocket to initially launch the shuttle. A bit like on the picture below:
Once in orbit, the rocket would fall back to earth, and the space shuttle would continue on its' journey. During this initial startup phase, approx. 80% of the total energy was consumed. Remember that for a moment, we'll get back to it later.
The most powerful state we can be in to be maximum productive is Awareness, sometimes also referred to as the Flow State. When we're fully aware we are filled with a feeling of being extremely alive.
You might have heard of people that had near death experiences who completely changed their lives thereafter. These people reported a statement of awareness in which it became very clear to them what they needed to do with their lives. So in a way because they were so close to death, everything unimportant vanished and these people became really full of life, or "ALIVE", and they had an extreme clear focus on what's really important for them.
Since not everyone of us has near death experiences, we can replicate these feelings during meditation or sports. If you've ever rock climbed you will have noticed how it can be very scary and counter intuitive for your to climb up a wall. To your brain and body you're doing something which doesn't serve you staying alive, so your survival instinct kicks in. And with that comes an extreme focus on the present moment, a focus on staying alive, all worries and negativities go away, and you're becoming 100% aware and alive.
The rarest and most precious forms of energy we have is WILL POWER. We get a tiny bit of it each day, and we often waste it on things that aren't important.
In order for us to be maximum productive, we need to let go of some unhealthy habits, install some new ones. Now when it comes to new habits, we need both Awareness AND Will Power to install such.
Day 1 - 10 is the first phase of installing a new habit. These days are tough, almost like defying gravity. Everything inside you tells you "No, I don't want to do that!". In these 10 days we need will power.
Day 11 - 20 is the second phase. I call is resistance. You're no longer defiant, but you still have to push through. You don't naturally feel like doing it yet.
Day 21 - 30 is the third phase. I call it acclimation. The resistance starts going away, and it feels like the natural thing to do.
Now how does this tie back into our space shuttle story from earlier?
As I wrote at the beginning, the rocket transporting the space shuttle uses up around 80% of its' energy during the initial lift off to get the space shuttle into orbit. Similar to this, we need to lift ourselves off the ground to get going and install a new habit. Being in a state of awareness with a laser sharp focus, and using our will power, symbolises this effort to install a new habit. We really need this to get into day 21 from where a new habit becomes part of us and we arrive in our own personal orbit and outer space.
Remember, it takes a lot of will power and attention to install a new habit. So stick with one habit at a time. In a full year that would give you 12 new habits to install. That's a lot already!
댓글