Have you noticed that your best work and best ideas come to you when you’re inspired, when you’re flowing?
The world is changing. The way we used to think and work as a collective is shifting.
Industries are disrupting the status quo. What was once the taxi industry has been disrupted by companies like Uber. The hotel industry has been disrupted by Airbnb and hard work has been disrupted by smart work – by hacking. Biohacking, lifehacking, flow hacking and more.
“Hard work, forcing and pushing are no longer working like they used to. We are evolving into a smarter way of working by better understanding and leveraging our biology to compliment our outcomes.”
– Consciousness Liberty
Today’s “work” is about flow, inspiration
What is meant by “Hard Work”?
Let’s get the semantics out of the way to avoid confusion. What is “hard work”? First of all, it has nothing to do with the TYPE of work you do. Dirty work vs. clean work, white or blue collar, college degree or not, business, hobby or sport.
Mike Rowe, “Dirty Jobs” show host, equates “hard work” to trades and dirty jobs, which can be very lucrative, fulfilling and fun. Props to Mike for shining the spotlight on trades work and crushing the stigma that one type of work is better than another! “Getting your hands dirty” work is NOT what we’re talking about here.
It’s about the WAY you work, the WHY of your work and the VALUE that it adds to your lives and others.
On the same page? Great, read on.
Smart work asks, how optimal is it? Is it aligned with your main objective? Is it serving you or making you stressed and ill? Are you able to enjoy your work and your life or are you grinding to buy things you don’t even have time to use or enjoy?
Smart work is NOT coasting. It’s not working halfheartedly.
Smart work is courageous, persistent, resilient, resourceful, passionate, focused, results-driven.
Smart work is NOT HARD, not forceful, not burning out, not unsustainable, not illness provoking.
Got it?
Good!
What is Flow?
Flow is the holy grail of working smart.
“Researchers describe flow as a unique state of concentration in which action seems to be effortless. Whether painting, writing, planning, scheming, inventing or running a 10K, you feel alert, unself-conscious and totally absorbed in the present moment.
Flow is a state entered when you are performing at your peak or stretching beyond former limits. Emotions are positive and energized, yet your attention is so focused on the task at hand that you may not be aware of feelings at all except in retrospect. Everything but the task is forgotten—time, surroundings, even yourself. Awareness and action become one.”
– https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2013/06/05/you-need-to-get-into-flow-concentration-at-its-best/#7a7f8d6918c4
So, what’s the key to working smart? How do we turn working hard into working smart?
Here are some techniques to help you work smarter. Green words highlight specific biohacking tips.
1. Have a purpose.
Identify your WHY, goal, or intention to achieve something worthwhile. It doesn’t need to be a big deal, just something worth your time. Your brain is a meaning-making machine and having a purpose gives you meaning, which shapes identity. Identity precedes your actions.
How do you find that purpose? Listen to your heart, your higher self and intuition. Of course, you can use your intuition at any point in the process. Learning to follow your heart instead of your head saves you tons of hard work for something you never really wanted in the first place.
2. Step fully into now.
Ground, be aware, mindful, present. Get fully into your body. You’ll know your there when you experience clarity. Try
This brings you back into your place of power, where you can have more influence on the world around you. Your presence is better and people will listen to your ideas and respect the energy you bring to the moment.
Mindfulness and being in present awareness increases mental flexibility and the ability to regulate behavior, avoid knee jerk reactions, resist distractions and improves decision making.
Grounding practice can help you be in the moment, decrease stress, decrease inflammation and increase blood flow.
“Neuroscientists have also shown that practicing mindfulness affects brain areas related to perception, body awareness, pain tolerance, emotion regulation, introspection, complex thinking, and sense of self.”
– https://hbr.org/2015/01/mindfulness-can-literally-change-your-brain
3. Align your energy to your work.
Ensure you have aligned your environment and yourself for the task at hand. Set up a workspace, a designated time or day, and/or a trigger. Think of your mindset when you’re in bed, when your in your office or workspace, when you’re at the gym, a nice restaurant, or at a concert. All different energies.
Try having a fine dining experience in a construction site or a gym. Not as conducive as a low-lit, beautiful atmosphere, huh?
You get the idea. If you want a detailed checklist, you can find it here.
4. Get inspired.
Music is one of the biggest ways I’ve found personally to quickly and effectively shift mood. At a close second are exercise and movement. When you move and flow the energy in your body, the thoughts in your body also flow and great ideas start pouring in.
Unexpected bonuses to shift energy include showering, when you’re about to fall asleep, and in relaxed states.
In the book, Stealing Fire, Steven Kotler wrote about the altered-states economy. What we do and consume to shift our states,
Here’s a breakdown for how to shift your states:
- Drugs – pain drugs, coffee, alcohol, MDMA.
- Media – video games, virtual reality, music, porn.
- Recreation – yoga, meditation, adventure travel, gambling.
- Personal growth – life coaches, self-help, business coaches, retreats.
Get into the habit or carrying a little pen and paper or use your phone’s notes to capture those inspiring ideas in the moment.
No, you won’t remember them later, so write them down. Especially the ones you have before drifting off to sleep.
5. Move your body.
This deserves its own category because there is more to moving your body than exercise. Use your body to change your energy flow. You can use exercise, body language, posture, stretching and movement to change your chemistry, emotions and consequently your thoughts.
If you are engaged in high-energy exercise, your brain physicaly cannot process depression and high-intensity activity at the same time.
Posturing, or getting into the posture of, what you want to achieve also triggers your brain to become that which you are posturing in.
A study published in the journal Psychological Science in 2010, concluded that when people sat or stood in expansive poses for just one minute, they felt more powerful and in charge, and their body chemicals changed. They had more testosterone and less cortisol, the stress hormone.
“By simply changing physical posture, an individual prepares his or her mental and physiological systems to endure difficult and stressful situations.”
– Psychological Science, journal, 2010
“Just sitting up straight, a simple power pose, may increase self-confidence.”
– European Journal of Social Psychology, 2009
Some research shows that body posture also affects persistence when dealing with difficult tasks. This also works with subtle movements such as facial expressions.
Having good posture contributes to keep the body in good health, free from pain, and digesting properly.
6. Leverage NLP & habitry by using triggers.
There is an entire part of your brain that’s wired to function based on habit.
Habits are based on triggers. Time, place song, sensation, words, scents are all triggers. Use these to your advantage.
For example, if you want to instantly click into a mode, such as “workout mode” – set a trigger to shift the moment you step foot into the gym. The first time you do it, you’ll feel the resistance. Over time it will become automatic – like those secret trigger words for international assassin spies – aaaanyway – you know what I mean.
7. Get in flow.
Flow is the holy grail of working smart and takes inspiration to the next level. That is what is going to create states of flow, altered states and the kind of work when you are just crushing it and your on fire! Ideas and pouring in and your excited and completely immersed.
Biologically speaking, flow happens on the edge of alpha and theta, at around 8
Want to know how your brain is in theta? Click here to learn more about the characteristics of a theta mindset.
Or, you can track your brainwaves with a Muse headset and a 3rd party app called, Mind Monitor. If you haven’t checked out Mind Monitor, I recommend it. It will show you your brain’s wavelength feedback in real-time so you can direct them.
One of the foremost authorities on flow, Steven Kotler, describes it as having the subjective characteristics, STER.
- S: Selflessness –
Perception of selfdisappears and you are absorbed in the process. - T:
Timelessness -Prefrontal cortex deactivates and time dilates or contracts. - E:
Effortlessness –Brain is connected, - R: Richness – Attention is strong in the present moment and pattern rec is amplified. Productivity and creativity increase.
How to get into flow:
- Focus
- Clear goals
- Uninterrupted
- The challenge/skills ratio is right. (See graph below)
- Triggers
- Passion /purpose
- Risk – Drives focus, which drives flow.
- Autonomy
- Novelty
- Complexity
- Unpredictability
- Deep embodiment
- Immediate feedback
- Creativity/ pattern recognition
Remember, flow is universal. It’s available to everyone at any time provided the right conditions are met.
8. Get real with yourself.
What do you value? What is your main objective? How are these activities getting you closer to your main objective? What is keeping you from your main objective?
Identify your limiting and conflicting beliefs. You’ll know what these are because you will feel conflicted or uneasy when you affirm your goal. This requires hard questions and hard choices, not hard work.
If you want some help identifying and breaking through limiting or conflicting beliefs get in touch with me, Jacqueline@consciousnessliberty.com. I help my clients overcome non-serving beliefs, blind spots and self-sabotage and find clarity and fulfillment. You can find out more here.
9. Optimize, delegate or eliminate what is keeping you from your goal.
Outsource what’s slowing you down and create a “do not do” list of things that waste your time. A big part of productivity, efficiency and working smart is not only what you do, but what you don’t do.
You can optimize your time by batching similar tasks, planning your day, (or week) ahead of time, prioritizing (top 1-3 goals for the day) and by assigning a time to each task.
10. Immerse yourself.
Once you’re present and inspired, begin to surround yourself with anything that promotes it. For example, create an environment that supports the activity, surround yourself with people that promote the activity and begin to read about listen to talk about anything that is related to the activity.
Conversely, stay away from the opposite of that. 😂 Nuff said.
11. Give it some time.
If you’re not fully inspired it may take some time to get into flow. Keep at it. Keep doing what you do, keep working at it and practicing the steps above. Soon you’ll be aligned and flowing. If it doesn’t happen perfectly the first time, do it again and again. It will become easier. Your biology is designed to take in what you repeat. Hack it wisely.
12. Focus on results, not actions.
One critical component to working smart is taking the time to reflect on what you are doing. Is this work getting you closer to your main dreams and goals, or are you “always busy” and going in circles?
What’s working? What’s not working?
Examine, adjust, retest, reflect.
Smart workers know that it’s about the quality of the output, not the quantity of input, that makes a difference.
Slow down to speed up my friend.
13. Schedule in your downtime.
If you think you can grind, power through and energy drink yourself to your goals, you’re working hard, not smart and you’re missing the big picture. There is a universal law of duality that we operate in as human beings. That which comes up, goes down.
Learn it, leverage it.
Understand the importance of rest and leverage that rest to recharge and come back stronger. Step away from work to enjoy doing nothing, reflection, partying, hanging out, whatever.
This creates energetic contrast which is the natural rhythm or pedulumn swing of life.
Speaking of enjoyment…
14. Enjoy yourself & the journey.
Embrace the journey. Growth can be painful, so when you are creating your “work smart” plan, learning, or expanding your skillset your brain will attempt to fight you, distract you and stop you to “keep you safe”. So many people think the reward and pleasure is in the destination, but if you learn to train your brain to enjoy the journey, you will be happier and more productive along the way. It’s called cultivating a growth mindset.
Remember that when you are creating something it takes energy input, and you want to input the right energy of passion, enjoyment and inspiration. Not stress, pressure and force.
Therefore…
Remember, use power not force. Work smart.
There is a current of lifeforce energy present in all things. When bringing something into being, you don’t want to go up against the current. Understand this flow in life and in yourself and leverage it.
Use the techniques above, enjoy your time, grow as a person, contribute to others. The energy present when you create is what you infuse into your creations.
Here’s to working smart. To have a blast while growing as a person. Developing your unique gifts and contributing to others.
Let’s evolve the work paradigm together.
Much love!
Resources:
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moment-youth/201712/how-your-brain-finds-meaning-in-life-experiences
- https://hbr.org/2015/01/mindfulness-can-literally-change-your-brain
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelritlop/2016/12/28/6-tips-on-working-smart-not-hard-this-year/?sh=77a165b229f5
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2013/06/05/you-need-to-get-into-flow-concentration-at-its-best/#7a7f8d6918c4
- https://youtu.be/q5OsIRaaFgs
- https://www.nebraskamanufacturing.com/2013/07/work-smart-and-hard-mike-rowe-on-the-skills-gap/
- https://www.inc.com/danny-iny/what-it-really-means-to-work-smart-on-your-business.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_hNZ5T4nY
- https://www.hopkinswellness.com/physical-therapy/the-impact-of-poor-posture/
- https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/how-posture-and-gestures-affect-state-mind
- https://totalwellnessmagazine.org/articles/slouching-and-feeling-slumped-how-posture-can-affect-your-mental-health
- https://agileleanlife.com/the-big-difference-between-smart-work-and-hard-work/