This post features a review of The Practicing Mind by Thomas Sterner, and some of the best ideas. This is a good book if you want to gain more control over how you react to resistance, and who will experience less stress and more joy out of your work, practice and training.
It is about how we can develop a process-oriented mindset, as opposed to one that is too product-oriented.
Also on YouTube: The Practicing Mind Review
If you would like to watch the Practicing Mind review in video format, have a look at this video I put out on YouTube. If not, you can keep reading below!
How to focus better?
“We think that our struggle today is known only to us, but it is timeless, and those who lived long before us faced the same internal struggles that we do. There is a story, many centuries old, that describes these battles. The story is about a charioteer who climbs into a Roman chariot pulled by four horses. In this story, the horses represent the mind. The driver, who has an undisciplined mind, climbs into the wagon, but has no hold on the reins. The four horses run wild all day, exhausting themselves and the driver as they jump off the chosen path, in constantly changing directions. They don’t know where they are or where they are going some of the time. The driver holds the reins and is as helpless as the horses as they all watch the episode unfold.
Tom Sterner
In contrast, a disciplined driver, with the reins in his hands, is in control, directing the horses down the focused, chosen path, wherever that may be.”
Which of the two drivers do you think uses the most energy on the journey towards their same chosen destinations?
It is undoubtedly the undisciplined driver; he has four horses but no control over them. A direct connection to this metaphor is having applications such as Facebook, Snapchat and Messenger open while working. We should really have all the focus on work, but all the different programs and websites are ruthlessly toiling away at our attention, spreading it out for a diminished gain.
On the other side, we have the disciplined driver; he has full control of his horses, and directs them directly at the target. Maybe that driver eliminated the time solvers before getting on the sled? Can we do the same by turning off notifications, the TV and all social media, and only have what is absolutely necessary for work available?
A lack of focus often leads to procrastination, which you can learn more about in the review I wrote about Solving the Procrastination Puzzle.
Process orientation
“When you focus on the process, the desired product takes care of itself with fluid ease. When you focus on the product, you immediately start lashing out at yourself and experience boredom, restlessness, frustration, and impatience with the process. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. When you focus your mind on the moment, on the process of what you are doing right now, you are always where you want to be and where you should be. All your energy goes into what you do. Conversely, when you focus your mind on where you want to end up, you are never there, and you exhaust your energy with unrelated thoughts instead of putting it into what you are doing.”
Process orientation. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to live according to this.
A scholarship may be the goal, but the process is to learn what is necessary for the exam. A slim body may be the goal, but the process is to enjoy all the healthy food you are allowed to eat. Less stress and negative inner dialogue may be the goal, but the process is to meditate, and to catch oneself not thinking resourcefully.
The goal provides a pointer, but the process is a focus on what is happening right now. And what happens now, happens with intention, with a firm knowledge of what to do.
Do you want to feel calm, refreshed, and in control when you work, train, or practice a skill? Stop focusing on what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow. Set yourself ambitious goals, but only use them as a guide so you can focus on what you’re doing now. Do only one thing at a time.
Focus on the process.
What is patience?
“I have observed my thoughts many times by listening to my inner dialogue. It goes from one totally unrelated discussion to another. It reminds me to pay a bill, compose a piece of music, solve a problem, think of a clever comeback I should have made yesterday when someone annoyed me, and so on. All this takes place while I take a shower in the morning. At that moment, my mind is everywhere except where I really am – in the shower. My mind anticipates circumstances that haven’t happened yet and tries to answer questions that haven’t even been asked. We have a name for this: it’s called worry. If you force your mind to stay in the moment and stay in the process of what you are doing, I promise you that many of your problems will melt away.”
Patience is thus the opposite of worry. Instead of stressing about what is happening, we trust that everything will work out in the end. Not with a kind of vague hope, but like a calm patience that is completely satisfied in the moment; a patience that trusts the process.
We all have this voice inside us at times that says there is something else that should be done NOW.
As Thomas says, this is very often concern, and not useful. “Thinking about a situation before you’re in it just dissipates your energy.” Thomas further explains how we can train our patience. We can do that by:
- Becoming aware of when the inner dialogue drags us into worry, and choosing to return to the moment and the process. Meditation is the best technique for training such awareness around your own thoughts. This is also one of many techniques Kelly McGonigal shares in The Willpower Instinct. (Check out that book review if you want to learn more about how to build more willpower.)
- Understand and accept that perfection can never be achieved in anything. A sailor never reaches the horizon, a sportsman will never hold a record forever, and it is impossible to avoid inconsistencies one hundred percent, in any relationship. “What you perceive as perfect is always relative to where you are in any area of your life.
First person to perfection leads nowhere good. The race is over. A wonderful thought, isn’t it?
About the Author: Tom Sterner
Tom Sterner, whose full name is Thomas M. Sterner, has worked as a piano technician for a major art center for over twenty-five years. He is also an accomplished musician, private pilot, archery student, and an avid golfer.
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