For the last 9 weeks I’ve been running twice-weekly Mindset Workshops at work for my esteemed banking colleagues.

9 weeks down, 1 week to go.  

Or so I thought.

I’ve just been asked by another team if I can run the same series of workshops for them too.  So I might be taking this puppy for another 10 week spin.

We shall see.

Anyway, one question which has come up several times during the workshops is this:

I’d love to be able to spend less time in my head.  But I don’t know how.  Any tips Tom?

An analogy by way of a pointer:

How do you get to sleep each night?

I don’t mean your bedtime routine.  I’m not asking about your duvet tog, your lavender pillow spray or how long you spend gazing at your Kindle before you switch off your bedroom light.

i.e. I’m not asking what conditions you create to help you get to sleep.

I’m actually asking how do you get to sleep.

Not an easy question to answer is it? 

And here’s why:

It doesn’t look like a “how” to me.

In fact, it looks the opposite.  The more I try to “do” falling asleep, the harder I try to drift off into the land of nod and the tighter I cling to my desire to rest in the arms of Morpheus, the more likely I am to wake myself up and still be gripping my bedsheets 2 hours later wailing “why can’t I get to sleep!”

Falling asleep happens when we let go of all of that. 

And when it comes to spending less time in our noggins, I think it does us well to bear this mind.

But it’s a sneaky one. 

And that’s because asking yourself or someone else how to quieten the chatter up top is itself adding to the chatter.

“How can I quieten my monkey mind?  Shall I go for a walk?  Or shall I meditate?  Let’s try meditating.  Gosh this is difficult.  So many thoughts whirring round my head.  Am I doing it right?  I knew I should’ve gone for walk.  Maybe I’ll research other ways to get out of my head…”

And on it goes.

Trying to figure out a “how” and then “doing stuff” – any stuff – to quieten your mind is really just giving your brain more to do.

Worth pondering perhaps. 

Or, in the spirit of this email, perhaps not?

While I’m nattering away about all this:

On Wednesday 15^th May 2024 at 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm UK Time, I’m putting on a free Zoom training called Mind over Matter.  It will last about an hour.

The training in a nutshell?

How we can use our minds the best way and stop our minds from using us.

I won’t be covering what I’ve written about today.  Not in so many words at least.

But it does give you a glimpse into the kind of ideas I’ll be speaking about.

If you’d like to join the training, hit reply and I’ll send the details straight over.

That’s all for today.

 - Tom

p.s. feel free to shoot me a reply too if you have any questions on the webinar