Be positive and productive.

 Today I have another little Zen lesson to write about. The original lesson talks about chasing clouds, how we may be tempted to chase them on hot days, or to stop work in hope that the cooling cloud will move over us when working in the hot sun. 

The fact is, that the cloud may never reach you, or be reached. We know that nature does it's own thing, is unpredictable, so we cannot rely on the cloud's movement.

What do we do then? 

Well, that's easy, we continue on with our task, it may well take our mind off the heat, the job will be done, and maybe, if we are lucky, the cloud will come and cool us, or we will have finished our task quickly and can go into the shade.

But what does this actually mean in terms of a life lesson?

Well, to use another well-used expression - 'Make hay while the sun shines.'

Do what you have to do while the circumstances are right. Don't waste time procrastinating that the time isn't right, it may never feel right to you, do it while you are thinking about it, get it done! 

Here's another one for you, 'strike while the iron's hot!'

Seems that all of our old expressions are there to keep us motivated, so people over time have always been a little delayed in action. So how do you get motivated, or keep motivated? Here's what I always do, and others I have told do it now too, to great success.

Find something that you enjoy doing, now, for me, it's exercise, so, for instance today I have this blog to write, I love doing it when I'm actually sat down at my laptop, I get into the flow, but sitting down to do it I put off a lot, because I don't like sitting down much. But, I restrict my exercise time until the blog is written, so today, I can't go on my bike ride until this blog is finished, it's an incentive to be productive.

I do this with everything, I can go on the trampoline as long as I get the house cleaned, I can go and do some resistance training in my gym when my social media marketing is scheduled. I reward myself with exercise, and you are thinking, but exercise is the thing I put off mostly, so if this is the case, reward yourself with something else. For instance, you can pamper yourself, watch a film, go shopping, whatever your 'thing' is, you can do it, but you have to earn it, so get your workout done and then you get to reward yourself.

You will be amazed at how much more productive you are when you start to do this.

Here's another way, just don't let time creep into your task. As soon as you think, 'I have to do.....' then do it, straight away, get it done, then you don't have to worry about it any longer. Just do it straight away, don't give yourself time to opt out.

Do the boring  and difficult things, get them done, then do the fun things to reward yourself!

Try it, and let me know how you get on, stay positive and productive and you will find that life is a lot kinder to you, the more positive you are, the more good things happen. Go on, get on with it!

I'm off for a bike ride!