hey guys welcome back so this video
we're gonna talk about how to be more
productive and more focused by being
present cuz a huge part of productivity
a huge part of being focused as you are
your mind is thinking about the thing
right in front of you not the thing
behind you or the things in front of you
like the many many things in front of
you so we're going to talk about three
things the first thing is small changes
lead to big results the second thing is
make time to do the thing you know will
make you more present and the third
thing is letting go of attachments to
the past unto the future so that you can
be present really quickly before we get
started there's epic construction
outside as you guys can see which is why
I'm sitting in my hallway next to my
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I've kind of been telling you guys I
haven't been filming the bus these past
couple of months I guess I mean it's up
and down right but just the intervals of
up and down just seems so much it's
getting kind of overwhelming but at the
core of all of my feeling not the best
miss it's coming really from not being
grateful which is something that I'm
that's gonna come next week and not
being present so not being present
because I'm so caught up in things I've
done in the past or things I still need
to do in the future I can't be focused
and I can't be productive in the now
like in this moment so something my
mom's always told me growing up is cha
cha the guy being dadada butall which
means small changes lead to big results
so if you focus on taking one step ahead
of the other every single day if you
focus on the pot that you're supposed to
be walking eventually it'll lead you to
where you need to be it's kind of like
being disciplined every morning to wake
up at a certain time to make your bed to
do all the little things so that it can
affect an influence like the bigger
things in your life so one thing that
really helps me with this small changes
lead to big results is when I'm feeling
like I'm being pulled in a bunch of
different directions and being pulled by
the external elements of life I will
just focus like have intense focus doing
the one thing that I'm doing so like if
I'm drinking a smoothie I'm holding this
glass jar okay this is a glass jar it's
pretty sturdy
okay this smoothie feels pretty cold
inside because it just came out of the
fridge and when I'm drinking I'm like
okay I taste this and I taste the Apple
and I taste the sweetness of the thing
and then the sourness of the lemon and
then I taste the grassiness of the
vegetables by just focusing your
attention on the one thing that you are
doing it will help you it will help you
pull yourself back to the present so it
can be the same thing as working set a
timer for 25 minutes to do one thing
like if you need to write 10 emails send
an alarm for 25 minutes if you need to
study for something if you need to do
homework or if you need to write
something just give yourself 25 minutes
of hyper focus of no distraction once
the 25 minute clock rings then you take
a one or two minute break and then you
come back to it this
the Pomodoro method I think I'm gonna
link it down below really the whole
concept of this point is be focused on
the one thing and know that by making
small incremental changes it will lead
to bigger things if the ultimate goal is
to be productive is to be focused and
let's focus on the smallest thing first
and then work our way to the bigger
things
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so the second thing is make time to do
the thing you know will help you be more
present this could be journaling this
could be meditating this could be making
art this could be cooking something for
yourself this could be going for a walk
this could be going outside and just
breathing fresh air or just sitting and
just breathing and focusing on your
breath there's a lot of things that you
can do and then I will link down below
like 40 things you can do to be more
present when I was the most unhappy when
I was the most depressed when I was the
most anxious and I couldn't sleep until
3 a.m. almost every single night for at
least a couple of months this was the
senior year of college and during senior
college I decided to take an art class
on design fundamentals that unbeknownst
to me at that time really saved me like
it was one of the best decisions I've
ever made in my entire life because I've
always enjoyed art I've always taken our
classes growing up I've always enjoyed
doodling but I just thought of no Asian
business is like you know I should do
business stuff and get a business degree
and not do art stuff but anyway for
something as simple as tracing along the
lines cutting along the lines using gosh
to paint color wheels that type of focus
to make sure that I am chasing line
properly and that I am cutting along the
lines properly and then I'm painting the
squares in the squares properly that
focus was a focus that I haven't
experienced in a long time and that was
my first foray into grounding myself and
bringing myself back to the present so I
think this is why a lot of adult
coloring books have been blowing up
everywhere so what this really helped me
do is get out of my own head for me to
get out of my own thoughts to me to stop
associating myself with my thoughts and
for me to be able to focus on something
that wasn't about me because I feel like
a lot of unhappiness and a lot of the
things that we go through all happens in
here it's the voices that you have it's
the voices you have talking to yourself
talking down to yourself so it's taking
this out and focusing on something
externally and this is why I am a huge
fan at school share it because
is taking classes honestly it's like
when you're in class you don't
appreciate the classes you're given
because you kind of just do the things
you feel like you should but after you
graduate for me now that I think I read
over four or five years four years yeah
for four years now that's crazy
I learning to appreciate structure so
much more now that it's up to me to kind
of define my own structure so all my
courses like Scotia helps so much in
terms of if there's something that I
want to learn if there's something
creative that I want to solve them
there's something that I want to do I
can just go on school showing me like I
want to learn how to do it or I want to
learn how to watercolor and this is a
little sinus so my bus friend visited a
few months ago and she brought this
watercolor and it's so cool it's a lovin
with the boys and then you see will
right there and just seeing this I'm
like okay I'm gonna take a couple water
in classes because it's a super tie and
it's like what are those things that
you've always wanted to do but you never
do because I don't know you you see you
don't have time but this is note to self
to Rowena then next time I make a video
on being present I'm gonna show you guys
the artwork that I do to keep myself
accountable and if you guys make
anything you guys paint anything if you
guys pull a journal with whatever it is
that you guys do 70 pictures DM me on
Instagram we're talking on anything that
you guys do so we can keep it that why
am I talking about so we can keep each
other accountable and then let's move to
the third way so the third thing is
letting go of attachments to the past in
the future the only reason why we can't
be present is because our minds are
either running full force ahead and we
can't pull it back or it's stuck
somewhere behind us and we can't pull it
back or simultaneously at the same time
it's like running and then you split at
the same time so we're on the opposite
spectrums and not being present if and
when we are not present it usually means
we are attached to our past or the
future a past that's already past or a
future that I guess that is yet to come
and I remember reading this in the power
of now which is a really great book on
this subject if you guys haven't read it
read it yet I highly recommend you Rita
going on level deeper why are we
attached to the past and why are we
attached in the future the future it's
like I want to be more productive I want
to do more I don't know what I'm going I
hope I'm doing the right thing there's
just a lot of things there's a lot of
questions before I go further I want to
first talk about how like there's a
difference between rationally thinking
about the future in the past like
reflecting versus obsessively thinking
about the future in the past which is
something that I do to the point where
it's like it induces a lot of anxiety
and then I get kind of paralyzed by all
the thinking that I'm due dies for the
future when I'm freaking out about I go
am i doing the right thing am I going
down the right path I make choosing the
right thing all of that it kind of goes
back to the first point of focus on
what's in front of me the more I do the
little things right the more likely it
will be that the big things are right I
have a general idea of where this path
will lead but there's no point in
freaking out about it's outside of my
control what I can control right now is
my internal stay and the steps that are
right ahead of me
so that's kind of like the future and
the past a lot of things have been
coming back though for me a lot of
things that I felt like I've let go of
have resurfaced and this is a part of
life this is a part of in my spiritual
practice cultivation right it's like the
teacher of Odawa describes it as peeling
the layers of an onion there's the root
of the onion and there's many many
layers just because you let go of it
once doesn't mean it's over you'll have
to kind of
over and over and over again and until
you get to the root and like you really
uproot that attachment and attachments
is a huge part of Buddhism and then
Falun Dafa is the school of Buddhism so
yeah with my passing it's showing me
that there's things that I still need to
make peace with there are things that I
still need to let go of a lot of that
comes back to I think I really comes
back to forgiving yourself like
forgiving or so for the things that
you've done in the past knowing that you
are that person was knowing that you're
no longer that person and that you won't
make the same mistakes you've made in
any regard this is just like a very
broad general term either it's things
you said to someone or it's things
you've done or the things you've thought
or just anything yeah it's so easy to
feel like you remember this conversation
you have as I could by tonight say that
or like oh my god why did that person
say they were like oh my god why did I
wear that why did I do that why did I
have a little luck there's all these
things that we could get strung up on
the most important thing is to take all
of that to look inside and see like okay
what happened there
how can I do better next time forgive
myself and then peacefully move on now
that you've made peace with that part of
you yeah I hope you guys like this video
let me know you guys think and thank you
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week's video on out
how I what has helped me
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