Focusing on the process rather than the end result - June

Why I'm sharing a monthly review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-andrew-grajcarek/

January Review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-january-andrew-grajcarek/

February Review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-february-andrew-grajcarek/

March Review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-march-andrew-grajcarek/

April Review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-april-andrew-grajcarek/

May Review - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/focusing-process-rather-than-end-result-may-andrew-grajcarek/

2 Minute Cross Trainer Mentality

It's very easy to take things for granted. During the last few months I've had to wear a moon boot (Non medical term) to recover from tearing two ligaments in my ankle. 

This has meant any gym work has only been upper body. I can't tell you how envious I was of seeing people running on a treadmill. I'm now in the next part of my recovery with physiotherapy and have to do certain gym work everyday. I wanted to see how my ankle would fair on the crosstrainer and how it would react after 8 weeks of being in a boot with no exercise.

I literally spent 2 minutes on the crosstrainer but I cannot tell you how good I felt after getting off even after those two minutes. I literally had the biggest smile across my face and felt such a positive energy. It's taught me that we should be grateful every single time we can do any form of exercise, my great grandfather who fought in World War I for the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade Gallipoli, Egypt and Iraq had a saying "Make sure you look after your body, it has to carry you a long way in your life".

Something New - A Month of Challenges

Rather than take a new activity this month I thought I would try something new in the form of mini challenges I could set myself. Mainly this was to provide focus around recovering from my ankle injury and anything I could do to aid that. The main challenge was "Dry June" No alcohol in the month of June, the second challenge was No caffeine for a week and finally digital detox for a week.

No Alcohol - I took this challenge in January up until the 31st which was year end for me. Before a busy summer period I thought I would take the month to have no alcohol to help aid my recovery. With the weather as it was this was very tough!! I'm definitely going to attempt this each year in January and June as it gives the body a good chance to reset!!

No Caffeine - For the first week of June I did a no caffeine challenge. It was only for 7 days but it had a massive impact. The first two days I had headaches but settled into substituting coffee for lemon and ginger tea fairly quickly. I usually use Coffee as the standard pick me up, so I used exercise for my energy management even more. Then after completing the challenge successfully; my first coffee back after the detox, hit me hard!! Not taking caffeine is meant to reset your tolerance and it certainly did that. Rather than the two coffees I used to have each day I'm now sticking to one and using other things to help with my energy management. 

If you are looking to do a caffeine detox, you can reap some of the following benefits:

* Lower Blood Pressure

* Better Sleep

* Decreased Anxiety

* More Efficient Absorption of Nutrients

Digital Detox - This was HARD!!!! I committed to not using any tech after 7pm and no social media for a week. This was during the first week of Love Island (I'm not much of a fan but difficult when everyone is talking about it). I'm not too big of a TV watcher but this gave me time to work on my development especially getting stuck into some reading.

I would suggest this to everyone!! We get so wrapped up in our lives that we some times we can forget what is most important. How much in our lives do we neglect just to mindlessly scroll through news feeds and pictures? What can you replace your mindless scrolling for?? Is it that book you have been meaning to read? Or that passion project that has never got going? 

Reading

The Neuroscience of Mindfulness by Stan Rodski (https://amzn.to/2Xd3bWQ)

Score - 9/10

Best book of the year so far!!! Stan Rodski's main objective is to make neuroscience behind mindfulness & MBC (More on this below) accessible to the public. He even apologises to Neuroscientist's reading the book that he has specifically taken parts out for the intended audience. 

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (https://amzn.to/2JnIqTw)

Score - 4/10

I would recommend people to read this but wouldn't suggest reading it from front to back. It should be used more for references and the odd read here and there. You can see where a lot of these teachings have been used in the business world and also in politics. 

The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday (https://amzn.to/2JnJbvw)

Score - 8.5/10

Overcoming obstacles is a discipline of three critical steps (Perception, Action and the Will). It begins with how we look at our specific problems, our attitude or approach; then energy and creativity with which we actively break them down and turn them into opportunities; finally the cultivation and maintenance of an inner will that allows us to handle defeat and difficulty.

Ryan Holiday uses different stories of how important people in history have overcome obstacles to succeed including Abraham Lincoln, John D Rockefeller and Marcus Aurelius. Against all the odds many of these people accepted their obstacles and strived for a greater purpose. 

We all have our obstacles in life whether personally or professionally, but with a change of focus as Ryan Holiday mentions "Obstacles are actually opportunities to test ourselves, to try new thing, and ultimately, to triumph".

What action are you going to take against your obstacles?