Are you always thinking about what comes next?

At a show on a recent tour, musician John Mayer said something powerful to the crowd:

“I wait for most things to be over. I wait for this to be over to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. I have 45 years behind me of waiting for things to be over.” Do you relate to this feeling? I know I do a lot of ‘nexting.’

Where we’re going wrong:

A recent study by Harvard University psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert revealed that we spend almost 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what’s we’re doing. Planning, daydreaming, predicting, worrying, reflecting, or anticipating add up to time we spend thinking about what isn’t going on around us.

Let’s Rethink that!?

The ability to close our eyes and pre-experience or imagine something is a uniquely human trait. But John Mayer has invented a new rule to counter the worst kind of mind-wandering: never wish for less time. He said, “I’ve realised that everything you love and hate leaves at the same speed: Done. Done. The thing you hate that you have to do tomorrow will be over before you know it, and the thing you're looking forward to tomorrow will be over before you know it.”

So if you go on holiday and talk about your next holiday that’s ‘nexting.’?Sitting at your desk on Tuesday, and thinking about Friday, is wishing for less time.

Your Rethink moment:

Think about when you do a lot of ‘nexting’ – and ask yourself how it would feel to stop waiting for things to be over.?

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Warmly,

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