To 'Move Smoothly,' Look Away from the Storm Within
It is a clear day today, and it has been a day with strong sunshine, hasn't it?
My theme for this week was 'moving smoothly.'
In truth, this was a slogan I set quite a while ago, but as of this week, I have begun to feel that I am finally realizing it.
What does 'smoothly' mean?
In this article, 'moving smoothly' is defined as a state that largely satisfies the following conditions.
Factors that cause hesitation in work procedures or policies are (to some extent) eliminated.
It is treated as something that does not necessarily require conscious focus.
I occasionally verbalize my current state, acknowledge it, and let it go.
The benefits gained from this are:
Reducing opportunities that require judgment as much as possible, allowing for action without exhaustion.
Maintaining a mental state that is not swayed by the fluctuations of my own concentration.
Not being swayed by the fog in my head, making end-of-day reflections easier.
These are the benefits.
All three of these elements are carried out with the goal of 'reducing my own exhaustion and preventing performance degradation.'
Therefore, if we ignore the romance and the five senses, my theme of 'moving smoothly' could also be rephrased as 'moving with less exhaustion.'
What happens when you are conscious of concentration
Regarding the points above, I think 1 and 3 are relatively easy to understand.
1 is about saving resources used for 'confusion' in the brain, and 3 is about feeling refreshed through so-called journaling or venting thoughts.
In contrast, 'not needing to be conscious of concentration' or 'not being swayed by fluctuations in concentration' might appear to some to be in a slightly different context.
However, this is also a means to reduce exhaustion.
In the first place, if we could freely concentrate just by thinking 'let's concentrate' and maintain it for a long time in the same way, we wouldn't have any trouble.
Fluctuations in concentration are caused not only by your physical and mental condition but also by sensory stimuli from your environment and various pressures.
And I believe that you are the one who feels these waves most intensely.
It would be counterproductive to deny yourself for not being able to concentrate, aim to be someone who can concentrate deeply for long periods, and then end up increasing the frequency of self-denial when you fail to reach that goal, becoming troubled and exhausted, and falling into a state where you cannot concentrate at all.
It would be a disaster if the storm inside your heart led to a decline in your visible performance.
By not being conscious of concentration, things become smoother
The mindset that 'you don't necessarily have to be conscious of concentration' can reduce the frequency of the aforementioned self-denial.
Instead of judging yourself as good if you are concentrating and bad if you are not, just keep moving your hands and body as much as you can.
If you can't even do that, take a proper break, and it is common for your concentration to recover and deepen while you are working anyway.
By repeating this process, I have come to think that it is best if you can move along nicely, even if it is at a moderate depth and while being somewhat unfocused.
As a result, I feel that the ups and downs of my concentration waves have decreased, and I have become able to spend my days smoothly without any major shocks.
I cannot say that this will work for everyone, but it might resonate with those who think, 'Am I overthinking things?'