Self-Improvement
The Single Most Important Japanese Technique To Improve Your Life And Rewire Your Brain
In today’s world, where one person has to run after so many things, starting from their jobs, bills and their personal lives, it has become quite a task for all of us to truly focus on the present and live in the moment that we are currently in.
We go around spending tons of money and joining yoga classes, hiring life coaches and investing in other ultimately fruitless things to get our lives in order and follow a routine, but there is this Japanese technique which is ancient but is catching on only in recent times.
This technique has been devised by Zen Master Sunryu Suzuki and can be read about in his book, “The Beginner’s Mind”. This technique is called ichigyo-zammai, which literally translates to absolute concentration on a single task.
The One Technique
In this world, which is always in a state of too much to do, just take a moment to imagine what it will feel like to have complete focus on something and get it done without being distracted. The world is full of people who jump from one task to another, never getting back to the one task that they began doing first.
The general advice in these cases, even from life coaches, is to focus on one task at a time, but sticking to one task with complete focus is pretty hard for a lot of people.
6 ways to practice Ichigyo-Zammai:
1. The first step is to write everything that you have to do on that particular day down and create a to-do list.
2. The next step is finding out which tasks are the most important ones, say those tasks that will still give you a feeling of accomplishment even if you do not get around to doing the other tasks.
3. The step that comes next is making an estimate of how much time each task would take to be completed. Make an estimate of how much you can do in shorter span of time and at the end of the day you will find yourself surprised at the amount of work you can do in one single day.
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4. You have to really commit to getting things done and this requires you to put away all kinds of distractions, and yes, I am talking about your phone. Switch it off and keep it away until you are done working. Sure, this seems nearly impossible in this digitized world, but once you finish everything that you have to do, you will find plenty of free time to lurk online.
5. We all know about the notorious distracting thoughts that knock on our concentration when we are doing something. The way to deal with these is not to shove these thoughts away because that will mess with your productivity. The solution is to pay attention to these thoughts and realize that once you are through with these thoughts, you will not be uncomfortable and will get to what you were doing with complete ease.
6. As you are doing what you are doing and going through your to-do list, find time to be alive and feel the moment, feel grateful and appreciate the beauty of having things to do.
The key to happiness is not to rush through life in constant battle with your inner self. Make peace with everything in your life. Do not focus on the negativity, like thinking about how much you hate your job, and instead of doing that, thank your lucky stars that you have a job.
