Hi ******

Tai-Chi Time management
What do we do if we hit a job we don't like doing? We often try to force ourselves to do the job, or we procrastinate, until we cannot postpone the job any longer.

Tai-Chi is a form of martial art whereby we don't block the opponent, but we use the attacking force to eliminate him. For example, I am attacked by somebody. I make a side-step so that the person misses me. I then eliminate the attacker by giving him a push in the direction he was going anyway. Other times I move with the opponent, slow them down and then change direction.

I am suggesting we do the same with those jobs we don't want to do. This applies to jobs, but also good intention like exercising more, having quiet time, etc. we are not getting to. Instead of resisting and fighting these jobs, we take some time to analyse the situation. We don't feel like doing the job for a reason. The fact that we don't want to do the job could be caused by:

• Not knowing where to start, or.
• The job is too big, or
• We are missing something, or.
• We really don't have time or.
• I really don't like this. Is there a nicer way I can reach the same goal?

It is important that we name what we are resisting and use a few minutes to find a solution. The solution could be to delegate the job. If we cannot get somebody else to do it for us and we still struggle to motivate ourselves, we can make the job smaller, by telling ourselves "I only have to do this for five minutes." If we don't like exercising, then it could be that we have chosen a form of exercising we don't like. For example, if we don't like running, maybe we could go dancing. We maybe we are expecting too much of ourselves. Instead of saying "I exercise every day", we say "I exercise 3 or 4 times a week". If that is even hard, we could say "I just put on my exercise clothes on and drive to the gym, 3-4 times a week"

Most of the time this is enough to get going, do a lot more than five minutes and maybe even finish the job.

I am teaching a number of Brain Gym® courses and the Relationship workshop in December. Look in the blue columns for the dates.

Make a Life is starting next year a new 2-year Brain Gym® qualification. Click here for more information.

Click here for information on how to learn to heal allergies.

Have fun and take some risks.

Hanna Kok

Please feel free to email, hanna@makealife.co.za, with any comments on or suggestions for the newsletters.

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