Hear, hear on the slow productivity! It’s a message that needs to spread far and wide.
It’s sometimes difficult, living in a city, to get deeply into ‘nature’ on a daily basis, although I’m thankful to live in Germany and in an area with a lot of public green spaces. I do find spending time outdoors restorative and walks promote good thinking.
Looking forward to hearing more here about your coaching program! It sounds like an important offering. 💖
Thank you! What I hope to help people see with my writing here is that it's not so much how much Nature you have access to, although a immersive Nature experience is certainly good for the soul, it's how you intentionally experience the Nature that's around us daily, even in small bits. And yes, more to come!
Incredible isn't it, that we have to coin a new term "slow productivity" to negate the association of productivity with speed, when productivity is actually all about effectiveness and not at all about efficiency. Most productivity gurus are output focused. They teach you how to speed up your hamster wheel - whether that's your own creation or your employer's - without ever considering whether that output takes you where you want to go, let alone get you to consider where that is!
Btw, thank you for pointing me to Cal Newport. Very curious about his new book now.
It is incredible that most of what we see as new ways of doing is actually undoing of ways that are counter-productive. Be interested to hear what you think of the book if you check it out.
Marsha, this post connected with me in these questions you posed:
How much change is realistic to ask?
How much will people actually do?
How much, or how little, teaching will they need to shift their mindset?
My own journey with severe heart disease tells me your first two questions are 1a and 1b and relates directly to motivation and circumstances. Doctors believe almost exclusively in pills or surgery as the "cure" for everybody. So that's an easy ask. Lifestyle changes as a cure are a much harder ask and doctors either/both don't believe they work and don't believe patients will make lifestyle changes anyway. Therefore, in relation to your last question, they give the patient no or almost no education on the benefit and efficacy of lifestyle changes so no opportunity to change your mindset.
So:
Change/Motivation: do nothing and likely have a massive heart attack and possibly die (death is a great motivator).
Do: Surgery or lifestyle change
Teaching: Educating yourself on the choices of surgery (many unacknowledged poor outcomes but better than doing nothing) or dramatic lifestyle changes that a growing body of evidence and professionals acknowledge does work if practiced IN FULL.
In my case the motivation to make dramatic lifestyle changes came from educating myself and quite frankly getting very lucky and stumbling into discovering the power of lifestyle changes. So in my humble opinion and certainly for me teaching/educating is perhaps THE main path to discovering motivation and pursuing action.
BTW, my lifestyle changes began in 2017 and here in 2024 I'm still thumping along, taking it day by day, and working through both the inevitable successes and failures. Thanks for a great column!
Marko, thank you for your thoughtful and in-depth response. I have to agree with you 100% on all of this. Not accepting the rote prescriptions of conventional medicine - or most conventional therapies - is still, surprisingly, the norm. Education, if any, centers on the conventional treatments.
I had this experience when I successfully went through breast cancer treatment in 2020 (in the middle of lockdown, lol!) During my 'education session' with the PA I asked "What can I do nutritionally to support myself?" The answer: "Eat a balanced diet."
I walked into the parking lot, looked up at the sky and said, "Houston, we have a problem." That night I found a keto cancer health coach online and scheduled a discovery call for the next day. She guided me through a very different self-care experience that not only buoyed my attitude but my body's response. A year later when my oncologist declared me cancer-free she said I was the most proactive in managing my care than any patient she had seen in a long time.
Thank your for reminding me of the power of education and support needed when making lifestyle changes. I will definitely refer back to his in my coaching. I'm glad you discovered it for yourself when you needed it and continue to this day.
Hear, hear on the slow productivity! It’s a message that needs to spread far and wide.
It’s sometimes difficult, living in a city, to get deeply into ‘nature’ on a daily basis, although I’m thankful to live in Germany and in an area with a lot of public green spaces. I do find spending time outdoors restorative and walks promote good thinking.
Looking forward to hearing more here about your coaching program! It sounds like an important offering. 💖
Thank you! What I hope to help people see with my writing here is that it's not so much how much Nature you have access to, although a immersive Nature experience is certainly good for the soul, it's how you intentionally experience the Nature that's around us daily, even in small bits. And yes, more to come!
I can’t wait! Plus looking forward to learning more about Cal Newport. He sounds like a smart guy 😊
Incredible isn't it, that we have to coin a new term "slow productivity" to negate the association of productivity with speed, when productivity is actually all about effectiveness and not at all about efficiency. Most productivity gurus are output focused. They teach you how to speed up your hamster wheel - whether that's your own creation or your employer's - without ever considering whether that output takes you where you want to go, let alone get you to consider where that is!
Btw, thank you for pointing me to Cal Newport. Very curious about his new book now.
It is incredible that most of what we see as new ways of doing is actually undoing of ways that are counter-productive. Be interested to hear what you think of the book if you check it out.
That, or ways that people have come up with and forgotten time and time again...
I'll let you know if/when I do!
Marsha, this post connected with me in these questions you posed:
How much change is realistic to ask?
How much will people actually do?
How much, or how little, teaching will they need to shift their mindset?
My own journey with severe heart disease tells me your first two questions are 1a and 1b and relates directly to motivation and circumstances. Doctors believe almost exclusively in pills or surgery as the "cure" for everybody. So that's an easy ask. Lifestyle changes as a cure are a much harder ask and doctors either/both don't believe they work and don't believe patients will make lifestyle changes anyway. Therefore, in relation to your last question, they give the patient no or almost no education on the benefit and efficacy of lifestyle changes so no opportunity to change your mindset.
So:
Change/Motivation: do nothing and likely have a massive heart attack and possibly die (death is a great motivator).
Do: Surgery or lifestyle change
Teaching: Educating yourself on the choices of surgery (many unacknowledged poor outcomes but better than doing nothing) or dramatic lifestyle changes that a growing body of evidence and professionals acknowledge does work if practiced IN FULL.
In my case the motivation to make dramatic lifestyle changes came from educating myself and quite frankly getting very lucky and stumbling into discovering the power of lifestyle changes. So in my humble opinion and certainly for me teaching/educating is perhaps THE main path to discovering motivation and pursuing action.
BTW, my lifestyle changes began in 2017 and here in 2024 I'm still thumping along, taking it day by day, and working through both the inevitable successes and failures. Thanks for a great column!
Marko, thank you for your thoughtful and in-depth response. I have to agree with you 100% on all of this. Not accepting the rote prescriptions of conventional medicine - or most conventional therapies - is still, surprisingly, the norm. Education, if any, centers on the conventional treatments.
I had this experience when I successfully went through breast cancer treatment in 2020 (in the middle of lockdown, lol!) During my 'education session' with the PA I asked "What can I do nutritionally to support myself?" The answer: "Eat a balanced diet."
I walked into the parking lot, looked up at the sky and said, "Houston, we have a problem." That night I found a keto cancer health coach online and scheduled a discovery call for the next day. She guided me through a very different self-care experience that not only buoyed my attitude but my body's response. A year later when my oncologist declared me cancer-free she said I was the most proactive in managing my care than any patient she had seen in a long time.
Thank your for reminding me of the power of education and support needed when making lifestyle changes. I will definitely refer back to his in my coaching. I'm glad you discovered it for yourself when you needed it and continue to this day.
As I always say, "Onward!"
I'm a big Cal Newport fan! Also Helmut Rosa, a German philosopher who writes about the acceleration of life and the need to cultivate resonance.