Mantra Mindset — ‘to be’ not ‘to do’

When we set goals and make a ‘to-do’ list at work, we achieve results with methods like SMART or some other variation of performance measurement. We want to work out how each strategy and activity can efficiently support a larger objective or intent. We are focused and determined to work through our list and ruthlessly edit it when it doesn’t serve our purposes. Our careers depend on it.

Sometimes that mode of thinking informs how we live out our personal lives too, for better or worse.

This Sunday morning I set about updating my personal ‘to-do’ list of household projects, chores, and educational goals; some with specific timeframes and others endless. I realised how little joy this list gave me. Just another bunch of things I ‘have’ to do.

Have you ever felt a similar overwhelm or self-imposed performance burden, simply through tasking yourself? Do these feelings exceed your enthusiasm or drive to achieve your goals and objectives? Worse still, do you believe that you cannot be happy unless you accomplish all of those things?

Staring at my list, I could sense this kind of mental resistance and dread, for different reasons line by line. The amount of energy it would almost certainly take. The discomfort and pain. The complexity of learning something unfamiliar. A fear of failure or judgement in my own eyes or others. And so on with excuses for how it was all too hard, and why it might just be a better idea to go to the beach or binge-watch something mindless.

“After all, it is a day of rest,” I reassured myself.

Realising I needed a new approach for finding joy from my personal life-plan, I rewrote my list, except using an experimental technique that I am going to herein dub ‘Mantra Mindset.’ Let’s define this something like ‘Mind tool; mind set’ or ‘Set your mind with a tool of the mind.’

For the new version of my list, each item is framed in terms of ‘being’ and ‘to be,’ rather than ‘doing’ or ‘to do.’

Here are some examples:

• ‘Gym,’ becomes a mantra mindset… ‘Daily exercise keeps my body and mind healthy.’
• ‘Write,’ becomes a mantra mindset…. ‘Writing helps me understand Life and living.’
• ‘Practice piano,’ becomes ‘I enjoy playing the piano.’
• ‘Sort out the garage,’ becomes ‘Hard waste collection next month will conveniently remove clutter I don’t need.’

You get the idea.

Already, I love my ‘To Be’ list.

I look forward to this state of ‘being’ in my personal life, irrespective of outcomes or how well I perform in each of these endeavours.