“Be Fully Present”

An excerpt from a recent speech by Coach Lance: “Ten Practices That Can Dramatically Increase Your Productivity.” This is Practice #1`.

How many of you -- raise your hands -- have been allowing your thoughts to drift off somewhere else as you try to read The Blade...back to things that happened yesterday, or earlier this morning. Or to your thoughts and judgments and evaluations about this writer’s topic. Or to what you’re going to do later in the day? Hold those hands high if you were going there -- or somewhere similar -- in your heads. Don’t be ashamed. It’s normal. It’s human.

It’s estimated that up to 80% of our thoughts in any given day, at any given moment, are about the past -- or the future -- or something other than what at hand. That's a tremendous dilution of your personal energy.

Being fully ‘in the present’ means you have no thoughts about past, future, or any other distraction. You are fully engaged in what's taking place at this exact moment, thinking about the ideas being presented, the topic under discussion, what you are reading, and the immediate possibilities presented.

There are times when the appropriate thing to do in the present moment is to review the past; or to plan for the future. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the ability to FOCUS and concentrate fully on what is before you in the moment -- the precious ability to give your full attention to what is happening right now, and to what’s possible right now.

It’s useful to know that as human beings our minds are constantly pulled in one directions or another: the past; the future; judgments; evaluations. Our emotions overwhelm our ability to focus.

If your mind is drifting forward or back as you read right now, for example, you’re only getting a small part of the value of my words. Your ability to learn is impeded. A coach once told me, “Lance you can learn from a garbage can -- IF you are truly OPEN to listening, to hearing, and to learning -- if you are willing to be fully present in the moment.”

So, an important part of learning is not letting the past or future or the extraneous get in the way of what is possible when you are being fully in the present. Right now, for example, you may be thinking, “I know this,” or “I’ve heard this before,” or “this is nothing new,” or even “I don’t like Lance’s writing style.”

The MINUTE you go to any of those places, you are unable to think about how what the writer is saying might be useful to you. This is equally true in a meeting with your boss or your colleagues, or when talking with members of your family.

Learning, growing, being creative...these are all generated from within, and they are all a function of your being willing to be PRESENT IN THE MOMENT, of your TRAINING yourself to be PRESENT IN THE MOMENT, and so giving room and space for taking in new information, or inventing ways to apply old information. At this moment, for example, you might be thinking of ways to make that a conscious, deliberate ongoing habit of being fully present in the moment for yourself.

Here’s a tip. At the places where you work, where you look when you are on the phone, or perhaps on the wall right over your computer....print out a big one-sheet sign that says BE FULLY PRESENT, or FOCUS, or whatever gets the point across to you. Let it be a reminder to snap back to the moment, to be attentive, to be present.

© 2008 Lance Webster, LW Communications & Coaching