Simplify

Simplify
By Bernard L. Gladieux, Jr.

It appears to be a fact of contemporary life that many of us, active athletes no less than anyone else, are over-stimulated, over-worked, over-committed, stressed and frustrated. We have too much to do, too much information to digest, too many demands on our minds and our energies and too little time in our waking hours for all, or maybe even a part, of it.

Sources of our over-filled cup are not difficult to identify. Consider the automobile, the telephone, the computer, television and a thousand and one other technological innovations and stimuli that were supposed to make our lives bigger and better or easier and more efficient.

Surely most of them have made it possible to extend ourselves and, in at least some respects, to enjoy a richer, fuller existence. But taken together and, perhaps in excess, they have speeded up daily life, often beyond our coping capacity.

What to do?
Unfortunately not everyone has clear choices available to them and are, by fate, consigned to lives of quiet, sometimes frantic struggle. Active athletes, on the other hand, although certainly not immune to such stresses are at a distinct advantage and typically find that their regular training, far from sapping their strength, provides a net yield in both mental and physical energy. If you do not find it so and are tempted to lop off exercise as excess baggage on your journey, first try some of the following techniques that will help simplify, clarify and bring balance within.

Simplify:
This is, at once, the easiest, most direct and sometimes the most satisfying action you can take. In most instances it means just eliminating: a committee, a habit, any activity that you don't truly care about and which does not give you or people you care about any true benefit. The key to removing yourself from an activity is being clear about what you have to be willing to give up, then following through. Consider carefully.

Schedule:
Most of us live through a demand schedule that may seem to have set itself up spontaneously and then controls us like a zombie tyrant. Don't count on the zombie to be a benevolent despot with your best interests at heart. The zombie doesn't care because it has no brain and doesn't think and has no heart, so it can't feel sorry for you. Better arrange you own routine. Decide week to week what you want/need and to do; slot in your tasks and times to rest and recover. Realism and common sense should dominate this planning.

Vacate:
Don't shortchange yourself on your vacations. Some "Type A" types used to pride themselves on never taking them, presumably on the basis of being tough and/or devoted to the job. Balderdash. Vacations restore healthy perspectives and rejuvenate mind and body. If the idea of taking a vacation gives you a queasy feeling, better check out whether or not you really do have as firm a grip as you think.

Hierarchy:
Think through the things you do week to week or month to month. Sort them according to how important they are to you. Don't be reluctant to break activities up into pieces. For example, you enjoy the process of cross training for triathlons, but the competition is beginning to become a drag. So train, but thin out your competitive schedule. Take a week or two break from your least favorite activity, and do something else like kayaking or hiking. Once you have honestly sorted out those activities that are the most and least important and satisfying to you, making decisions about how you spend your time will get easier.

Focus:
The killer threat to inner balance and harmony in the end is not really out there among all the competing demands for your attention; it is in the humid fog inside your own head that beclouds your own self-awareness and aspirations. Make it a matter of your own internal routine to concentrate clearly on what you plan to do, how you plan to do it and what you expect to get out of it – whatever "it" may be. Then do "it" and nothing else until you choose to go on to the next item on your self directed schedule, agenda or itinerary.

One of the most valuable fringe benefits of aerobic, endurance training, whatever the actual activity may be, is the opportunity it affords for clear, unimpeded thinking.

On a long run or a ride or a hike, the mind empties of its crossed, static laden signals. In it there are only the fundamental rhythms we are born with and an image of the path ahead. In that focus there is a peace that gives you back your steering wheel, your renewal and simplicity itself.

In Good Heath,
Bernard L. Gladieux, Jr.
President and Founder
The Pressure Positive Company®

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