Make Better Choices By Cutting the “Noise”

I often tell my clients “awareness is key.”

The greater our awareness, the more likely we will make the best choices for ourselves – ones that are aligned with the pursuit of becoming our healthiest and best selves.

One of the best ways we can grow our awareness is to develop more “quiet” in our lives.

My aim today is to encourage you to find ways to “reduce the noise” in your life in order to allow for more quiet.

In turn, this will lead to making choices that will ultimately support your pursuit of better health and self-care.

Here’s how I regularly “reduce the noise.”

I love reading and writing at coffee shops.

However, it’s easy for me to lose my focus and concentration (I’ll know this when I find myself reading the same paragraph in my book over and over again).

Unlike being at home where I can better control the environment, there’s really no way to control my surroundings at a coffee shop – whether the person who sits next to me is quietly reading or talking on their phone, the type and volume of music that’s being played, whether my favorite seat in the house is available or not, etc.

Knowing this, I do as much as I can to control what I can, and one of the most effective ways I do this at a coffee shop is by wearing earplugs.

My earplugs seem to cut the sound in half and make it less likely for me to lose my concentration and have to refocus over and over again.

I find that I get through much more reading and writing when I’m wearing my earplugs because I’m focused; I’m less likely to get caught up in the song that’s playing or whatever else might be going on around me.

However, as I stood in line to order my coffee the other day, it didn’t “seem” too loud, so I thought I might skip the earplugs.

But then, when I finally sat down and got settled, I decided to put them in anyway and I’m so glad I did.

Truth be told: sometimes you don’t know how loud is until you’ve had some quiet.

What I find is that I can still hear things going on around me – the music, people walking across the wood floor, the barista steaming milk, and the sound of my coffee cup hitting the table when I put it down; however, with the earplugs I only lose concentration once in awhile, if something’s really loud.

I realized how much earplugs help me reduce the noise, get and stay focused for longer periods of time, and therefore, I’m more productive, the quality of my work is better, and I simply enjoy what I’m doing much more.

Imagine driving for a second: using earplugs helps me “stay in my lane,” so to speak, as opposed to finding myself veering into another lane every few minutes and having to steer myself back on course constantly.

This never-ending “course-correction” can not only be exhausting, but also discouraging and time-consuming as I find myself having to shift back into focus so often.

Consider the “noise” you might have in your environment on a regular basis – having too many responsibilities, negative people who suck the energy out of you, a home full of needless clutter, etc.

When we’re anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed, it exhausts the part of our brain responsible for making healthy food choices, deciding whether or not we’ll make time for exercise today, and so on.

This is why it’s important to “wear your earplugs” – find ways to cut the noise in your life, perhaps not completely, but just enough for you to make the healthy choices you want and need to make in order to keep moving forward toward your goals.

“Wearing your earplugs” could mean eliminating or delegating  some of your “To-Do’s,” distancing or creating boundaries around the “energy vampires” in your life, and perhaps a good old-fashioned spring cleaning around your house.

It’s hard to do all at once, but like most things, a little at a time goes a long way.

Consider this: if I wear an earplug in my right ear, I’ve cut some of the noise, and it’s helpful, but put both in, I’m much more productive and focused.

With this in mind, start with the easiest place to make a change, not the hardest or the one you think needs it the most – again, the easiest place for you.

Then, I hope you begin to experience that by “cutting the noise” you can really get more done on YOU, instead of your attention being pulled in several directions at a time.

Before you know it, you’ll find yourself being able to not just make, but also keep your healthy commitments, leading to the feeling of accomplishment and confidence that comes when you make promises to yourself that you can keep.

It all begins with one small thing. In my case, earplugs in a coffee shop.

How will you begin to “cut the noise”?

It’s Your Turn to Take Care of You,

 

 

 

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