Part of our mission with Glover U is not only to turn each and everyone of you into top notch business professionals, but to help make sure we aren't sacrificing quality of life to get there. This is a tough balance to achieve, since most goals worth achieving will require an amount of sacrifice to get there. By now, all of you should know that our tagline is Live Unreal, and we even developed a formula to help describe how we go from being “transaction focused” to “unreal life” focused. If you missed this, it's our 100th episode on our Live Unreal Podcast!
Today, I want to break it down from an Unreal Life to creating small, unreal moments. Or, at the very least, begin to create space for yourself to be able to realize + recognize what it is you truly want. See, part of the challenge with identifying + determining what an unreal life might look like to you comes from really never having the time or space to freely think about what that would look like for you before. Life happens and we get tied down with obligations coming from every which way, so the idea of actually sitting down and mapping out what an unreal life looks like for you might feel overwhelming or even silly. But here's what we need to remember. An Unreal Life is made up of smaller, unreal days. And unreal days are made up of unreal moments. And, well, unreal moments are made up of unreal choices. So, really, the first thing we need to really do in order to create an unreal life is to hold space for unreal moments in our days.
Again, the idea of holding space for ourselves in our day may seem silly, especially if we are guilty of waking up, grabbing our phones, and reacting to whatever is on the screen or whatever our family needs from us. We are all guilty of not being present to some degree, but how can we create a moment that's just for us?
Here are some of my favorite suggestions on how to create unreal moments in each and every day:
Wake up 15 minutes earlier (or before your family) to enjoy some quiet time by yourself to think, meditate, journal, pray, etc!
Consider starting a journaling habit. If the thought/idea of “what to write about” feels like a job to you, let's just start with 10 things you’re grateful for daily!
When you’re having your lunch break, actually unplug for 30 minutes. Listen to a podcast you enjoy, read a book that has nothing to do with work. Let yourself actually mentally breathe for a moment.
Carve out some time for physical, movement meditation (aka exercise). When not torturous or painful, exercise can be a great way to meditate and tune out.
Consider “technology free” time where you unplug for the night, and consider implementing this at meal time, too. In short, find pockets of time where you can be more present on exactly what it is you’re doing or who you’re talking to.
While these suggestions are far from ground breaking and might not sound “unreal” in and of themselves, what we know is that in order for us to have the mental freedom + flexibility to be able to think about and dream of our unreal life, we need to first start creating that space in our day. Soon enough, your morning meditations might transform to business planning sessions for your unreal life. Or the productivity and calmness you find on the other side of “technology free” time might be exactly what you need to love your job again. Remember, a life is made up of years, months and days, and our days are made up of moments that we get to choose. So, in an effort to create a more unreal life, let's start first with finding small ways to make each day that much better.