One of the hardest things is making your day productive rather than being sucked into  a fire storm of trivia and interruptions.

Whilst life makes it difficult to detail your plan every day, its probably as well to get some targets and tasks set the night before.

The Lee Harvey Method is worth considering. Its stupidly simple and basic

1. At the end of today,  write down the six most important things you need to do tomorrow.  Nothing more.  6 only.
2. Put  those six items in order of their  real  importance.
3. Tomorrow focus and finish the 1st task . Finish it.
4. Then move on to the second task, finish it. Any tasks let, carry them forward till tomorrow
5. Revisit this process every working day.

I have this terribly ambivalent relationships with shops. I passionately want to buy food from quaint market stalls, but frequently end up  buying second class ” fruit and  veg” from  stalls that  are obviously not as good quality as  Tesco or other bigger stores. Sure it looks cheaper, but its normally on the turn and everytime I shop at my corner shop, or a small stall, I regret it. Everytime. ( I think its a family trait that we think we are getting  a bargin)

foodies rightly praise all sorts of small shops. But Let me make it clear that there is nothing in the word “small” that guarantees quality or good service

The nasty thing is, that everytime I shop at Tesco, I seem to get very good fresh food at quite good prices. No one is anxiously  trying to palm rotting stuff off on me. ( In the late 1970′s I was a student green grocer for a holiday Job. It was your job to  distribute the rotten food among the good to get ride of it)  Im passionately in favour of small enterprises, but that was always on the basis that they could actually supply extra quality: Many small food outlets dont deliver this quality. Obviously I love properly organised farmers markets, and who hasnt fallen in love with
Bries pickles.

Sure, Tesco, and the big supermarket world, should be told off for selling row upon row of what we would call “rubbish”, but for the range of meats, fresh fruit and vegetables, its very, very ,useful.  I do disapprove of the fact they deliver stuff, I think you should go down and  suffer with the rest of us, but thats probably just my age. But then  isn’t  every shop is just a phone  call to a cab company away from  a home delivery service. after all, even the unbearably trendy Abel and Cole deliver!

So we have to get our better quality food, and if you have the time , its great to visit a farmers market, or   a recommended small shop ( or specialist pickle supplier). But don’t overlook the big superstore, especially if it gets you eating better, now.

Getting on the zone or paleo can be difficult enough in the early stages without specialist shopping trips. When you become a fully fledged foodie, and waft around London sampling delicious stuff, it will be great, but for now  if you are in an overstressed, over taxing Job  just  fighting to find 15 minutes a day to prepare food, start with the  big shops you know.

Benjamin Franklin’s secret of success was this. “I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody”

In short any fool can criticise, condemn and complain -and most fools do.

So Mindwod followers, we need you to develop the self control and character  to be understanding and forgiving as “a great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men” ( Carlyle)

Commit to  understand people rather than condemning them. Figure out why they do things , Its actually far more intriguing than simply criticising, and it “breeds sympathy, tolerance and kindness”

The problem with criticism is that it often pushes people into being defensive. People are not logical: they are bundles of emotions, with prejudices fuelled by pride and vanity. They often cannot see their own short comings. Dale Carnegie quotes Warden Lawes “few of the criminals in sing sing regard themselves as bad men… most attempt by a form of reasoning , fallacious or logical , to justify their anti-social acts”

The simple fact is that you will find numerous examples of the futility of criticism  throughout history. It simply does not work .

Wanting to help people change is a great aim, but, start with yourself.  As confucius said ” don’t complain abut the snow on your neighbours roof when your own doorstep is unclean”

Todays MindWOD task is to reflect on this.

Thanks to Dale Carnegie and his book “how to win friends and influence people”

A few days ago, I asked you to think about the issue of not criticising others. It makes you mean, and rarely helps the receiver

As an example, Carnegie cites a letter Lincoln wrote to a general who disobeyed his orders during the Civil War. Here’s a snippet:

“I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee’s escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do so South of the river, when you can take with you very few more than two thirds of the force you then had in hand? It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do not expect you can now effect much. Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasureably because of it.”

Clearly, this is  harsh, even  personal.

But the lesson we have  offer is a simple one. The lesson is that Lincoln never sent the letter. It was found among his papers after his death.

Carnegie speculated upon Lincoln’s motive for not sending the letter

“Maybe I ought not to be so hasty. It is easy enough for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House and order Meade to attack; but if I had been up at Gettysburg, and if I had seen as much blood as Meade has seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn’t be so anxious to attack either. If I had Meade’s timid temperament, perhaps I would have done just what he had done. Anyhow, it is water under the bridge now. If I send this letter, it will relieve my feelings, but it will make Meade try to justify himself. It will make him condemn me. It will arouse hard feelings, impair all his further usefulness as a commander, and perhaps force him to resign from the army.”.

Never the less, after this incident, Mead was closely supervised by Ulysses S Grant. Lincoln didn’t vent his spleen, but he also took action.

MindWod, genuine spirituality and genuine humanity does not mean taking without question whatever the people around you dish out. It means making an effort to understand and solve problems, and not  just to pander to  your knee jerk temper because  its easy.

Mindwod, after reflection,will  require you to be assertive. Sometimes being assertive means closing relations down, asking partners and friends who are bad for you to move on. Sometimes it means taking action that others don’t like.

Remember,  for all his  “coolness”  Lincoln’s  was involved in a bloody conflict.

What I would like to say is this: honour, mindfulness, humanity is your gift to yourself: if someone preaches mindfulness and positivity and immediately links it with a political movement, a business proposition or  a religious idea , maybe treat the messenger with caution.