The +1 Strategy
You don’t have to believe your mind.
You don’t even have to listen to it either.
These truisms are arguably more important than ever to inner-stand if we prefer to harness our mind so that it is our obedient servant rather than our tyrannical master.
The abstract nature of the mind and the thoughts within tend to have two distinct polarities… one that is guided by our higher self, our conscious, or as the ancient Greek philosophers called it, our Daimon (AKA “Optimus You”).
And we have the part of the mind that only wants what is pleasurable or beneficial now, even if we have to disregard our morals or break our word to ourselves in order to attain it. That side of the mind is guided by our Demon.
So what is your strategy for taming the mind’s chatter and keeping it in check?
Michael Singer wrote about this important subject in "The Untethered Soul" and also detailed his encounters with his own mind and how he worked with it in "The Surrender Experiment". Both of these books are invaluable reads if you want more insights into how to work with the incessant and never ending stream of chatter, judgement, and commentary that is the mind. Just as your heart won't stop beating as long as you are alive, your thoughts will not stop either. It is vitally important to know how to harness the power of the mind if you are to have a chance at a peaceful and joy filled life. Otherwise, the mind will simply drive you nuts!
I want to share a strategy that I like to use every day and that can help you as you move forward into the new year and beyond. It's simply called the “Plus One” strategy and here’s how it works…
After your brain and your body wake up in the morning, you immediately have decisions to make and you will continue to make decisions all day until you go to sleep. For example: “Do I spend a little me time right now while the house is quiet or do I get straight to work?”, “Do I do that workout I told myself I would do or am I too busy?”.
We continuously make decisions all day every day - it’s simply part of life, right? The Plus One strategy is a way that we can gamify our life and make the most out of every opportunity. As they say, "if you want different things in your life you have to make different decisions". We can philosophize the subtle details on this concept but let’s keep it simple for now…
Each time you make a decision that is in alignment with your optimal self, the version of you that you want to actualize, you create a +1. On the other hand, each time you make a decision that does not move you in the direction of your optimal self, you create a -1.
+1 = stepping forward into growth.
-1 = stepping backwards into comfort and safety.
At the end of the day, if you have chosen to step back into safety more times than you have stepped forward into growth you want to numb out with a glass of wine or three, get lost in a long social media scroll sesh, or binge watch Netflix. These common escapes tend to "do the job" of allowing us to temporarily feel better when we are experiencing the emotional discomfort of regret, frustration, or that oh-so-nagging lack of fulfillment. But there is a better way!
When you engage with courage and you step forward, and step forward, and step forward during the day (+1 +1 +1), there is a natural charge that fills you up. That charge radiates outwards from you and has an influence on your family and loved ones too! At the end of a day when we have decided to listen to our Daimon, we end our day with that satisfied contentment deep in our bones.
The multitude of tiny decisions that we make every day are micro-moments that aggregate into the big things in life that make a difference. Practice with intensity and repetition to move towards that Optimus You! ... and what better day to start than TODAY!