How to Make 2024 Your Year of Presence
24 days into the new year and yet it feels like yesterday when we celebrated the start of the new year. If the celebrations on 31.23/01.24 are anything to go by, the new year is going to be filled with exceptional humans, warm energy, sparkles and much faith that each and every one of us has the power to create the year we envision.
While sitting at my friend's beautiful home in Cape Town, under the starry South African sky, next to a crackling fire – I reflected on what I could take from 2023 and improve on. Since turning coaching into my professional career path, I have worked on challenges and obstacles as soon as they come up in my day-to-day life. Personal development is like lifting weights, it gets easier the more you do the exercise. It can be really hard to start off with, but the results of being “strong” within yourself are without a doubt worth every “heavy lifting”.
Reflecting on 2023
After some contemplation, I remembered a few incidents in 2023 that would not have happened if I had been more present. Let me fill you in.
Memory No. 1: One day, I was on my way to an appointment. I left the house early and chose a connection that would have gotten me to my destination 15 minutes early. The first part of the connection was by train, followed by a short-ish bus ride. I had 10 minutes in between the two and thought I would multitask and answer e-mails. I got so involved that the bus literally stopped in front of me for a few minutes and then drove away in front of my eyes. I had not even noticed that it had stopped in front of me! I just saw it drive away. Needless to say, I was late for my appointment.
Memory No. 2: I was being coached, as part of a further development course that I was taking. Yes, we coaches also greatly benefit from being coached. The coach, who was excellent, made me do a writing exercise that displayed how much less effective I was by multitasking instead of doing one task at a time. What an impression that made!!!
So yes, being fully present in everything I do this year is my goal for 2024. In other words, my presence is my present to myself this year.
5 Ways To Be More Present
1. Stop Multitasking
It’s like being everywhere and nowhere. Multitasking can decrease the quality of your work, increase the rate of making mistakes, affect your ability to retain information and even negatively impact your mental health. Consciously focusing on one task at a time and only shifting once the task is complete will allow you to feel less overwhelmed and more motivated to achieve things as you will truly acknowledge tasks you have successfully completed.
2. Be Selective
Now that you know your time is limited and that you cannot be everywhere, choose which tasks and activities are most important to you. Even at work, there are “must-do” tasks and some that are “nice to have” or could be delegated to someone else. Be selective on what to focus on fully. You will find that you are a lot faster in completing individual tasks, rather than multitasking.
3. Resist Distractions
Turn your phone on silent, turn off pop-up e-mails or create an environment that helps you focus and be present. Naturally, if an e-mail pops up or a notification comes through on your phone, it’s tempting to check and to be distracted. Resist! Give the e-mail or message the attention it deserves at a later stage. For me, listening to classical music can help me limit distracting sounds around me.
3. Limit Your Time In The Digital World
Let’s face it, no matter how often we tell ourselves that we are relaxing by watching Netflix or scrolling through social media – we all know by now that we really are not. Besides the fact that our body stops releasing melatonin due to blue light, we escape into the digital world not paying full attention to what’s happening in the world we are actually in (My bus driving away, is one of the best examples). I know a number of couples who instead of spending time together at night, are spending time next to each other on their phones. Basically, living separate virtual lives, next to each other.
4.Work On Your Body-Mind Connection
Practicing yoga, meditating and breathing exercises are great ways to consciously work on being fully present, connecting your body and mind. Exercise overall can be a great way of practising being present, because most of the time you need to focus on the here and now to do it effectively. The more you practice this on the mat or in your trainers – the more likely you are to practice presence throughout the day.
5.Do Regular Check-Ins
In the evenings, reflect on your day. Figure out what is stopping you from being present and reassess what you could do to overcome the challenge.
The Benefits of Being Present
By being present and focusing fully on what you are doing your likelihood of doing things well is increased, leading to success. By succeeding you feel good about yourself and motivated, which makes it more likely for you to take on more challenging tasks encouraging you to grow. It will also have a positive effect on your relationships as you have the capacity to listen better, improving your communication, increasing collaboration and minimizing misunderstandings.
By being present you can consciously choose your actions, increasing self-awareness and creating habits that positively contribute to your well-being.
“In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.”— Eckhart Tolle
So, will you be joining me this year in making your presence a present to yourself and others in 2024? If you would like to come up with a personalized action plan or are looking for an accountability buddy to support you in this journey – I would be happy to be present for you.
