The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why Being Your Whole Self--Not Just Your "Good" Self--Drives Success and Fulfillment

by Todd Kashdan

Here are some additional shortcuts for harnessing mindlessness: Set ridiculously short deadlines—ten seconds—in which to make decisions that you have already spent a few minutes paralyzed about what to do. In doing so, you force a mindless decision. There is always a reason not to take a trip somewhere. There is always a reason to stick with the same grocery store purchases. Take ten seconds and then press submit, put the item in your car, or walk away without wasting any more energy on the decision. Use cues or signals that represent your goals. Do you want to be cool and collected in a situation, or be candid and open to whatever you’re feeling? Do you want to have big aspirations and be willing to take risks to achieve them, or be risk adverse, being sure not to make mistakes? Words and images can be taped in your room and on your desk that prime particular goals and motivational styles. Schedule time for mental meandering. Mindfulness is a resource-intensive strategy; there’s a reason we are not exclusively hardwired that way. When the mind wanders, our brain activity is almost the same as when we are resting. Ideas collide and creativity happens by accident. Households and organizations can be organized to encourage strategic mindless activity. This is one of many reasons that free play and physical activity during recess is the last thing that should be removed from school schedules. Set rules for the use of intuition. When you have a simple choice to make, you will ...