In the journey towards success, having a clear vision is like having a roadmap—it guides your actions, fuels your motivation, and keeps you focused on your goals. In her insightful book, «The Success Mindset,» Paola Knecht explores the power of vision and how it can transform your life. Let’s delve into the key principles of finding your vision and realizing your dreams.
Understanding Vision
What exactly is vision? It’s more than just a goal or aspiration; it’s a vivid mental image of your ideal future. Your vision is the ultimate destination you want to reach, the big picture that inspires and drives you forward. As Knecht emphasizes, cultivating a strong vision is essential for achieving success in any endeavor.
Clarifying Your Purpose
To find your vision, you must first clarify your purpose. What is it that truly lights a fire within you? What do you feel passionate about? Reflect on your values, interests, and talents. What impact do you want to make in the world? Your vision should align with your deepest desires and values, giving your life a sense of purpose and direction.
Visualizing Your Future
Once you’ve identified your purpose, it’s time to visualize your future. Close your eyes and imagine yourself living your ideal life. What does it look like? What are you doing? Who are you with? Visualize every detail with clarity and intensity. As Knecht suggests, immerse yourself in this vision until it becomes as real to you as your present reality.
Setting Bold Goals
With your vision in mind, it’s time to set bold goals that will propel you towards your desired future. Break down your vision into smaller, actionable steps and set specific, measurable goals to achieve them. These goals should stretch your abilities and push you out of your comfort zone. As Knecht writes, «Goals should be big enough to excite you, yet realistic enough to believe you can achieve them.»
Overcoming Obstacles
On the path to realizing your vision, you’ll inevitably encounter obstacles and challenges. The key is to view these challenges as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks. Stay resilient and adaptable, and be willing to adjust your course as needed. As Knecht advises, «Success is not the absence of failure, but the ability to persist in the face of it.»
Staying Committed
Finally, staying committed to your vision is essential for long-term success. Cultivate a success mindset that fuels your determination and resilience. Surround yourself with supportive people who share your vision and encourage your growth. As Knecht writes, «Your vision is your compass; let it guide you through the ups and downs of your journey.»
In «The Success Mindset,» Paola Knecht highlights the importance of finding your vision as a key step towards achieving success. By clarifying your purpose, visualizing your future, setting bold goals, overcoming obstacles, and staying committed, you can unlock your full potential and create the life you desire. As Knecht reminds us, «Your vision is the starting point of your journey to success. Embrace it, nurture it, and watch it unfold.»
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pexels-photo-975668.jpeg12531880paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2024-04-25 20:06:402026-06-04 20:13:22Unlocking Your Vision: A Guide to Success
Hoy reflexiono sobre la importancia de tomar enserio nuestros sueños. Parece ser que la norma moral por la que nos regimos los humanos es por seguir el estatus quo, lo que nos han enseñado a ser y a creer toda nuestra vida. De niños tenemos la noción – y la ilusión- de algún día poder manifestar ese sueño de SER, ese que se aparece de pronto durante el juego; la esencia escondida que se asoma tímidamente cada que bailamos frente al mar, o cuando cantamos en la ducha y dedicamos monólogos enteros al espejo cuando creemos que nadie nos ve.
El deber ser, se nos vende como algo colectivamente moral- debes ser alguien- alguien que es últil a la sociedad, alguien que puede ganarse la vida, y que puede contribuir al consumismo de la sociedad moderna. Aprendemos que el creer en nuestros sueños es algo absurdo, fuera de lo “normal”. Hemos normalizado la estandarización de las almas humanas. Si no eres una persona “normal” que no participa en la carrera colectiva de 9 a 5, entonces eres raro, inadaptado social, teórico de la conspiración (si criticas el gobierno o a cualquier institución de poder), y simplemente no tienes claras las reglas del juego.
Pero ¿Cuál es el precio que pagamos, cada vez que decides hacer algo que no es congruente con tus sueños y con quien realmente eres?
El precio a pagar suele ser muy caro, incluso impagable. En el intento de ganar esta carrera de consumo y de aparentar ser quien no se es, disfrazados de Louis Vuitton, o Chanel, creemos que una vez que estamos económicamente bien, ya hemos alcanzado el estatus quo aceptable para la sociedad. Pero hay algo siniestro detrás de todo esto. Cada vez que haces algo que te hace sentir presionado, humillado y débil, estás dándole el poder al opresor. Estás siendo parte de una tiranía en contra de ti mismo y de tu alma.
Muy pocas personas toman realmente enserio las sensaciones que el cuerpo les manda cuando algo no está bien- el sentimiento de pesadez e irritabilidad cada Lunes por la mañana no viene de la “flojera” de ir a trabajar. Es una manifestación silenciosa pero real que algo no está bien, que algo no cuadra en tu interior. Tal vez ese trabajo que tienes no te gusta ni te satisface del todo- quizás es demasiado aburrido, o el ambiente de trabajo es opresivo y tóxico, al grado que el simple hecho de saber que tienes que lidiar con esas personas te causa nervios y ansiedad.
Tal vez estamos en un trabajo en donde lo que hacemos no nos llena el corazón de orgullo. Tal vez eres líder de un equipo de trabajo y aunque el título suene elegante como “Líder de proyectos estratégicos” o “Director de transformación digital”- en realidad no se trata más que de leer interminables emails, resolver dramas, pasarte todo el día atado a un escritorio- vendiendo tu alma por el saldo que recibes cada mes- ese es el valor de tu alma, comprada para producir y hacer un trabajo que de otra forma nadie haría.
Trabajar en tus sueños en el mundo actual, es algo revolucionario. Es ir en contra de la tiranía y la opresión. Trabajar en ese maravilloso pero desafiante camino de descubrir quién eres y tener el coraje de mostrarlo al mundo requiere de mucho trabajo interno. Tienes que aprender a discernir sobre las opiniones ajenas y encontrar tu propia opinión. Organizar tu mente y ser capaz de comunicar y transmitir lo que sientes de una manera en la que puedes ser capaz de responder con fuerza y determinación cuando la tiranía se impone y la mayoría calla.
Ser uno mismo es cuestión de amor, disciplina y Fé. El amor es la fuerza transformativa y creadora del universo- Ignorar su influencia en nuestra vida es ir en contra de las leyes naturales de la creación- de la inteligencia infinita y organizadora.
Es por eso que es nuestra responsabilidad ética y moral, tomar enserio nuestros sueños. Darles la importancia y el lugar que realmente tienen en nuestra vida: Nuestros sueños representan el potencial humano – nuestra máxima capacidad de SER.
Trabaja en tus sueños… o terminarás siendo el actor secundario, el “extra” de la película, sin pena y sin gloria.
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pexels-photo-3935704.jpeg12531880paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2023-09-22 14:37:482023-09-22 14:37:48Trabaja en tus sueños
We all have been surrounded by toxic people at one point in our lives, sometimes without even noticing it. In order to live a peaceful and successful life, we should surround ourselves with the right people. In fact, this is common advice from most leaders and mentors I ‘ve ever encountered: “If you want to know who you are, look at the five closest people around you”. Are you hanging around with people who share your same thoughts, values and contribute to your life in a positive way? Or do you just accept anybody that crosses into your path?
Toxic people have bad intentions. They might come across as friendly and nice on the outside, but on the inside, they struggle to feel happy for others, and really just care about themselves. Unfortunately, those people will always get in the way when you are trying to accomplish something positive in your life.
Toxic people can cause detrimental effects in our life if we do not learn to detect them and do something about it; there is enough evidence from research around the world that confirm that toxic relationships are harmful to your health; they increase the risk of metabolism disorders, chronic stress, heart diseases, cardiovascular issues and even depression. The influence of toxic people can be very subtle, so it is imperative to learn to detect those in your life and get away from them.
So, how can you be sure that someone around you is being a toxic person? Let’s take a look at the top traits:
1. They are the victims
Everything negative that happens to you is because “you deserve it”, but if something happens to them is a tragedy. They are the “poor me”, in every situation.
2. They love gossip and scandal
Toxic people feed themselves with negative news and gossip. Those are the first to know when something bad happens to another person. They like to be surrounded by people not doing well in their lives and therefore will try to impede that you get better or are improving in your life.
3. They are always right and never ask for forgiveness
They think that they are smarter than you, and everything they do is righteous and flawless. If something goes wrong is your fault, they are just the victims. These people do not feel any regret for causing damage to others because they think “they deserved it”.
4. They attack you the moment you share the good news with them
It might be something very subtle like saying to you “Yes sounds great, but…” The moment they say a “but” it means that they are contradicting you or pointing out that you are wrong or something might not go as expected. They like to impose fear on you to make you feel doubtful about your decision, that is why they are “experts” in seeing all the risks in everything you do.
5. They drain your energy
Have you experienced an energy drop, irritability, uneasiness or even got a headache after speaking with someone?
That would be a clear signal of very negative energy attacking your immune system. Believe it or not, negative energies, once they can connect with the other person’s energy, can cause debilitation of our immune system. Negative emotions suppress the function of our prefrontal cortex and activate the amygdala, the area of the brain that deals with the “fight or flight” protective mechanism.
In short, if you notice that people close to you have three or more of the traits mentioned above, better run away. Sometimes this might be hard because oftentimes those people are our partners, our parents or even our own children. However, regardless of the personal relationship, there is no justification to tolerate toxic behaviours for the sake of their well-being, putting yours at risk.
Form a circle of people that do care about you. Who show respect and love for what you do. Humanity is a big family, whether we are connected by blood, by soul or both. Select carefully your herd and strive!
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/pexels-photo-9569309.jpeg13001113paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2023-05-24 19:25:402023-05-24 19:25:40Are You Around Toxic People? Five Traits That Signal You Should Run Away
Uno de los anhelos más grandes de la humanidad, es contar con buena salud. Una buena salud significa tener energía abundante para poder vivir la vida a plenitud y sentir entusiasmo por nuestros proyectos de vida.
La verdad es que el cuerpo fue diseñado de forma perfecta. Dios hizo un trabajo sublime, de perfección inentendible para nuestro pobre y primitivo entendimiento. Pero la verdad siempre sale a la luz, y espero que todos nos demos cuenta que nuestro cuerpo se repara a sí mismo y lo único que tenemos que hacer es darle los “materiales correctos” para regenerarse, como decía el maravilloso doctor Frank Suárez.
Los materiales correctos son precisamente los alimentos. Pero para sentir entusiasmo y tener las ganas y determinación de comer las cosas correctas, se necesita en mi opinión, tener un amor profundo por la vida y el deseo de conocimiento de uno mismo.
Cuando sentimos apatía por la vida, cuando creemos que nuestro cuerpo es “ajeno” a nosotros y no entendemos lo que “pasa por dentro”, caemos víctimas de industrias mafiosas que se aprovechan de la ignorancia y la facilidad de manipulación de las personas para hacer sus negocios redondos. Persona sana= Cliente perdido. Persona enferma=Cliente de por vida. No necesito explicar más.
Tener entusiasmo por la vida, sentir que nuestro cuerpo es perfecto tal y como es, nos motiva a buscar opciones más acordes con nuestra naturaleza para poder mantenernos sanos y vigorosos. Si realmente amas tu cuerpo, vas a buscar incansablemente el alimento y los hábitos que lo hagan mantenerse de forma óptima. Vas consumir menos o eliminar totalmente comidas chatarra como los panes, cereales procesados, azúcares procesados, pastas, la coca-cola… y vas a optar por más proteínas sanas, magnesio, potasio y colesteroles sanos.
Cuando amas tu cuerpo vas a cuidarlo bien, y vas a evitar caer en excesos. Vas a procurar no sobre-estresarlo, ni excitar el sistema nervioso de tal manera que cause un estrés irremediable.
Recuerda que no hay nada ni nadie por encima de tu salud. Ningún trabajo, ninguna persona, ninguna circunstancia tiene más peso o valor que la salud, que es la vida misma. Yo como madre de dos pequeños sé que es difícil darse prioridad, piensas que primero es la salud de tus hijos antes que tu propia salud, por ejemplo. Es verdad que amamos a nuestros hijos por sobre todas las cosas, pero si te descuidas, caes en enfermedad y una mamá enferma no va a dar el mismo desempeño y atención a sus hijos que una mamá sana, vital y tranquila.
La vida es movimiento, un cuerpo sano se mueve con energía. Una vida sedentaria, sin mucha actividad es muy parecido a la muerte. Cuando estás enamorado de la vida, quieres vivirla a plenitud, hacer muchas cosas, conocer las verdades del mundo, viajar, experimentar… la curiosidad no tiene límites.
Una de las capacidades más increíbles que tenemos los humanos es justamente la capacidad de convertir energía en vida, en movimiento. Cuando cumplimos nuestras metas, estamos materializando nuestro amor y entusiasmo por la vida, convirtiendo esa energía mental en algo tangible.
Por eso es tan importante mantenerse en un estado de alta vibración positiva lo más posible: El que vibra alto y positivamente construye una realidad acorde con esa energía- construyes tus sueños, logras tus metas, te sientes en paz y en armonía con el mundo.
Cuando piensas negativo, toda esa frecuencia pesada de la negatividad te hunde y te bloquea- la energía se bloquea, flota densa y entonces se materializa en problemas, falta de salud, falta de motivación, flojera, desgane.
Reflexionemos un poco. Enamorémonos de la vida. El mundo no es una escuela fácil y está llena de trampas, de falsas ilusiones. Pero el amor es la mejor guía. El amor nos conduce a la verdad… y la verdad siempre triunfa.
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/pexels-photo-3764579.jpeg12531880paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2023-01-11 19:38:552023-01-11 19:38:55La mejor arma para la salud: Enamorarse de la vida
Everybody has experienced those days: You wake up and feel low. You don´t understand why; just the night before, you were planning your next day and looking forward to it with anticipation. But then it came a bad night. Maybe you couldn´t sleep as good as you wanted; or simply woke up the next morning and felt down and unmotivated. You walk towards the window and you see its raining outside, big grey clouds dominating the sky.
You are supposed to keep working on that important piece of work; on that project. For us writers, you know what it is…. Write! But the feeling is universal.
So, you go to the kitchen and have breakfast. Check the news. Check the social media… suddenly you end up in Tik Tok watching all kind of nonsense. Two hours passed by… WTF? Now it’s time to get serious and go back to work. How can we drag ourselves to sit in the chair and actually commit to work?
Maybe you were planning to hit the gym early morning, or go for a jog around the corner. All those great plans seem quite far away from how you feel now. You start seeing the image of yourself actually hitting the gym more distant and your imagery starts to get more vivid on the thoughts of turning on the TV, watch Netflix and eat nachos.
Yes, I have been there. Many times. More than I would like to admit.
But I also know that if I follow the second plan (TV with Nachos) it will make me feel much worse later in the day. I call it “The hangover of procrastination”.
The feeling of unsatisfaction for not doing what we were supposed to do is as bad as the hangover feeling after drinking 8 shots of cheap tequila. It is unbearable. But we are smart people, so we have found mechanisms to go around the hangover of procrastination… with…more of it.
Typical example: You promise to yourself the night before that you will go jogging tomorrow morning. Then you wake up the next day and it’s raining outside. Then you say to yourself: “Oh no, it’s raining. I cannot go jogging because I will get wet and then I will get sick. Better tomorrow if the sun is shining”. And if tomorrow rains again? You know what will happen next.
The same with going back to work on your project. In a good “sunny day”, when you are in good mood, well rested, and well fed, then you are eager to work on it and even strive at it. But what happens in a grey day, when nothing seems to have a meaning?
I think that what differentiate the ordinary people from the extraordinary one, is precisely those people who show up with their responsibilities, no matter what; in the rain, in the snow, in sunny and grey days. Is the person that develops within him or herself the strength to overcome their feelings, pains and other obstacles and keep showing up every day.
So, to the question of what to do to keep going when you lack motivation, the answer is simple:
Do whatever you were planning to do. Show up. And do a double effort to strive, despite your down feeling.
You will realize that while doing it, the feeling of uneasiness and low energy disappears. You don’t give it any importance anymore, so you start to focus all your energy in the task at hand.
Believe me, it works wonders.
If I feel like not wanting to write, I just go and sit and write. And as I start writing and I let myself go on the act, I lose the sense of time. My body and mind are focused on the task so I have no time to think that I am unmotivated. This is how you get to finish any work that is of value. Working constantly, diligently, daily, with no big interruptions.
If everybody would just work when the time is right, the sun is shining and we feel at our top capacity, then probably we would still be living in caves hunting rabbits and making fire with two small wood sticks.
The key is the following: The more unmotivated you feel, the more you have to go and do it.
Like David Goggins rightly says in his book “Can´t Hurt Me”: “The reason it’s important to push hardest when you want to quit the most is because it helps you callous your mind. It’s the same reason why you have to do your best work when you are the least motivated”.
So, if you were waiting for some divine sign that gives you the immediate motivation burst, then take this: Go back to work!
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pexels-photo-2794212.jpeg12531880paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2022-01-13 00:45:382022-01-13 00:45:38How To Keep Going When Motivation Is Not Around The Corner
It was all fun, when I joined Facebook back in 2007. I was about to graduate from University, so it was a very fascinating tool, to have all your friends in one network. There we could post our party photos, exchange information all sorts of events, and talk to eachother. It was a great place to meet other people as well, and learn (or noise around) the life of others.
I’m surprised about how popular this way of socialization became after just few years of its introduction. Before, we just had the mobile phones, the emails, the letters, the land lines… and the most retro way… personal contact. If you were a guy in the 1980s and wanted a girl to be your girlfriend, you had to have the guts to go directly to her and tell her in the face. But not anymore after the year 2020, where you are not even allowed to have social contact. You are not even allowed to show your face in public (i.e. facemasks?) so how could you meet a girl?
No worries, that´s what social media and all dating apps are there for. You have the chance to post the best possible picture about yourself; and construct an attractive persona with the fotos you upload and the catchy language you use. Is this real? As real as you want to believe it is. The advantage of social media is that you have an opportunity to build a completely remasterized persona. Are you a bit overweight? Photoshop is the answer. You don´t have any relevant academic degree? No problem, make yourself an influencer or pretend to be an opinionated intellectual in Twitter. You live in an ugly house or apartment? Fear not, you can use Instagram templates to embellish even the ugliest of places with flashy lights and neon colors. You have no friends? Nothing to worry about. Just pay for them! Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have specific services to make your page traffic increase.
You can change everything, to build your online persona. In fact, I know friends who do it. I bet you have those kind of friends too. Those who post their idyllic holidays; their endless social events; their last new outfit; the latest visit to the gym; the green thai chai latte from Starbucks that they just drank… their lives look perfect. And look at yours: You have overweight, have no money to go on holidays, no new outfit to show, and no exciting social life. Why? Why is my life so miserable, compared to others? Why can´t I have the same too?
Social media is the perfect environment to spread the deadly virus of victimhood. Because others have a better life, I should feel sorry for myself because I don´t have it. And so, as an act of not being “left behind” I produce my perfect life on the social media too… but that doesn´t help me, because I know it’s all a lie. My life is really not better; if anything, I’m getting more anxious, and impatient. I’m losing the sense of reality where one has to work hard to get what one deserves; Seeing so many influencers and famous people in social media having the easy life, makes you wonder what can you do so to reach the same standard, without having to work your ass off.
So, where is this all heading to? It seems like we are going into a spiral with no end. The more we use social media, the more we tend to go away from our real life. In order to keep our imaginary life, we need to spend enormous amount of time backing it up with photos, comments, likes and interaction with others. The more likes and attention you get, the more trapped you feel in the web. You feel that you “have to” keep posting, keep liking and commenting. The more you do it, the more the anxiety, and the impatience, and the feeling of loss you experience. Is like if you are aiming to reach the top of the mountain; the elixir of life; the ectasis of fame and glory…and with every “like” or “comment” you receive a little share of it, your dopamine levels increase… the excitement grows… but stays there just a microscopical time. Your fame last as long as the newsfeed allows you to stay, which is barely some seconds.
I found this the hard way. I used to spend many hours of my day in social media just to get a grasp of what does it feel to be “popular” or that someone pays attention to your life for once. But as a lifelong student of human nature, I did know that those spikes of satisfaction are very superficial and last just an instant. The truth is, people is more worried about themselves that they are about you. You cannot get popular or get attention, unless you have paid attention to them first. In the social media world it means, that if you want to get many followers and be popular if you are not already a popular person or an authority of some sort, then you have to follow and comment a lot to others first. If you like their pictures and feeds, they will correspond liking yours. It’s a mutual exchange of acceptance. In Twitter is even a common strategy to gain followers: “#followforfollow- follow me and I will follow back. Who cares who you are, and what are your ideas about life… I just care that you follow me and that’s why I follow you.
That sounds pathetic, but that´s pretty much how social media works. It’s another world of illusions. The world online very rarely represents the reality; But for some people, the online world has become more legitimate than the offline one. I am online, therefore I exist.
The addiction to social media and the amount of hours we spend in building a fake life there seems sometimes to be a personal problem; but we are not alone on this. Actually, as Jaron Lanier mentions in his book “Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Accounts Right Now”, those tools have been specifically designed to cause user-addiction. Lanier quotes in his book the former vice president of user growth at Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya: “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works…No civil discourse; no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem- this is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem…”
In the online world, all what matters is to get your attention at all costs. That’s why the social media platforms are built in a way that you can see certain information just in a very short span of time. New information in the “newsfeeds” is flowing like a mad river at all times, if you want to catch up with what´s going on with all your contacts you have to constantly keep scowling back and forth…it seems like a pervasive present, never ending, no limits attached. This of course has consequences in the way we absorb and manage information. Short attention spans limit of capability to think deeply about any matter. Flash news and short comments replace long conversations and long research (reading books, looking around in the environment to get a better understanding) which leads to decreasing your ability to focus and work on a certain topic for long periods of time.
The question we need to ask ourselves here is the following: Why to spend most of our times trying to feed ourselves in the online world, where everything is just images and words, when there is a richer, more fulfilling and exciting world offline?
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/pexels-photo-4236830.jpeg1300867paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2021-09-05 21:09:322021-09-05 21:09:32The Illusion of Having a Life on Social Media
I’m sitting right now in my favorite place in the living room: At my writing desk, gazing at the wonderful forest that happen to be right in front of my house. I took a small break to observe my surroundings: I like to see my living space tidy, clean, organized… nothing should be out of place. That gives me a good feeling, you know? Like a feeling that things are going well.
Disclaimer: You don´t want to see the same living space I am describing now when my kids are home; that would give you a complete different picture; more like a war room, a place that just got hit by a hurricane…. but that’s another story.
I think everybody can get inspired and motivated when surrounded by harmony, cleanliness and good distributed space.
The practice of decluttering or also known as minimalism, is a movement that started back in the 1950s in the Arts but only became a popular lifestyle trend a couple of years ago in the western world, when our friend Marie Kondo became worldwide famous with her book “The magic of order”. I could see the Youtube channel exploding with new Youtubers trying to get their share of the pie of fame by showing off the implementation of the “Konmari methods” in their own closets and living spaces.
Marie Kondo’s promise behind motivating you to get organized and throw off your old stuff, is that if you live in a tidy place, you will have more time to do the things you really love and also you will achieve peace of mind. In other words, her philosophy is: Tidy up your place so you can tidy up your life.
I actually loved the idea and as many others, I happily went on to try her methods to see if it worked for me…. until it didn’t.
Turns out, I struggled to even make time for the suggested decluttering rituals; First of all, the KonMari method suggest that you take at least four to five complete days of your life to perform the radical decluttering exercise. I read the book a couple of years ago, but I still recall the fundamentals: First of all, you have to classify all your stuff in five categories: Books, clothes, documents, miscellaneous (here can get as wide as the wind…) and sentimental objects.
The second step is to dedicate a day for each category to actually start the decluttering process. Let’s say today is the book day (would be a hard one for me). I have to collect all books I have in all the rooms and once I have all piled up, then I have to start the Konmari ritual: Take one by one and ask them… do you spark me joy? For practical reasons, you should be able to respond with a quick “yes” or “no”; but I know myself… for every book I recalled a story starting when I bought it, or who gave it to me… how I was feeling that day, and if the book was a great read or mainly shitty….by the time I end my evaluation, already twenty good minutes passed by. Next one… another 230 to go… good luck!
There were other easy days for sure. Like when I had to get rid of “miscellaneous”. It was not that hard to say goodbye to those extra pair of napkins, or those old computer cables from old laptops that I kept for no reason. Those things definitely do not spark me joy…
After my own KonMari experiment, I felt really great. The house was tidy, it had a more minimalistic look, and I felt compelled to keep it that way forever and ever. But then like an alcoholic fall back on the bad habit, after one day being sober he says to himself “this feels great, never again” and the next day someone offers a beer and basically until there came the good intention.
The days passed and the usual chaos started to come back. The beautifully arranged, rolled up clothes organized by colors started to mix again following happily the second law of thermodynamics (basically following the law of mess). The minimalistic feeling started vanishing as we got new(!) stuff, hey, don’t judge me so quickly, who can say no to summer sales?
I saw with my own eyes how the hard five days of work spent in applying the Konmari method vanished like those sand grains diluting in the vast ocean.
So, what happened?
Clearly, a lack of discipline. The commitment to keep everything orderly and spotless.
It didn’t work out, because I applied an external solution to an internal problem. The issue was not with the Konmari method, or any other method I could have adapted. The real thing is that I had to do the decluttering inside first.
Is a well-known fact: Life as we see it with our own eyes in the physical world, is nothing but the manifestation of our life as it is inside of us: our thoughts, our mindset, our consciousness of life.
My house cannot look permanently organized, clean and in well shape if inside of me I am a chaos. If my thoughts run from one side to the next; if I cannot even finish a sentence when I am jumping out to the next thing; when I say I will go jogging for 20 minutes and I end up sitting at the sofa eating nachos and watching tv.
So, I decided to challenge the KonMari method and start the other way around: First I took care to declutter my mind, my thoughts… and that alone will make the work “in the outside”. I trusted that if I manage to keep my thinking straight and clear, it will be reflected automatically in my environment.
This time the method didn´t disappointed me. I can happily report a great improvement on my home and my life in general, the moment I became self-conscious of my own thinking pattern.
Here is the Paola’s method of minimalism and decluttering (from the inside out):
Understand who you are. Not just superficially, but profoundly.
Observe your thinking pattern; Are your thoughts in chaos?
Decide to think the minimalistic way: One thought after the other. It takes effort and conscious decision, but it can be done
Get rid of endless sources of information and focus in getting your information from few specific places; for the rest, make the conscious decision to discard it.
When a thought manifest itself as a serious command of action, do it
Be consistent with what you think and what you do
Repeat … many times over
Build the discipline of having an orderly life
Do small steps, but everyday
Voilá! Maybe you will not see results the first days, but I assure you, if you can manage to bring order in your thoughts, recognize your intrinsic values and live in a coherent and harmonious way with yourself, the rest (ehem…the chaos in da house…) will solve by itself, because you will no longer accept that kind of living style in your life.
And what happens if you prefer to live life the chaotic way?
¡Nada mi amigo! as long as you keep having fun 🙂 besides, everybody needs a bit of chaos once in a while, right?
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/img_4883-scaled.jpg25062560paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2021-03-24 12:23:172021-03-24 12:23:17Declutter Your Mind…Declutter Your Life
Already immersed in the second week of November. Through my window, I see the trees slowly running out of leaves. Those precious colors of the autumn are falling apart. Old leaves fall from the trees and die, to become pure soil. It’s a beautiful and a sad scenario at the same time: To experience the death cycle of the tree. It is a signal: It’s getting cold and dark outside.
The autumn is a time for reflection as we are closely approaching the end of 2020. A very strange year, if you ask me. The world changed completely, as we used to know it a year ago.
With much of our freedom taken away (hopefully temporarily), we spent much more time at home than ever before; that means, we also spent much more time online. We hoped that the online world would bring us back that feeling of being not alone, and more as being part of a community. With social media, you do belong to an enormous community… so huge that- personally- I end of feeling more alone the more time I spend trying to build an online persona.
With too much going on in the world right now: Global pandemics, climate change catastrophic warnings, digitalization of almost everything, dramatic presidential elections, second lock downs in several countries… no wonder we might feel a little bit lost about what the future is holding for us.
I started to reflect about how lost I personally felt in the last couple of weeks with so much information flowing here and there. I struggled to remain present in my own experience of life. But with so much information and data to digest, I felt that I fell down to a fake reality bubble where I lost contact with what actually means being present in the daily life, and paid more attention at global events, and everything else trendy right now; whatever appears in my newsfeed.
For my own good, I decided to take a break and stop. Stop with all the frenzy. Go back to who I used to be, before the influence of so much information and networks going around me, getting me saturated with information I am supposed to accept.
I decided to go back to basics.
These are the 3 main basics I applied to my life, and I hope they can help you as well in getting back to your own self again… if like me, you are starting to feel it is time for a change.
Back to Basics 1: Stay tuned with the seasonality of the nature
I remember reading not so long ago this recommendation from Jim Rohn, American philosopher and entrepreneur, of living according to the natural seasonality of life; Apparently, we are one of those species that have been deliberately ignoring this valuable source of wisdom that nature can be.
As like with all living things, we are also affected by the year’s seasons and we go through our personal seasonality cycle as well.
Winter: Time for reflection and healing bounds
In winter, the days are cold, and short. The night prevails. This is the time to “Stay in the cave”. Winters are times to sit back and recover. Winter might be perceived as dark, cold and unpleasant; but they are a great opportunity to heal your bounds. Sleep longer, take your time.
It is important as well to be able to live through our own winters. For us it means, times of uncertainty, when we feel things are not going well. There are all kinds of winters, and we must be able to go through all of them: Economic winters, health winters, winters with a broken heart. We know deep inside us, this is not going to last forever and even when we reach our darkest hour, we can be certain that it will be followed by light.
Winters are the time to grow strong, like Jim Rohn suggests.
Spring: Time to plant your seeds
This is the time when light is showing up again. We start to get our energy back. The days last longer, and we can get more things done. This is the perfect time to plan for the summer, which is when we reach our highest energy peak to make things done.
Opportunity follows recession, so we must take advantage of this new opportunity to go back on track with our lives. Spring is the time to plant the seeds to harvest for the coming autumn and winter. What does it mean for us? It means that is time to acquire skills, to keep learning, to start planning and acting on our goals.
Springs are a marvelous opportunity to craft our personalities and understand at what we are going after.
Summer: Time to enjoy your harvest and protect your crops
In summer, we feel at the peak of our energy. Days are warm and the longest of the year. These are times in our lives to enjoy, and start getting the first harvest from the seeds we planted during spring.
However, it is also the time to protect what you have planted. Rohn explains that there are two things we should look after during summer: To defend your crops and to learn how to defend your values.
A good classic example: During a winter time, you went through a hard time and gained weight. During spring, you planned for a weight reduction strategy and started working on it. By the time it is summer, you lost most of the weight and start to enjoy the benefits. However, should stay alert; you should keep the discipline of eating well and exercise; otherwise the nice breeze of summer can make you feel a bit chilly and relax on your measures, only to find in autumn that you gained weight again.
Autumn: Time to take responsibility
Autumns… I love them. The weather is fantastic. Not too hot, not too cold. The colors of the trees are a wonderful spectacle; all those gorgeous colors of fading greens, intense orange, reds and yellows.
Autumn in the human life sense of living, means… take responsibility. We overcame the winter, we flourished during our springs, we defended what we earned during summer, and now it’s time to take full responsibility of what we have built. It is time to keep maintaining that weight, to keep working on that important project, to keep improving ourselves. It is also time to embrace new beginnings, as the year is coming to an end; this is the perfect time to leverage what we have learned and go on and plan for what is coming.
As Rohn rightly says: “Accepting full responsibility is one of the highest forms of human maturity- and one of the hardest- is when you officially pass from childhood to adulthood”.
Autumns are times to accept, that everything that happened to us was our own making and thus our own responsibility. But that has also a liberating feeling: When something is fully our responsibility, it means we have the full power to change it.
Acting in flow with the life natural seasons, makes us much more aware and alert of our environment and of our own personal growth.
Back to Basics 2: Stay present. Say good bye to social media… at least for a while
It is not surprising that we spend much more of our time looking at screens than ever before. At the moment you wake up, you check your phone for the newest feed notifications. What does the weather look like today? No need to go up from bed and open the window; you just need to open your weather app, and it will tell you how cold or warm it is.
What happened while I was sleeping? This is no mystery anymore. Just open any social media app and you will see what was going on while you slept: That hot diet that everyone is doing, the latest election results in that remote country you’ve never been to, who got married and who had a new baby… everything you want (or don’t want ) to know, is at the click of the screen.
In the online world, there is not seasonality; no time to reflect. Everything is hot, everything is urgent, everything is breaking news for an instant… everything is fast and frenzy. You have to be fully involved 24/7 or you miss it… you miss the online Disneyland…and whereabouts of people.
This is obviously not natural. Our brains are not wired to be receiving such vast and annoying amounts of information that sends us to oblivion. Our online persona disconnects us from the real world, from what is happening NOW.
So, an absolute back to basics during these busy and unpredictable times: Disconnect yourself from social media. Give it a break. Find yourself again. Find that internal voice that has not changed by external opinions and that still stands against massive manipulation from the online social morality standards.
As I discussed in a previous post, networking in mass quantities is not only useless but also dangerous. You want to feel you belong somewhere and maybe when you post a photo of yourself or an experience of your life you get some likes. But what is the satisfaction on it? A merely enjoyment of few seconds of fame. Five minutes later you are history for the Instagram and Facebook newsfeed.
In my opinion, it is better to forge fewer but very deep relationships, face to face, than trying to reach hundreds or thousands virtual people with nothing.
Back to basics 3: Connect again with your craft
There was a time, when one of the human’s greatest gifts was weighted on what you could do with your hands. There were no high tech devices, no outsourcing services… no one that did the job for you. So, people learned to craft things for themselves. We harvested our own food. Cooked it. We designed and sewed our own clothes. We built our own homes. People used to take pride on what they were capable to do with their bare hands.
I think this still is as relevant today as it used to be in the past. We lost a bit our sense of craftmanship and love for what we could do with our own hands, because the current modernity delivers everything already made for us, at the exchange for some paper money or electronic money. We have let other people do the craftmanship for us, in the name of “Convenience”. I think actually, this is a step back for any human.
We pride ourselves for our craftmanship- our ability to create and design something by ourselves. Let it be a table, a house, a painting or a book- craftmanship is the highest expression of human creativity.
I really believe we should go back to that. Instead of getting ourselves lost in an online world where everything is defined for us and pushes us to be just consumers; we should aim again for crafting as much as we can. To create, to express our humanity through our craft.
At the end, we are not machines. We are humans. Let’s venerate our humanity. Let’s go back to it.
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/pexels-photo-2399125-1.jpeg13001819paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2020-11-12 23:35:132020-11-12 23:35:13Are You Feeling Overwhelmed? Go Back to Basics
Desde que era niña, me gustaba observar a las personas. Las veía con atención mientras hacían sus actividades comunes. Me gustaba ver cómo algunas caminaban de distinta manera- algunas muy erguidas y la mirada al frente, como si estuvieran felices de enfrentar lo que se encontraran en el camino- otras caminaban más bien cabizbajas, con la mirada perdida en el piso. Cuando observaba a las primeras me inspiraban cierta confianza. Cuando veía a las segundas, a veces, pensaba: Se ven tristes ¿Será que se les perdió algo y están tratando de encontrarlo?
La vida, este viaje que emprendemos juntos como humanidad, me parece excitante, es como ir en una rueda de la fortuna; unas veces estamos en la cima del mundo, todo nos sale bien, acumulamos éxitos… y otras veces, estamos en el fondo, nos sentimos desdichados, sufrimos pérdidas, nos sentimos en un hoyo sin poder ver qué es lo que sigue, si alguna vez volveremos a subir o nos quedaremos para siempre en el fango.
Cuando se termina el paseo en la rueda, terminamos dándonos cuenta que al final, la experiencia de vida es una acumulación de las dos partes: La cima y el fango.
Lo interesante es preguntarnos, ¿De qué manera estamos viviendo esos momentos, tanto los buenos, como los malos? ¿Qué actitud está rigiendo nuestros pensamientos, emociones y al final, nuestras acciones?
Seguramente has escuchado que cada persona tiene un “estilo” de vida. Ese conjunto de hábitos, decisiones y pensamientos que dominan nuestra vida diaria, es lo que llamamos tener un estilo de vida en específico.
También lo escuchamos continuamente en el mundo comercial donde el Marketing va dirigido a personas que tienen un cierto “estilo de vida” y son aquellas a las que las compañías eligen como presa de enfoque para vender sus productos o servicios:
¿Quieres tener un estilo de vida saludable? Compra el programa de dieta XYZ! ¿Eres de aquellas personas que aman el deporte y la aventura? Compra nuestra bicicleta de montaña doble XX o suscríbete a nuestro programa fitness ultra maratón!
Perfume Sultano, especialmente creado para las mujeres sofisticadas y elegantes.
¿Quieres estar IN y no estas en redes sociales? Olvídalo, si no tienes Facebook, no tienes vida, eres un Freak.
¿Y tú, qué estilo de vida tienes? Derrochador, minimalista, deportivo, consumista, vegano…hay categorías infinitas en nuestra sociedad.
¿Eso es todo?, ¿Tengo que definir mi “estilo” de vida eligiendo qué cosas comprar o usar para poder pertenecer a algún lugar o para ser alguien?
Con el tiempo, me di cuenta que tener un estilo de vida, es algo más que simplemente consumir determinadas cosas o actuar de determinadas maneras; que el estilo de vida en realidad viene de algo más profundo.
La buena vida, o el estilo de vida, no tiene que ver con cantidades. Tiene más que ver con una actitud, un acto, una idea, un descubrimiento…. pero sobre todo, con una búsqueda.
El buen estilo de vida es una búsqueda continua de esas experiencias que te dan una verdadera alegría de vivir; es una búsqueda que mantiene vivo tu deseo de convertirte en una persona de valor profundo, que busca una realización trascendental.
El tener, o el hacer por sí mismos, no representan vivir la vida con estilo. Como diría Jim Rohn:
“Al final de cuentas, ¿Qué es la riqueza sin carácter, la industria sin arte, la cantidad sin calidad, la empresa sin satisfacción y la posesión sin felicidad?”
¿Quieres tener un estilo de vida extraordinario?
Entonces desarrolla una extraordinaria sonrisa, piensa de forma extraordinaria, desarrolla una un interés extraordinario por los demás… desarrolla una mentalidad de logro extraordinaria… eso lo cambiará todo.
https://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pexels-photo-2710131.jpeg1300867paolahttps://www.paolaknecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/logo.pngpaola2020-09-16 11:32:062020-09-16 11:32:06Vivir Una Vida Con Estilo
