A meeting from 8-9, a recording session from 9-11, another meeting downtown from 11-noon. What a hectic morning.
I spent some time yesterday to make this glorious plan, this resounding resolution, and today I have so many things on my plate, there tends to be no room to even consider it.
Here lies the danger for me when it comes to eating. No time to consider what I am eating means that I am just reacting to my need for food. And since my "program" for food is still to eat too much and eat things that I shouldn't, allowing those instincts to take over will clearly jeopardize my plan.
What do I do in this situation? I do what any good surgeon does right before the first incision, I take a pregnant pause and stop the reaction. That pregnant pause refocused me to be conscious of my choices for lunch, conscious of what I really need to do to turn off the hunger pain. So, until I reprogram my eating, I am going to have to be more conscious about it and think through it to be successful.
Life Lesson #2: Know when you can put things on "auto pilot"
When I talk to students about how they need to process their routine, I constantly talk about the dangers of going into "auto pilot" mode. "Auto pilot" represents a state of mind where they believe that can perform their routine without even thinking about it. Its difficult for them to be successful this way, because at that age and typically where their maturity level is as a performer, they can very rarely put most of their performance on automatic, even though they always try. As a result, we as instructors are constantly forced to find ways to get them to focus on cognitively working through their routine.
Over time and repetition, this can change. In fact, as the season continues on and the routine becomes more familiar to them, I usually talk about how they have to start pushing aspects of that routine into the "back of their brain" (the place where the auto pilot is located).
Taking the mechanics of their routine and putting aspects of that into an instinctive state is actually key to them enhancing their performance. With the mechanical elements on "auto pilot," this frees up their mind to process other layers, like introducing the emotional aspects of their routine into the mix.
So, at first it sounds like a bit of a contradiction, but the secret to their success as performers is knowing the timing of that transition from cognition to instinct.
When we run on "auto pilot" and we have a program that is detrimental to our goal, we have to return to consciously and cognitively working through the routine. That is where I am with eating. My "auto pilot" program is to eat everything that is available for me to eat without consideration of how much it is. A fact that is magnified when I encounter a stressful situation like trying to maintain a very busy schedule.
So today was a test for me. Rush through what I needed to do and instinctively eat according to my program or stop and think through the routine of what I need to eat.
I had to run from my meeting downtown back to my office, so the leading candidate for a food source was, of course, a fast food restaurant. Engaging my reactionary program, I would have run through the drive through, picked a meal with a number, have it enlarged (for a larger drink, but another story there), and eat it while traveling back to my office (finishing it before I get out of the car).
So today, instead I followed the pregnant pause concept. I drove into the fast food restaurant -- and parked. I got out of my car and forced myself to walk into the restaurant to make my order and receive my food. I asked for the food to go and instead of a meal with a number, I bought a salad, something I cant even eat in the car (although I am sure people have tried). When I brought it back to my desk (another issue for another day), I took 15 minutes to eat. Typically, I take 5.
As I rebuild my behavior program over time, this will hopefully become automatic for me, but for now, I just have to think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment