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Fed Up of Getting Tired?

Anything related to matters of the mind

willcouchman

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Hi everyone.

I realised I don't give enough value to this forum, so I thought I'd post this here. This is one of the best things I've learned since I started with business/self-help, and thought I'd post it here in case people like it.

Disclaimer: This was a post on my blog, so please excuse the slightly odd tone. I'm not here to promote it, I just didn't want to re-write the entire thing in order to post it here.

Enjoy!

Have you ever been frustrated that you simply don’t have the energy levels to do anywhere near as much as you’d like?

You sit at a computer and work for a few hours, and you are absolutely exhausted?

It’s frustrating isn’t it? You don’t WANT to spend the rest of the evening watching TV, but you simply are too tired to crack out another few hours of work…

…even though it could mean you get TWICE as much done. This could mean more money, more free time, and more independence blah blah blah.

Hang on…something about this doesn’t make sense.

How could you possibly be tired?

Think about it – you have been sitting at a desk. You haven’t done any physical exercise. You may well have been snacking; so it’s not hunger.

It just does not make sense that you would be so tired.

The truth is…actually, you aren’t tired.

You FEEL physically drained, but when you think about it, you shouldn’t be.

You’ve seen the commuters on the way home after work, looking like zombies. Completely spaced out, exhausted beyond belief. They’re physically exhausted, but haven’t done anything physical.

Curious?

Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you.

I said you aren’t tired. And that’s true. What you are is introverted.

Now introversion in this case literally means that your attention is directed inwards, and it is STUCK.

What has happened is that you have been staring at a computer screen (or paperwork) that is about a foot from your face. Your attention has become stuck in that position. Your body has started to shut down because it isn’t in communication with its environment (the world around it).

And because your attention is stuck and you can’t focus on what’s going on around you, you feel tired.

Think about how you feel if you are trying to read a book at the end of a long day.

You simply cannot focus on the words on the page, and you get sleepier the harder you try.

Your attention stops short of the book and starts to focus inwards. The end result is drowsiness.

The best news is that this introversion is EASY to undo.

With one simple drill, you can start to un-stick your attention. Do this drill, and after a few minutes you will feel WIDE AWAKE again.

Seriously…it’s like you haven’t even been to work. All your energy will return to you, and you can easily and happily take on a few extra hours of work.

Okay, so…what is the drill?

Now, bear with me here. I’m about to say something absurdly simple….and then turbo-charge it.

Ready?

Look at things.

That’s the drill. Look at things.

Don’t switch off yet. You know I have something good here. It sounds simple, but there is some super advanced tech at play here. And what I’m about to say is life-changing ;)

When your attention is introverted, it gets stuck in one place. By looking at things – and I mean, properly looking at them and placing your eyes on them – your attention starts to un-stick.

See, introversion is a LACK OF COMMUNICATION with your environment. When you place your eyes on things and really look at them, you regain communication with your environment and you start to extrovert again.

So, let’s scale the drill for you.

After work, or after a long stretch at a computer, and you feel exhausted, I want you to do the following:

Take a walk around the block, and look at everything. Trees, cars, buildings, people.

Put your eyes on them, and make sure you have really seen them.

How?

Notice ONE detail about everything you see.

If it’s a building, notice the shape of its roof. If it’s a person, notice the color of their hair or clothes. A car – what make is it? Is it clean or dirty? Etc etc

You will FEEL yourself start to wake up and regain energy. After a couple of times around the block, you will feel wide awake and refreshed.

Doing this drill, the drain of the last few hours of work will simply DISSOLVE away. And then, if you need, you can go right back and work all over again.

Or just enjoy the rest of your day.

Please, please, TRY this out. You will become INSTANTLY refreshed. Which means, more energy, more work (more MONEY), better use of your time. It has the works.

I, and the guys who have learned this drill, use it every day. This is a game-changer.

BONUS: People are naturally attracted to extroverted people. Doing this drill will make you more attractive to the opposite sex. Quite a few of the guys I taught this to even started to get APPROACHED by women. :cool:

Will
 
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willcouchman

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Yeah, it seems pretty wacky, but I cannot oversell the results of this. In more ways than I can count - I learned about this drill 3 years ago, and I still do it every day (and not just for work) because the benefits are enormous, and you can never be too extroverted.

Just give it a try for a few days, and report back here with the results. That's all you need to do. Go out, take a walk, look at things as I described.
 
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FastNAwesome

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BONUS: People are naturally attracted to extroverted people. Doing this drill will make you more attractive to the opposite sex. Quite a few of the guys I taught this to even started to get APPROACHED by women.

I'll go straight for the bonus, and report results. Cars, trees and bees - here I come:)

I cannot oversell the results of this

Indeed. Your post was a nice reminder to me that "the more you tell, the more you sell". For me it was the bonus part that made me "buy into it".
 

Nick

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"I said you aren’t tired. And that’s true. What you are is introverted. "

"The best news is that this introversion is EASY to undo."

You play pretty loose with terms that have a well established meaning in psychology and are being studied by top scientists at the best universities in the world, and you make a lot of false affirmations.

If you think visualization techniques can actually help people please steer away from terms that make you look either stupid or a scammer. Do what most self help gurus to, invent your own terms or try to describe the feelings in other ways, but do not use hard terms that can led to affirmation that can be easily contradicted by science/experiments. Especially when you have no proof for your claims.
 

willcouchman

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Thanks for the feedback Nick. Now even though the word extroversion today means to be stimulated and recharged by contact with other people, the word itself in its root means to be outwardly focused - from Latin extra "outward" + vertere "to turn." I use the word in its original meaning.

Perhaps it is not the best term as it has a slightly distorted meaning today.

I don't quite know where your anger came from, as my attempt is just to provide value and a very useful (for many, many people) mental drill to the forum. I'm not selling anything so referring to me as a scammer was unnecessary.

I don't really believe in visualisation so I'm not sure where that came from?

But really I want to address "you have no proof for your claims".

The proof is that it works. So, I'd like to know - what happened when you tried the drill, and what results did you get? Talk us through what happened.
 
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Dezzamondo

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Thanks for sharing Will, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and give it a go... I'm intrigued by your claims and certainly have nothing to lose! If nothing else then at least I'm out of the house for a bit :)

Where / how did you find this?
 

FastNAwesome

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Did it. For me it gave me some boost right away, after noticing like 10-15 objects and then after that no further effect by keeping it up. Saw no people outside so not sure about women approaching you after this exercise:)
 
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Nick

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I don't quite know where your anger came from,

I am not angry, not sure how my message was interpreted that way.

But i studied psychology extensively and "introversion" is a very specific genetic character trait that has nothing in common to "being tired" not even close to "EASY to undone".

So when i see those affirmations that in my opinion are false, my first thoughts are either:

-someone is trying to scam me by lying to me = scammer
-someone does not know what he is talking about =naive (it's a better term than stupid), but still not in a position to give advice as sometimes bad advice can do more harm than good.

So i think that if you pay more attention to the words you use and steer clear of such mis-communication, you have a better chance to get your message across. I did not do your exercise because the above statements made me reconsider either your expertise or your intentions in this area. But i am not anywhere near angry at you, i actually apreciate you trying to help the community and giving advice.

But if there is anything worse than no advice, that would be bad advice.

Good luck.
 

RBefort

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I would think the only way you become more awake is because you actually got off your a$$ and got the blood flowing, which makes you more awake. Don't think the focus has much to do with it, but yeah, I believe the walking around part works.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Can someone please just try it and report back? I don't mind being a guinea pig as well, although getting up and walking around outside when it's 110 degrees out just might make me more tired.
 
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xxcloud9ninjaxx

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I tried this just now on a smaller scale; it's night where I am which means don't go outside so I walked around my house for a bit. Does seem to re-energize the mind, not sure about taking all the luggage off completely but I can say I felt better. I'll report in tomorrow once I try this outside.
 

goodfella

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just drink water your body is probably just dehydrated
 

willcouchman

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Yes, a lot of things can cause fatigue...but even if you drink enough, you can still feel tired after working.

MJ, thanks for the feedback. I have taught this drill to a lot of guys who are nervous with women - it does wonders for getting you away from negative internal dialogue - and I refuse to allow questions (unless they don't understand the drill itself) until they have done it extensively for a week.

The quote 'an ounce of action is worth a ton of theory'? Umm...more. This is a physical universe, things only change through action, so actually any action is worth infinite theory.

To the poster who mentioned they felt refreshed but then didn't improve - that is the end point of the drill. Once you do this enough, you will notice a 'pop' moment when you really wake up and get out of your head!

So please everyone, forget theory and just DO IT. It works. Once you have tried it, come back with questions and feedback.

Will
 
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johnp

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I saw this thread and it stuck in the back of my mind. I work one of those jobs where I sit at a cubical all day. It can be very tiring to just sit here and do something...so this thread connected with me.

I don't see what some people are getting so caught up on. Do it or don't do it, the choice is yours. Just shutup and do something productive.

Anyway, I tried it out this morning. The conditions sucked. It was around 730am I had been up since 530. Went to the gym, came home, got ready, and then started driving to work in the pouring rain. Traffic was terrible and I started getting very tried. So I looked around at some of the tress and I tried to notice things a little more than usual. It def helped in some way....it at least got my mind off of being tired.

On another note, by nature I'm more introverted. I take everything an internalize it and it can be very draining, esp at the end of the day. This method provides a nice way to pull my foucs away from myself and my own thoughts...which are often up and down (positive and negative) when building a biz. I highly suggest using this technique to anyone who goves on those mental rollercoster rides where one minute your all hyped up and then the next mintue your have a metental battle with yourself over something stupid.

Thanks

ipad = typos
 

Eskil

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I'm really not surprised about this at all. I have always found that walking away from the pc now and then, even for 30 minutes doing some other things will very much get me "re-charged" for another long session. I play guitar too, so that's a nice disconnect.
 

2KidsinUT

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Wow... I can't believe some of the painfully close minded replies in this thread. I believe that what willcoachman shared is indeed more accurate than not. His presentation of the information might could use a little work, but then he wasn't selling anything more or less trying to scam anyone. He was only sharing something that he considers valuable.

I do a similar thing everyday. I go for a 3 mile (hour long) walk and pretty much observe as much as I can while I'm out. I do it just to get off my butt... but it does mentally re-energize me in a way that is a lot different from light exercise, which I also do daily. I also do the same thing at those times that I want to avoid sleep... like when pulling an all nighter, which I enjoy doing frequently. In addition, a few times a month my sister and my dad (both of whom are practically organically attached to their computers) will join me in a late evening walk, only to violate their religiously scheduled sleep time by several hours... every single time.
 
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DennisD

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I'm going to try this today.
I've had a different take on this theory. I always feel it's a complete change in sensory perception that helps me. I've always called it 'resetting.'

e.g.
Swimming/Showering = being completely surrounded by water is a change in sensory perception
Walking along the beach = Surrounded by a panoramic sound of waves and being blown by stronger winds is a complete change.
Meditation = Perceiving your senses differently

I've also found that shaving, oddly enough helps me refocus. You might count this as 'noticing things', Focusing on the small stuff, etc.

Because vision is a sense, taking time to 100% focus on what you objectively see might be considered a 'complete change in sensory perception" considering it's something we don't normally do.

I will take a 10 minute break today to walk around and 'notice' things. I will not walk along the beach like I normally do (I live 60 seconds away from the beach lol), I'll take a walk down a back road instead.
 

DennisD

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I'm going to try this today.
I've had a different take on this theory. I always feel it's a complete change in sensory perception that helps me. I've always called it 'resetting.'

e.g.
Swimming/Showering = being completely surrounded by water is a change in sensory perception
Walking along the beach = Surrounded by a panoramic sound of waves and being blown by stronger winds is a complete change.
Meditation = Perceiving your senses differently

I've also found that shaving, oddly enough helps me refocus. You might count this as 'noticing things', Focusing on the small stuff, etc.

Because vision is a sense, taking time to 100% focus on what you objectively see might be considered a 'complete change in sensory perception" considering it's something we don't normally do.

I will take a 10 minute break today to walk around and 'notice' things. I will not walk along the beach like I normally do (I live 60 seconds away from the beach lol), I'll take a walk down a back road instead.

I just went outside because my head felt "clogged". Took the alternate route. Looked at the things around me in greater detail than I normally do.

Did absolutely NOTHING for me. I feel like I was thinking too much. What I really need is the opposite: to think a little less. To 'feel' and 'experience'. To go on that walk without anything on my mind.
 
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2KidsinUT

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I ran this thread by my sister and dad, and they agreed that walks in the evening tended to wake them up and throw their schedule off. We are going to experiment with this over the next couple of weeks.
 

Dezzamondo

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Well, I've given it a good go for 6 days now and here's what I can report so far:

Before:
- I work 830-1700 Monday-Friday (Not for much longer though!).
- Tired from looking at computer screens at work all day.
- 20 mins walk to and from home.
- Get home and get tired from looking at the computer screen for the rest of the night.
- Repeat.

During Trial:
- Looked around and noted details on every walk to and from work. Felt exhausted from constant alertness with taking notes (in my head) of visual descriptions.
- Tried different approach with the same techniques to see if its the visual technique or the walking; Sat at my desk and when fatigued, looked around the office for details to note. Felt exhausted from all the additional info being absorbed.
- Tried just walking outside for 10 mins in the fresh air, without using the visual techniques and felt better and more refreshed.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, or maybe I've got some form of brain injury (that I'm not aware of yet, and I mean that tastefully rather than sarcastically :)) that is preventing this from working for me.

For me at least, it seems to make any mental fatigue worse. Getting off my a$$ and going for a walk works much better, preferably without looking all over the place! Great concept, but no cigar :(

Maybe someone else will have some luck with it?
 

willcouchman

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Okay, thanks for the detailed feedback. What can happen - it's rare, but it does occur - is that the extroversion drill for some people does not shut down the internal dialogue. The inner dialogue is what can often prevent you from getting out of your head and feeling refreshed.

I do have a very different drill that involves looking around your environment and asking yourself questions (in a way). I'll post it up here soon.

It's a great drill on its own. I'll also look through my notes and see if a tweak to the extroversion drill might improve results. The benefits are so numerous I will spend some time working up a solution.

Appreciate you trying it!

Will.
 
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willcouchman

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Hey guys. I've put up a new mental drill that you might find useful as an addition to/instead of this one. Keep trying this, but feel free to check out the next one. It's in this sub-forum!

Will
 

MJ DeMarco

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Hey guys. I've put up a new mental drill that you might find useful as an addition to/instead of this one. Keep trying this, but feel free to check out the next one. It's in this sub-forum!

Will

Signatures are not allowed unless you have 100 posts or are an INSIDERS. Thanks for your understanding.
 

JAJT

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I highly recommend the book "Your Brain at Work" by David Rock.

The amount of research that went into this book is staggering. The author takes neuroscience and breaks it down to layman's terms, then applies it to working and interacting with people in today's day and age.

Imagine for a second that you had no understanding of your body. None. It would be frustrating. When you didn't eat your stomach would hurt. When you ran and got tired and sore you'd assume you were a bad runner. When you lifted heavy things your muscles would hurt and you'd be sore the next day and not understand why. Etc...

How could you fix this? Well if you understood what hunger is, what your stomach was, and that food gave you fuel you'd suddenly know how to prevent hunger pain and how to give yourself more energy. If you knew what muscles were you could train to build them up. If you knew what cardio was you could practice and run farther than thought possible. etc...

This is how he describes your brain. He gives names to the "muscles" and functions and facilities you use EVERY DAY. He shows you what happens when you daydream, and why. He tells you why you get pissy and snap at co-workers after a long day. He tells you the physical limits and how to work within them. By understanding what is going on, you suddenly are given a better degree of control over these previously foreign processes going on in your brain.

If you are the book-learning type and think you want to think better - pick this book up. The techniques he gives are usable the second you read them and I'd place it very high on my "top books ever" list. Hopefully someone else here can get as much value from it as I did.
 
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