FT: a playlist of thoughts, the spotlight effect, and work hours
3 ideas for the weekend ahead.
Happy Friday,
This edition of forward thinking is a 3 minute read with ideas exploring:
TRL of Your Thoughts
The Spotlight Effect
Annual Work Hours (chart)
TRL of Your Thoughts
I recently listened to a podcast where writer/meditation teacher Jack Kornfield mentioned a technique to recognize recurring thoughts.
Create a playlist of thoughts that frequently play in your head. Just like songs, name each tune and rank them by frequency.
I like jotting down my top 3 on paper and then being ready for them to pop into my head.
It's another way of paying attention to your attention. This is especially true for ones that ruminate in our heads all day long.
This pairs perfectly with my slow journaling method, where you capture what's floating in your head.
Watching the movie instead of being the actor takes some of the bite out of our thoughts. I have always enjoyed Jim Carrey’s take on this.
Our eyes are not viewers, they're also projectors that are running a second story over the picture that we see in front of us all the time.
The Spotlight Effect
The spotlight effect refers to our tendency to believe others are watching and thinking of us. The reality is people think of us far less than we believe. This includes friends, family, the boss, coworkers, and strangers.
As self-centered beings, we are always thinking about ourselves. So of course, we think everyone else is too. This is also why being a good listener is a rare skill.
The takeaway though is to live life on your own terms. Don’t worry about what other people think, they don’t do it very often.
Annual Work Hours
For those wanting a 4-day work week, it could be worse. Mexico has a 6-day work week.
Thanks for reading!
Irfan
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