The Importance Of Living In The Present

Hey everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast. Now today I want to get a little bit philosophical and talk to you all about the importance of being present and living in the present. And this has really come to the front of my mind because I've just got back from spending a month in South Africa. So that's what we're going to talk about today. And let's get on with the Show. I'm Rob DeCosta and this is the Agency Accelerator Podcast. As someone who has stood in your shoes, having started, grown and sold my own agency, I know just just how it feels during the ups and the downs of agency life. So this podcast aims to ease your journey just a little by sharing mine and my guests experiences and advice as you navigate your way to growing a profitable, sustainable and enjoyable business. Hey everybody, I hope you're having a fantastic week. I have just returned from having a brilliant month in South Africa. If you followed my podcast or you've read my blogs over the last few years, you'll know this is something that I have tried to do every year when the pandemic allows. And the trip that we did in January 2022 was actually a delayed trip from the year before. So we were glad to be able to make that trip. One of the things it reminded me of is the importance of living in the present. Because without even thinking about it, you know, when you're on holiday you are so much more present, you are so much more in the moment than you are when you're on the daily grind of your life. That's what I want to talk to you about in today's video and today's podcast is about the importance of living in the presence. So I guess the first thing I thought of is, well, why is it when you're on vacation? Actually just to be clear, my trip of a month was two weeks vacation and two weeks working. So why is it when we are on holiday or vacation, we are so much more present? Well, of course we're in a different things. We're out of our usual cycle and we are seeing lots of amazing sights and sounds and that leads us to be much more present. And of course when we're more present, it's so much more healthy. And I'll get on to that in a minute. And I think one of the things that we are more aware of is all of our senses. So our things that we see, things that we hear, things that we smell. And I guess one of the best tips I can ever give anybody about being in the present is to use your senses and be much more aware of them. So let's just spend a couple of moments talking about, well, okay, Rob, that's great, but why is it important for us to be in the present, to live in the present? And the key reason really is it's the only real thing that we have, which is this present moment. The past is just a memory. And living in the future is dangerous because we start to make up stories about our future. And if you know anything about that triangle that thoughts lead to feelings and feelings lead to behavior. So if we're having a negative thought about the future, then we start to have negative feelings about the future, and that leads us to have negative behaviors that probably will create our own reality and deliver that negative future that we're worrying about. So just remember that living in the past is just a memory that you can't change, and living in the future is just a story that we tell ourselves. Also, when our lives become dictated by thoughts, emotions that are attached to past events or potential future outcomes, it becomes more and more rare that we actually live in the present moment. I just want to tell you a really quick side story about that. So when I decided to become a coach, it wasn't the best time of my life. I'd sold my agency. I'd lost a sense of who I was and what my purpose in life was. And the first thing I did was an nlp, a neuro linguistic programming coaching course. And one of the things they teach you is about through time and in time. So one of the questions that they asked us is to say, point to the future and point to the past and point to the present. And most people go, the future's here, the past is there, the present is here. Or they go, the future is here, the past is here, and the present is here. And at the time, I kind of went, the future is here, the past is here, and the present is somewhere mixed in with all of it. Of course, there wasn't a very healthy thing. And I think one of the best things I got out of the NLP coaching course that I did was to learn more about myself and to start to change some of that. Because at the time, I was very much living in the past and worrying about the future. And when you spend all your time doing that, you've got actually no energy to actually live in the present. And that means that you start being susceptible to stress and depression and generally feel unhappy and uncomfortable about life. So not a good place to be. So because of all of that, it is super important to learn to live in the present moment. Abraham Maslow once said, the ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness. And only in the present moment can you achieve true happiness, peace and joy, which are all key for our mental well being. Now, of course, it's natural to spend some moments in the past because we do learn lessons from things that we've done in the past, or daydreaming and planning about the future. But when our lives become dictated by those thoughts and emotions attached to past events or potential future outcomes, then standing peacefully in the present becomes increasingly difficult and increasingly rare. You know, we are creatures of habit. So if we spend loads of time mulling over negativity and struggles of the past, or becoming anxious and fearful about the future, then we stop living in the present and we are very seldomly here in the moment. And then those habits quickly become the norm. And as we know from many of life's other vices, just because we're doing something regularly doesn't mean that it's good for us or the right way to live. So I just wanted to share that thought with you because it was really present in my mind while I was in South Africa and I was enjoying the moment and being really conscious to say, hey Rob, just remember this moment and enjoy this moment and just being so much more present than I ever am when I'm sitting on my desk right now. So it's something that I am consciously trying to do. I think it's worth reminding us that time is just a human made construct, you know, because why is it that time goes so fast when you're doing something you really enjoy, like being on vacation, and yet time goes really slow when you are doing something you don't enjoy. And I'll give you a really good example of this because unfortunately I flew home during Storm Eunice on Sunday and I also do not like flying. So put those two things together and I can tell you why I was living in the moment and every single bump of the plane. And I'm gonna, if you're watching this on video, I'm actually put a video of my plane landing and you'll see how bumpy it was and it was really scary. And we were wondering whether we were actually even going to land in the uk and the pilot said we might have to be diverted to Paris. But I tell you what, I lived every single minute of that 40 minutes as we came into Heathrow and it sort of forced me to be in the present. And of course time went really slowly, even though that was a one of those rare moments where I was trying to think about the future and not in the present. But to be quite honest, most of the time that doesn't happen and most of the time we really want to be in the present, living in the moment, enjoying the moment and cherishing the moment. So I think the key to remember is we kind of make it up time and that it's so important that we live in the present. Leo Tolstoy said there is only one time that is important now. It's the most important time because it's the only time we actually have any power. So that is really true and worth me saying again that there is only one time that is important, which is right now. It's the most important time because it's the only time that we have any power now. I think in the day to day running of agency life, we're very prone to not being present. We're too busy making plans about the future, we're thinking about clients, we're worrying about past projects or client comms, we're stressing about what might happen and none of that is healthy and we're not living in the present. So I would really encourage you to try that. This is really why the mindfulness movement has emerged over the past few years. My trip to South Africa reminded me of the importance of making a conscious effort to be more present. Now there are a number of things that you can do, but one of the things I try to do when I'm back in my UK office is walk my dog every day. And I try to be present so I don't take my phone and I try to learn the lessons that dogs can teach us because my dog is never worrying about what route we're going to take on the walk or how long the route the walk will be, because he's far too busy being in the present, chasing whatever or sniffing around. So my question to you today, and I'll leave this as my sort of last parting thought for this very short podcast, is what can you consciously do to be more present? Sam.