Endure Chapter 12: Flow

Welcome to chapter 12 of my book Endure. It's a guide to spiritual stamina. You can find it@getindoor.com and every week I'll release to you a chapter from that book right here on the podcast feed. And getindore.com is where you can get the full book. Physical, digital version. All the note taking, everything is over there. So let's begin. Chapter 12 Flow I recently read Greg McCown's book Effortless. Greg's first book, also quite good Essentialism, was about doing the right things, but his newer book, Effortless, is about doing these things in the right way. In the book, Greg writes that you've likely been conditioned to believe that the path to success is paved with relentless work, and that if you want to overachieve, you have to overexert, overthink, and overdo. If you aren't perpetually exhausted from the hustle, you're not doing enough. But lately, working hard is more exhausting than ever, and the more depleted we get, the harder it is to make progress. Stuck in an endless loop of zoom, eat, sleep, repeat, we're often working twice as hard to achieve half as much. Greg explains that getting ahead doesn't have to be as hard as we tend to make it. No matter what challenges or obstacles we face, there can be a better way. Instead of pushing ourselves harder, we can find an easier path. In other words, although not every hard thing in life can be made easy, we can make it easier to do more of what matters most. And Greg refers to the ability to be able to do that as an effort, effortless state, an experience many of us have had when we are physically rested, emotionally unburdened, and mentally energized, while completely aware, alert, present, attentive, and focused on what's important at this moment, able to focus with ease on what matters most. Greg describes how in Eastern philosophy, this effortless sweet spot is referred to as wu Wei means not have or without, and wei means do, act or effort. So wu wei means without action, without effort, trying without trying, action without action, or effortless doing. The goal in being effortless is to accomplish what matters by trying less, not more, and to achieve your purpose in life with bridled intention, not overexertion. If you're curious whether you happen to be one of those people who might be pushing harder instead of working easier and making things effortless, you can go take the helpful Effortless quiz, which I'll link to. It's on Greg McCown's website. If you go to getindoor.com chapter 12 chapter 12 you'll find that effortless quiz getindoor.com chapter 12 but anyways, if you go take that quiz, you'll find helpful thought exercises like Like When I feel overwhelmed by all the work I have to do, I tend to think about it more than actually get it done. Grit my teeth and try to work as efficiently as possible, dive into it immediately and keep pushing myself until every last thing is done. My job often makes me feel stressed and anxious, burnt out and exhausted or motivated, but sometimes bored. I go the extra mile in everything I do, always only when there's a payoff or never. I tend to focus most on the past, the present, or the future. My motto is an assignment is not done until it's perfect, it's up against the deadline, or it meets the required criteria. When I hit a wall on a task or project, I tend to take a short break and wish it were longer, power through anyway, spin my wheels and eventually give up anyways. The list of questions goes on and on and you can take the quiz on Greg's website to see where you fall on the so called effortless scale. Greg's book actually reminded me a bit of what I've also heard repeatedly from my friend Tim Ferriss. Tim not only allows himself to engage in work and productiv flow by allowing things that are easy to be easy, but also often asks himself, what if this were easy? Or what would it look like if this were easy? Confronted with extreme anxiety and overwhelm in the process of writing a book, Tim developed this easy, questioning philosophy and says that it led him to some very specific insight and the answer to many of the problems in life he was confronting at the time. Along with deep personal and professional growth, new connections with several mentors, and the ultimate culmination of the publishing of his wildly successful book Tribe of Mentors. So what does it mean exactly to ask yourself, what if this were easy? And why was it so powerful For a guy like Tim, how can your work and your life be more flowing and effortless? Well, in this chapter I'm going to explain to you why a focus on effortlessness, flow and ease may indeed allow you to approach life and life's difficulties through an entirely new lens. What would this look like if it were easy? The question what would this look like if it were easy? Is based on the same idea that Greg presents in his book Effortless. It's easy to convince yourself that things need to be hard and that if you're not redlining, working your fingers to the bone burning. The candles at both ends have smoke coming out your ears during any particular mental task for the day. Can't do a workout without two pre workout drinks and a braid up session because you know how masochistic it has to be. Pull your hair out Planning family vacations or time with friends and Need a great deal of complexity to even do something as simple as meditating. You're simply not trying hard enough. This mentality leads any human to eventually seek the path of most resistance, creating unnecessary hardship in the process. Well, if you're anything like me, then for you this idea of working less hard may feel a little uncomfortable, lazy and nearly guilt inducing. Perhaps because you're stricken by the same puritanical idea that the act of doing hard things carries with it some kind of inherent value. This puritanical viewpoint not only embraces the hard, but tends to distrust the easy. When paired with Bible verses such as Genesis 3:19 which says in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, we can almost feel as though we're letting God down as some kind of proverbial sluggard if we aren't mopping sweat off our face during any given day of toil. Don't get me wrong, many of the meaningful or successful accomplishments I've had in life have indeed been accompanied by blood, sweat and tears. But in looking back, I've spent many wasted hours micromanaging projects, avoiding outsourcing because I wanted to know how to do everything myself, trying to convince myself that working harder would eventually solve a problem, and procrastinating everything from work to spiritual disciplines to exercise simply because I hadn't considered what it would look like if that task or the steps leading up to that task were easier. I'm pretty confident that the Almighty Creator didn't intend for us to simply work hard, but also to use our God given creative powers to work smart. And I would even argue that working hard and working smart while being fully self actualized and immersed in a vocation that implements your God given talents can actually feel quite effortless much of the time. Or at least fun. In the same way that I found a Spartan race marathon or Ironman triathlon can be brutal, hot and energetically draining, yet simultaneously thrilling and sometimes even smile inducing. Well, Tim Ferriss hypothesized in his development of the easy question that I mentioned earlier that better results might come if he used the tactic of what he calls inversion to frame his own work in terms of elegance instead of strain, and he eventually solved the authorship conundrums he was facing by reframing them to seek the easiest solution instead of the most stressful, time consuming, hard working, unending labor in the salt mine solution. Despite the societal veneration that seems to be placed on that latter approach, this philosophy reflects the same philosophy of author Wayne Dyer, who's written that when you change the way you see things, the things you see change. So as he was figuring out how he was going to write his next big book, Tim decided one morning to spend a week test driving the path of least resistance that morning by journaling the question what would this look like if it were easy? An idea presented itself. Tim's idea, as he describes in detail in a good blog post and a YouTube video I'll link to on the resources webpage for this chapter, was this what if I assembled a tribe of mentors to help me? More specifically related to his book Tribe of Mentors, Tim eventually developed this question into what if I asked 100 plus brilliant people the very questions I want to answer myself or somehow got them to guide me in the right direction? And voila. The result of Tim's outside the box approach the problem from an easy angle question culminated in the ultimate choose your own adventure book, a compilation of tools, tactics and habits from 130 plus of the world's top performers, from iconic entrepreneurs to elite athletes, from artists to billionaire investors who all basically wrote the book for Tim and as an additional upside, promoted the book for him and often appeared on his podcast afterward. So let's say that you, like Tim, want to approach a problem, a habit, a routine, or any desired outcome with similar effortlessness and ease. Well, there's a few questions that will help you determine what the path of life least resistance might be. For example, why am I doing this activity in the first place? What am I trying to accomplish? What's the ultimate goal? What does the project or task look like once it's done? In the book Effortless, Greg describes how getting the outcome clear can provide massive focus to your efforts as all of your resources shift into gear to bring that outcome to fruition. So you could have a vague goal like lose weight. But what done looks like is I look down at the weighing scale and see the number 177lbs staring back at me. Vague goal Walk more what done looks like reach 10,000 steps a day on my Fitbit for 14 days in a row. Vague goal Read more books what done looks like on my digital book reader it will say finished next to War and Peace. Vague goal Turn in the Big Report what done Looks like type up 12 pages full of concrete examples and actionable advice and be able to picture the customer saying it's terrific. Launch my product what done looks like have 10 beta users try the app for a week and give feedback. Complete Podcast Episode what Done Looks like? The podcast is recorded and the file is uploaded. Great questions. Here we go. There's some more where are the obstacles, barriers and bottlenecks? What's slowing me down or keeping me from getting started in the first place? At what stage do I experience a sense of dread, resistance or temptation to procrastinate? What steps could I eliminate? If I cut out steps X, Y or Z, what would happen? Would it really destroy the process or simply result in a new and potentially easier way to do things? What steps could I accomplish differently? If I can't eliminate a step, can I execute it in a different way or reframe how I think about it? Does this all need to be done at once or can I creatively split it up? For example, Greg describes the concept of utilizing micro bursts, 10 minute surges of focused activity that can have an immediate effect on your essential project, providing a burst of motivation and energy from taking that first obvious action such as Essential Project Remove the clutter from the garage first obvious action Find the broom Microburst Sweep out the shed and move the bikes into the shed Essential Project Launch a product First Obvious Action Open a cloud based document to put ideas in microburst Brainstorm Product Features Essential Project Complete a large report first obvious action Pick up a pen and a piece of paper Micro burst Draft an outline for the report for example, let's say I have an incredibly busy day chock full of meetings and phone calls, but I know I want to jumpstart that day with a workout so that I feel good and I'm energized for the entire day. Setting the alarm clock back an hour will inevitably result in less productivity due to a sleep deprived brain foggy hay. So that's not an option. But rescheduling some of my work so I can take those first few phone calls while walking briskly outdoors in the sunshine, perhaps increasing the intensity of that by, I don't know, wearing blood flow restriction bands or a weighted backpack. Well, that could actually be an option. Or I can come to the realization that miniature micro workout spread throughout the day can be just as effective as a dedicated gym session. And I can navigate the entire busy day by stopping every 50 minutes for five minutes of air squats, push ups or burpees, allowing me another five minutes to recover and move on to my next task. Or perhaps I can eliminate any commute to a gym by equipping my garage with a few inexpensive kettlebells and fancy exercise bikes from Craigslist, where rich folks often list workout equipment for amazing prices because they bought something super cool, then realized they never use it. Perhaps I'm struggling to find time for Bible reading in the morning and also be able to meditate, journal, get ready for work, and spend time with my family so I could instead use an app like you Bible to listen to the Bible while I'm up and around washing my face, preparing coffee and stretching, then gather my family to meditate and journal along with me. It could be the same with prayer. How can I find time to pray when I also want to squeeze in a bit of morning movement, sunlight exposure, sauna and cold? Couldn't I wake up, go on a sunrise walk while I talk and listen to God come back, hit the sauna while I listen to a sermon, then finish with another prayer while I take a cold shower or soak in the cold pool? Maybe? I have a host of recipes I've always wanted to try to cook, but I just don't seem to have the time for all the prepping, chopping, soaking, marinating and preparation. What would it look like if this were easy? Well, I'd have all those ingredients prepped and ready for me so I could focus on nailing the recipe on my way home from work. Could I swing by the dollar store and get my kids a cool, nifty gift, then employ them and trade for the gift to do all the prepping and chopping while I create the meal? Sure, perhaps I want to spend more time with my family in the evening but feel guilt tripped over it not being a giant crazy adventure, a trip to a trampoline park or a night out at a fancy restaurant. Couldn't I instead surf over to Amazon, spend 100 bucks on enough fun games and board games to last nearly an entire year, then host a family game night for five nights of the week? Which actually, as I write about in chapter five of Fit Soul, your kids love that type of experience just as much as an overpriced vacation to an exotic locale? And we have game nights nearly every night of the week at my house. Let's say my wife and I want to have more sex, but we feel like we always run out of time at the end of the day or have no energy by the time we finally collapse into bed. Why not get some fancy mint or cinnamon infused breath spray. My wife actually do this. We use a brand called Dirt, keep an incense stick and lighter next to our bed, set a smartphone alarm for a beautiful playlist that allows us to greet the morning with fully activated senses and instead make love in the morning. What if I want to make a bunch of headway on a new book, but I don't have the time or desire to be hunkered over my keyboard all day long? Could I buy a simple digital recording device or use the voice dictation app on my phone to speak my book ideas and chapter outlines to myself while I'm out walking, then come back and upload those to a virtual transcriptionist or an online transcription service like some of those I'll link to on the resources webpage for this chapter, thus resulting in all my chapters easily mapped out for me to fill in the blanks once I do have the time to edit. And right as one final example, suppose I keep getting asked to speak at conferences, but the organizers either a can't afford my keynote fees or b I can't free up the time to travel to the event. Could I instead offer to appear virtually via, say, Zoom or Skype, cut my fees in half and give the presentation for my home office wearing a nice shirt and otherwise clothed in nothing but my boxer shorts? Well, that's certainly a viable, simple option, and one that I actually adopted a great deal during the travel restricted COVID pandemic. These may seem like silly or random examples, but they're all elements I've struggled with my own personal finding time for spiritual disciplines, being with family more, cooking more, making love, writing book chapters, or being able to speak at conferences without oodles of travel. And I've successfully used the what if this were easy approach to actually solve these problems? Flow, Trust and Releasing Control the entire concept of effortlessness and ease is also highly related to the concept of flow and can even be further amplified by getting into flow, which also known colloquially as being in the zone, is a mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment in the process of the activity. This flow state often includes releasing control and attachments, trusting, surrendering and being relaxed and accepting of a situation rather than trying to micromanage, alter or control every situation, especially big tasks, projects or goals. While our entire books, most notably Steven Kotler's books the Art of Impossible and the Rise of Superman, written about how to attain and perfect a state of flow, getting into flow as you approach a difficult task isn't really quite as hard and complex as it may seem sound familiar. In a sense, to attain this state of ease, you simply one invert a situation by asking yourself the questions I was telling you earlier and then next let those things that are easy be easy and finally relax, trust and surrender, releasing attachments and control. And that last one could be the most difficult step for most people, especially me. I personally struggle quite often with de stressing, relaxing and accepting a situation rather than trying to micromanage, alter or control that situation. I also struggle with, as Anthony Demello says in his book awareness and as I mentioned several times throughout this book you're listening to right now, detachment and saying to any difficult task I may be attempting to conquer. I really do not need you to be happy. I'm only deluding myself in the belief that without you I will not be happy. But I really don't need you for my happiness. I can be happy without you. You are not my happiness. You are not my joy. I struggle with frequent temptations to change or alter or modify a situation that seems near perfect already, often asking myself whether there's a better workout or a better diet or a better Bible reading plan, or a better game I could play with the family on family dinner game night, or a better restaurant to take my wife on a date to, or a better title for an article or paragraph I could add to an article, or a better supplement to help me with energy or sleep, or a better walk than my daily afternoon farm road trek. But often, if what you're doing is already working, these kinds of temptations simply arise from a grass is always greener syndrome, a constant questioning of whether there might be something better out there, a constant comparison of us or our work to others and their work. But while this type of thought pattern can indeed result in greater drive, personal discoveries and breakthroughs, or attaining new heights of excellence, it can often threaten to constantly derail us from something that's good enough and working just fine. In other words, you sometimes just need to stay the course because what is working is working. I struggle with control. I reveal my OCD like tendencies in chapter 2. Yet when working on any project, I still have that nagging tug at the back of my mind to want to ensure I have 100% complete clarity, knowledge of every possible future outcome, the ability to supervise every small step that occurs along the way, and the reluctance to hand over the reins to others who may be able to help me and achieve an even better, more efficient outcome than I could Achieve myself all desires that are technically impossible to attain if the end goal truly is effortlessness and ease. I struggle with surrender, which, as David Hawkins writes in his book Letting Go, the pathway to Surrender, and as Michael Singer recognizes in his book, the surrender experience is synonymous with simply letting go. David says in his book, letting go involves being aware of a feeling, let it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. It means simply to let the feeling be there and to focus on letting out the energy behind it. Yet, though I know this, I still become pulled to obsessing over feelings, judging those feelings, and attempting to steer the ship of my life in exactly the direction I want, which often results in a sensation of paddling upstream rather than floating downstream, reacting to every situation with a sense of acceptance and gratefulness, and then proceeding to do the very best job I can with whatever God has placed upon my plate for the day. Accepting and trusting that complete acceptance of what is can be paired with a faith and trust that all will be well even without my fingers white knuckling the steering wheel well, as you're hopefully beginning to realize, each of these tendencies stress, attachment, envy, control, and failure to surrender, all of which threaten to impede flow and ease, are intimately linked to the emotion of fear, which, as you can discover in David Hawkins books, is one of the lowest, most draining emotions one can experience. And fear arises from a lack of trust. We try to control things because of what we think will happen if we don't. Control is rooted in fear. Control is a result of being attached to a specific outcome, even if it may seem that we need to micromanage the entire universe to make that outcome happen. Control is that feeling you have when your awareness fades, your vision becomes very narrow in focus, your breath becomes shallow, your adrenaline is pumping, and your heart rate increases. All the complete opposite of the biological sensations you would experience when in a state of flow. Control, ironically, can create a state in which you become less able to positively contribute to your work because you feel less in control, begin to micromanage and obsess over details, and get in your own way of being able to see or accept an easier path. But trust enables you to surrender, and in surrender mode, you become calm and peaceful, breathing deeply, become present in the moment, you see more clearly and your vision extends out around you, allowing you to see the bigger picture. When you have surrendered in this way, you have stopped fighting with yourself, fighting with the universe, and fighting with God. You've placed your trust in God. You've accepted the natural flow of things that the Almighty Creator has designed. You have stopped resisting and pushing against reality. You have accepted that, as Matthew 6 says, that the birds of the air neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them, and that you of much more value than they to your Heavenly Father will all the more be fed, clothed and cared for. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Ultimately, you have accepted what is not in a spirit of helplessness, inaction or laziness, but in a state of taking wise, flowing, effortless and easy action fueled by surrender, energy and your knowledge and awareness to be able to ask yourself not only what would it look like if this were easy, but also do I trust God that if I release control and surrender to his all knowing plan, everything is going to be okay? When you elegantly combine this level of trust paired with asking the big easy question and seeking the effortless route, then jumping in with joy and gratitude and getting the job done, life does indeed become a process of flowing Summary Look, I'm not just saying that life should be easier or can be easy. Frankly, I don't believe that's the case. After all, just look at the Apostles and Paul, arguably one of the most influential historical figures of all time, and a man responsible for the early massive growth of Christendom and the entire Western culture built upon that foundation. Was his life easy? Well, let's consider that in 2nd Corinthians 6:4 10 Paul describes his ministry this way as ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations and needs and distresses, and stripes and imprisonments and tumults and labors and sleeplessness and fastings, by purity, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known as dying. And behold, we live as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many riches, having nothing, and yet possessing all things and 2nd Corinthians 11:23 29 in labors more abundant in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently in deaths often from the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes, minus one three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day I've been in the deep, in journeys, often in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils perils in the sea, in perils amongst false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches who is weak and I am not weak who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation elsewhere. Even Jesus himself in Matthew 7:14 says, Narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Yet Matthew 11:30 says, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So yeah, well, in the case of external salvation, the most important aspect of all our existence, forsaking the world's temptation and passing the so called marshmallow test that I talked to you about in chapter six can be a test of perseverance and a road fraught with difficulties and challenges. This doesn't mean that, as First Corinthians 10:13 says, There is no temptation that has overtaken us that God has not provided a way of effortless escape from. Furthermore, despite very few finding and passing through that narrow gate to salvation, the deep peace, love, and joy derived from a daily walk in union with God does actually seem to make living according to his commandments more and more effortless with time, and more and more like a flow state each day as one flourishes and grows into becoming a new creation. And from an entirely practical standpoint, though life may be fraught with difficulties, certain habits, rituals, routines, tasks and goals in that life can be tackled with more effortlessness and ease than most people realize, especially when one is in a state of flow, has released attachments and controls, and inverts the scenario to ask themselves that easy question. For example, I suspect the apostle Paul would have leapt at the chance to preach the Gospel via a zoom call to Ethiopia rather than trekking south for days on a hot and dusty trail to travel to Ethiopia itself. Or maybe as an easier thought exercise since she actually did this, would have dictated to his scribe many of the letters he wrote that later formed significant parts of the New Testament, rather than writing those letters himself. Working Smarter, not working harder. Certainly not to be synonymized with lazy shortcuts or taking the easy way out. Well, let me summarize for you Greg's ideas from the book Effortless Begin by inverting when faced with a seemingly difficult task, instead of asking why is this so hard? Inverted the question by asking what if this could be effortless or easy? Next, challenge the assumption that the so called right way is inevitably the harder way. Make the impossible possible by finding a more indirect approach. When faced with work that feels overwhelming, ask how am I making this harder than it needs to be? Have fun. Try to pair your most essential activities with the most enjoyable ones. Accept that work and play can coexist. Turn tedious tasks to into meaningful rituals. Allow laughter and fun to lighten more of your moments. Release, surrender and let go of emotional burdens or added stress that you don't need to keep carrying. Focus on what you can control and accept with joy and gratitude that which you cannot control. Relaxing and accepting a situation rather than trying to alter it or control it. Well, how about you? What's an activity you do regularly or an activity, task or project you find daunting? And what would it look like if it were effortless and easy? Are you willing to surrender complete control, place your trust in God, and enter into the flow without fussing and stressing about your entire day? Well, how do you plan on doing that? Well, if you go to getindoor.com chapter 12 in the physical and digital version of the book, which you can get there, there's some pretty comprehensive note taking sections that will allow you to reflect upon the questions that I've just asked you, which is really valuable to do if you interact with with the book in this way. And for resources, references, links and additional reading and listening material for this chapter, visit get indoor.com chapter 12 that's get indoor.com chapter 12.