music4brains

mental training with music

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Uncomfortable tasks

Do what needs to be done


There is always something to do that just has to be done. There are often tasks that are not fun, uncomfortable or disagreeable: tidying up, filing, logs, difficult discussions with certain people, tax returns, documentation, cleaning, ironing, etc. Of course, this varies individually. Some don't like ironing at all, while others find it very relaxing. When such work is due, it is much nicer to avoid it and do something else first, which may not be more important - but is easier. So the unloved work stays untouched but you are still keeping yourself busy. Unfortunately, the unfinished task remains in your head because it’s not finished. Physical effects (e.g. nausea, head pressure, chest tightness) may also occur. It can get nasty if something is postponed again and again. If this deferring becomes a serious disorder, it is called 'procrastination'. Anyone who has forced themselves to do what needs to be done and has completed it successfully knows the liberating feeling that then arises. But that could have happened much earlier.

M4b  can help you to prepare yourself for such tasks and to master them. You can even get into a flow and work through it easily.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

Mark Twain



Mental Training: Complete unpleasant tasks easily

Take on an unpopular, maybe even postponed, task. First, use the emotion scale to assess how uncomfortable the challenge feels to you when you think about it. Start the music, listen to it through headphones, and spend two or three minutes doing other things. That could be some light automated work, a view from your window, or something neutral.

If you can listen through earplugs or headphones while working, choose option A.

Option A:

Go to work and keep the music running. Is the uncomfortable feeling less intense now or is it still there at all? Keep on working calmly. During the task, you can reassess the feeling on the scale if you like.

Option B:

Imagine yourself doing the uncomfortable work while the music continues. Remember a situation in which you have struggled with it before. Think of the experienced environment. See who and what surrounds you. Hear what is happening around, including your sounds and voice. Feel the temperature, the air, the surface you are on. What does it smell like there? Feel the uncomfortable feeling. Do you also feel physical effects? Remain mentally in the situation while the music continues. If the feeling changes you can reassess it. Is there a different value on the scale now? Play in your mind with the sight of the work material, e.g. make the pile of files or the pile of laundry smaller, grayer (color out) and less threatening. How does it feel now? If the scale value is -1  or 0, you are ready to do the work at the next opportunity.

Repeat the training with other tasks.


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