6. Continuous evaluation

Follow the flux. And improve. Your everyday slot sheet is your ally. You do not need to have records, statistics, and so on.

Go offline

This is not a technique for pauses in-between slots as the ones illustrated in the previous Chapter. In order to set up your rhythm, there is another way to recover energy which is complementary to all said before. Its name is Go offline, and its meaning is quite straightforward. I can be practiced during weekends, or any day off work, for at least one slot (20 min), two (40 min) or more: one full hour (60 min) is even better. The name of the technique is Going Offline, and you know exactly what I mean.

I mean really offline: no smartphones, no laptops, no tablets, no radio, no television. Suspension of any ‘line’ that connects us to other human beings not physically present where we physically are in that moment, not just the internet.

The key to be successful in practicing this technique is preparation. You should carefully prepare your moment off, being 20 minutes or 1 hour or a whole day (24h) for the bravest among you.

First, emails: set up a vacancy message for all the email accounts you have, if you feel the urge to do so. Post a message on you social networks, if you use them on a daily basis. Shut down telephones and all mobile devices. This kind of actions.

But, even more important, do not forget to ask for help to people around you during that period. Suppose, for example, that you decide to go offline a whole day in a house on the lake, to get more contact with nature. Then, because your phone is shut down, your colleague calls your wife and she interrupts you, not knowing about your Going offline practice in advance.

Once upon a time in a course a participant asked me: “What to do when you are in this moment?” “Nothing” could be a good answer. I suggest you not to read books or other documents about your activities or similar. Stay still. Listen to music. Go fishing. Have a walk. If you are martial art practitioner like me, you will naturally feel the desire to delve into your art. Everything you want to do is good, if it does not harm the purpose of the technique: let the parasympathetic system work.