(This article is a follow-up from the ones published in previous weeks, episodes 0, 1 and 2, and more episodes will be published in the upcoming weeks)

Nowadays, mobile phones can stay switched on for many days in a row. But every now and then, they need to be restarted, and as part of the restart process, they perform a series of tasks and updates that allow them to continue to work optimally.

Luckily, as humans, we also get to reset our system once daily, and we can take advantage of those special moments at the beginning and the end of our day to get back to our centre, check in with ourselves and evaluate our goals and priorities, so that we can live every day from a place of intention, making our own decisions, instead of simply reacting to whatever happens and getting carried away by the day's events.

When getting up

What can you include in your morning routine to help you start the day on a positive note? It doesn't have to be fancy; the most important thing is that it works for you, because that's the time you're devoting to yourself, to your own personal development.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Breathing consciously
• Planning/visualizing your day
• Reading an inspiring book
• Writing down your thoughts
• Repeating positive affirmations
• Being thankful for what you already have
• Meditating
• Doing some yoga or stretching
• Going out for a walk or run, playing a sport…
• Preparing a special breakfast for yourself

Before going to bed

You can use these same ideas for your bedtime routine, or if you prefer something simpler, I suggest writing down four things in a notepad using the Spanish acronym AMOR (LOVE):

• A for Agradecimiento – THANKFULNESS: What do I feel thankful for today?
• M for Mejorable – IMPROVABLE: What did I aim to do that I didn't achieve? What would I do differently?
• O for Orgulloso - PROUD: What was I able to achieve today? What obstacles did I overcome?
• R for Reflexión – REFLECTION: What surprises did I find along the way? What did I learn?

What do you think about these ideas to reset yourself each day? What works best for you?

(This article is a follow-up from last week's post and the previous one, and more episodes will be published in the upcoming weeks)

Just as computers and mobile phones are configured with factory settings that allow them to perform certain functions more efficiently, we, as humans, come with specific characteristics and natural tendencies, que hacen que unas tareas se nos den mejor que otras. Cuanto mejor conozcamos esas «prestaciones», las nuestras y las de los demás, mejor podremos aprovecharlas para entendernos y comunicarnos mejor.

From before birth and throughout life, we human beings perceive reality through our five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Most of us naturally rely more heavily on certain senses and less on others, which determines our understanding of the world and influences our behaviour and means of self-expression.

Based on all this, the field of neuro-linguistic programming defines several different ways to represent reality: they´re the so-called representational systems: visual, kinaesthetic, auditory and digital.

Most of us have a dominant representational style, though, in reality, they´re all present in us in varying proportions. Ideally, we want to work on all the different styles so that they´re well-balanced, and we have the ability to choose which one to use depending on the situation, as each style is particularly useful in certain scenarios.

Each representational system can be recognized by the use of certain words and expressions, in addition to coming across through a person´s gestures, skills and behaviours. Let´s see them one by one.

Visual

• Think and speak in images
• Pay more attention to visual details, faces...
• High level of energy, always doing something
• Value image, dress smartly, want to look good
• Usually keep their house/workspace tidy
• Speak quickly, loudly and clearly
• Think quickly, learn quickly, also forget quickly
• Good at getting the big picture of a situation
• Upright posture, looking directly at the other person
• Often use their hands to express their ideas
• Keep some distance from the other person
• May get angry but don't hold a grudge
• Sample expressions: in plain sight, it looks good, we´ll see...

Kinaesthetic

• Register their experience of the world through their body and their feelings, and that's how they remember
• Relaxed, easygoing, very sensitive
• Dress comfortably, not interested in fashion
• Move slowly without rushing
• Submissive posture, keeping the gaze low
• Speak slowly, softly and quietly
• Learn slowly, through experience
• Once learned, they don't easily forget
• Seek to be close to others, contact, touching
• Usually fun to be with, hate conflict
• Can hold a grudge and seek revenge
• Sample expressions: a heated discussion, between a rock and a hard place...

Auditory

• Use sounds to create experiences
• Pay more attention to auditory details, what others say and in what tone, and that's how they remember
• Relaxed level of energy
• Dress comfortably, don´t care what to wear
• Tendency to look down
• Not looking when listening - need to lend an ear
• Annoyed by loud and screeching noises
• Struggle when there´s a lot of background noise, unable to filter it out; they hear everything
• Auditory and digital are often confused
• <1% of the population is primarily auditory
• Sample expressions: it rings a bell, sounds good, call for attention...

Digital

• Have a need to make sense of the world, to figure things out, to understand
• Think in a very structured and logical way
• Show very little emotion, like to think things through
• Learn by working things out in their mind
• Memorize steps, procedures, sequences.
• Value precision, choose words very carefully
• Make decisions based on logic, facts and figures
• Spend a fair amount of time talking to themselves
• Adopt a sideways posture, keeping some distance
• Prefer not to look directly; quickly look away
• Speak in a monotonous and repetitive tone
• Sample expressions: it makes sense; step 1, step 2, step 3...

Interesting, right? It's almost as if each one of these styles is a different language that we speak without realizing, and when we find people who perceive things and express themselves in a way that's different to ours, that's when misunderstandings happen. That's why it's so helpful to know what they are and how to use them, so that we can be flexible and speak the other person's preferred language at any given moment.

What about you? Which representational system(s) do you identify with the most? And the least?

(This article is a follow-up from last week's post, and more episodes will be published in the upcoming weeks)

I'm sure we have all experienced this at some point: no matter how top-notch and ultramodern our phone is, it becomes useless if we forget to charge its battery. A mobile phone with little battery has more limited functionality, and if it gets to the point of running out of power, it just stops working.

Similarly, we as humans also need energy to be able to function properly, even if the kind of energy we use and the way we "recharge our batteries" are quite different.

This may seem silly, but in reality, it's not. It is surprising how often we neglect our most basic needs, probably because we don't realize how that carelessness is robbing us of our energy and interfering with our performance. And even though we don't have an automatic gauge that tells us the percentage of battery left, our body does send us signals to let us know what it needs, but we can only notice those signals if we are paying attention.

So, before we proceed to start the reprogramming work, I propose that we go through the essential care required by your device (that is, your body), with special emphasis on your central processing unit (your brain), and make the necessary adjustments so that they can maintain an optimal level of energy.

Rest

Just as a mobile phone needs to be charged every now and then, a person needs to sleep and rest every dayfor a variety of reasons.

Leaving aside the general fact that our body needs to sleep for several hours every night to recover from the day and regain strength, sleep time is especially important for our brain. This is because some of the processes that happen during sleep help us to assimilate what we learned during the day, while others perform cleaning and brain cell regeneration tasks. We could say that our brain takes advantage of the quiet time and uses it to perform maintenance tasks, just like old computers used to perform hard disk "defragmentation".

But to allow this to happen, we must achieve deep sleep, high-quality sleep. There´s no point in sleeping very little one night and then "making up for it" later on; that´s not how it works... The best thing we can do is give rest the priority it deserves and establish routines that favour deep restorative sleep, remembering that resting is not a waste of time but rather the opposite: it´s fundamental for our health.

Diet

Our body also needs to receive nutrients from the external world, to transform them and produce its own energy:

• Foods: a healthy and varied diet, as natural as possible, nurtures us and provides us with plenty of energy while eating carelessly can bring about all kinds of health problems, some of them more obvious and immediate than others.

• Water: there´s a high percentage of water in our body´s composition; some of that water is lost over time and needs to be restored. Dehydration is not always easy to detect, and it can affect us in a big way, both physically and emotionally.

• Air: oxygen is also a vital element for our body to function. By breathing consciously more often, we achieve better oxygenation of our cells and gain the ability to calm down and connect with ourselves at a deeper level.

All this applies in general to our body and in particular to our brain, which is the most advanced and complex of all our organs, and has very specific needs. Even though the brain accounts for just 2% of a person´s body weight, it consumes approximately 20% of the available glucose, about 50% of the oxygen, and big amounts of water (in fact, the brain is 80% water). So, to help it to perform at its best, let´s ensure it has everything it needs.

Exercise

Human beings are designed to move around, not to sit down all day. There are many benefits of exercising regularly:

• Physically – exercising gives us energy and vitality, strengthens our immune system and helps us to stay fit and rest better.

• Mentally – it´s been proven that physical exercise positively impacts brain activity, for example, in areas related to learning, memory, cognitive functions and decision-making.

• Emotionally – daily exercise is our best ally to combat anxiety and depression, minimize stress and generally improve our mood, as it releases endorphins, which generate a sense of well-being, as well as other hormones like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, all of which help with regulating our emotions.

Choose a type of exercise you like and feel motivated to do; that way, it will be easier for you to keep it as a habit: it could be your favourite sport, swimming, running, dancing, doing yoga... The important thing is to get moving and to do it often.

Connection

Nowadays, there´s not much point in having a phone or computer without an internet connection, right? We can do some things offline, but not many, only a handful, and the list is getting shorter.

We as humans also need connection: we are social beings by nature and are programmed to connect with others. Our brain has adapted to live in society, cooperate with others, and empathize with their emotions.

Sometimes we forget the importance of staying in contact with our loved ones, sharing, doing our bit for society, and ultimately, feeling part of something bigger than ourselves. That connection with others, that sense of belonging to a family, a group of friends or a community, gives us a solid foundation from which we can face the challenges that life puts in front of us.

But equally important, or even more, is knowing how to also connect with ourselves, set aside distractions and truly listen to our inner selves, get to know us deeply, and discover who we are. It´s worth investing in becoming our own best friend, as we are the only person we know who will be our companion for the rest of our lives.

(And that's tip number 1, more to come next week...)