Today I Choose to be Conscious – How to be Conscious

Awareness is one I am still working on. All too often I am unconscious, going through my day in a rote, detached manner, doing tasks repetitively, frequently multitasking to the extent it would take multiple personalities to be aware of any of them. This does not feel good.

I actually have looked back at my emails from the day and only vaguely remember writing them. This is not early onset Alzheimer’s—this is the act of not being conscious.

Then all of a sudden, I will stop. I will close all the tabs and windows on my computer, go outside and visit my chickens. I will sit by their coop, feel the sun on my face and the grass beneath my feet. I will watch Lelu, Morticia, and Stevie Chicks be the epitome of awareness—carefully focusing on scratching the dirt or pecking the head of lettuce dangling in front of them.

Then I will head back inside, open my to-do list, put all the tasks I was multitasking on a list, pick the most important one, and lend my full awareness to it. Amazingly, this act of consciously choosing to be present with one task quickly annihilates the list and leaves me fulfilled and satisfied.

The Modern Epidemic of Unconscious Living

We live in an age designed to fragment attention and encourage unconscious behavior. Technology rewards multitasking, constant connectivity, and rapid task-switching. The result is a peculiar form of functional sleepwalking where we accomplish things without actually experiencing them.

This unconscious state isn’t laziness or lack of intelligence—it’s a natural response to overwhelming input and competing demands. When faced with more information and tasks than our minds can consciously process, we shift into a kind of autopilot mode that gets things done but sacrifices presence and awareness.

The problem isn’t just reduced enjoyment of daily activities, though that’s significant. Unconscious living also reduces the quality of our work, our relationships, and our decision-making. When you’re not fully present, you miss important information, make more mistakes, and feel disconnected from your own life even while actively living it.

The Multitasking Illusion

Perhaps no modern habit is more antithetical to consciousness than multitasking. Despite widespread belief in its efficiency, research consistently shows that attempting to do multiple things simultaneously reduces performance on all tasks while creating the illusion of productivity.

When I’m juggling multiple browser tabs, answering emails while reviewing reports, and planning tomorrow’s schedule while supposedly focusing on today’s work, I’m not being efficient—I’m being scattered. Each task receives only partial attention, which means none of them receive the focus necessary for either quality completion or conscious engagement.

The irony is that this approach often creates more work rather than less. Mistakes made during unconscious multitasking require later correction. Important details get missed, requiring follow-up. The quality of output suffers, necessitating revision.

Learning from Natural Teachers

Animals offer perhaps the purest examples of present-moment awareness. My chickens don’t peck at lettuce while simultaneously planning their afternoon dust bath and worrying about tomorrow’s weather. They bring complete attention to whatever they’re doing in each moment.

This isn’t because they lack intelligence or planning ability—it’s because they haven’t been conditioned to believe that divided attention is more valuable than focused engagement. They demonstrate the satisfaction and effectiveness that comes from wholehearted presence with current activity.

Watching animals engage fully with simple activities reveals how much richness we miss when our attention is scattered. The texture of grass beneath feet, the warmth of sun on skin, the satisfaction of completing a task with full engagement—these experiences are available in every moment but often missed due to mental fragmentation.

The Power of Single-Tasking

The transformation that occurs when you shift from multitasking to single-tasking is both immediate and profound. Tasks that seemed overwhelming when part of a mental juggling act become manageable when given undivided attention. Work that felt tedious when done unconsciously becomes engaging when approached with presence.

This isn’t just about productivity, though focused attention does typically improve both speed and quality of work. It’s about the satisfaction that comes from fully experiencing what you’re doing rather than rushing through activities to get to the next item on your list.

Single-tasking also reduces the mental fatigue that comes from constant task-switching. When you complete one thing thoroughly before moving to the next, you finish each activity with a sense of closure rather than carrying mental residue from incomplete tasks throughout your day.

Creating Consciousness Breaks

Developing sustained consciousness throughout the day requires building in regular breaks from the unconscious autopilot mode. These don’t need to be lengthy meditation sessions—sometimes a few minutes of full presence can reset your entire relationship with the day.

The chicken coop visits serve this purpose perfectly. Stepping away from screens and artificial environments into natural settings naturally encourages present-moment awareness. The sensory richness of outdoor environments—varied textures, natural sounds, changing light—pulls attention away from mental chatter and into direct experience.

These consciousness breaks serve as reset buttons that help you return to tasks with renewed presence and clarity. They interrupt the momentum of unconscious rushing and create space for intentional choices about how to spend your attention.

Practical Strategies for Daily Awareness

Building more consciousness into daily life doesn’t require dramatic lifestyle changes—it requires small, consistent choices to bring attention back to present-moment experience.

Start with one task. Instead of trying to be conscious all day, begin with the commitment to bring full attention to one daily activity—eating breakfast, taking a shower, or walking to your car.

Close unnecessary tabs. Both literally and metaphorically. Reduce the number of simultaneous activities competing for your attention at any given moment.

Use transition rituals. Create small practices that help you shift from one activity to another consciously rather than automatically. Take three deep breaths, stretch, or simply pause to acknowledge the completion of one task before beginning another.

Schedule awareness breaks. Build brief periods of conscious presence into your day—even five minutes of focused attention to breathing, physical sensations, or immediate environment can restore mental clarity.

Practice conscious completion. Instead of rushing through the end of tasks to get to the next item, take a moment to fully complete each activity and acknowledge what you’ve accomplished.

The Ripple Effects of Present-Moment Living

When you begin living more consciously, the effects extend far beyond increased productivity or reduced stress. You start noticing details you previously missed, making fewer mistakes, and feeling more connected to your own life and the people in it.

Conscious presence also improves decision-making because you have access to more complete information about situations rather than making choices based on partial attention or outdated assumptions.

Perhaps most importantly, conscious living restores the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes from fully engaging with life rather than just getting through it.

Today, I choose to wake up to my own life—to close the mental tabs that scatter my attention and give myself the gift of presence with whatever I’m actually doing.

Because the most productive thing you can do might be to stop trying to do multiple things at once and start fully experiencing the one thing you’re already doing.