3 Strategies to Make Your Brain More Productive

Does your brain feel so full that it just might explode? Our lives are so jam-packed these days! Take the demands of our normal personal and professional lives. Then add in the speed with which we receive new information. It’s no wonder our brains are so maxed out!

The issue is that we need our brains in order to be productive, regardless of whether we’re considering professional or personal tasks. Here are three strategies we can use to keep our brains in top form and thus maximize our productivity.

DECLUTTER YOUR MIND

Our brains have enough going on without making it retain more information than it really needs to!

The best way to declutter your mind is to have external methods of capturing information. I know we like to think that our brains can be our calendar and task list, but invariably as we get busier (or older) we’ll start missing appointments or forgetting tasks if we solely depend on our brains.

Use a calendar. It can be paper or electronic. Your preferred format may be day-at-a-glance, week-at-a-glance or month-at-a-glance. The days or weeks can be in vertical or horizontal format. Finding the calendar that functions in a way that makes sense to your brain is critical.

Write/enter scheduled appointments in it and remember to include drive time when you block out the activity. You can choose whether or not to schedule time for individual tasks. I highly recommend it. Otherwise, when will you organize your electronic documents? Remember, someday isn’t a day of the week!

Utilize a task list. First, differentiate between projects and tasks. Projects entail multiple steps and usually take more than one day. Tasks can be completed in one step and require a limited period of time. A task list can be paper or electronic.

You need to decide whether you have one master list which includes projects and tasks or different lists. If you prefer separate lists, you can divide them into personal vs. professional and/or projects vs. to-dos. It’s also important to have a format that works well for you. This includes determining how to indicate priority and where to put other information that is important for task completion.

NURTURE YOUR BRAIN

Our brain may be encased in bone, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need attention!

First, it’s important to protect the brain. Wearing helmets when biking, skateboarding, roller-skating or playing contact sports is one of the easiest ways to guard the brain.

Second, it’s essential to nourish the brain. One way is to keep it hydrated by drinking adequate amounts of water. Another way is to get lots of oxygen. Yes, I realize you’re pretty good at breathing on a regular basis, but many people fail to take deeper breaths using their diaphragm. Try taking five-to-ten deep breaths a couple of times a day. Besides getting more oxygen to your brain, it just might help relax you for a moment or two.

Third, getting sufficient sleep is vital. Yes, I know you think you can survive on six hours of sleep a night, but science has proven that adults need seven-to-eight hours a night minimum. Yes, occasionally you can get by on six hours of sleep, but on a regular basis, in order to be your most productive, you’ll need more sleep.

IDENTITY BRAIN-BASED CONDITIONS

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Traumatic brain injury (TBI). Clinical depression. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Dementia. These are just a few conditions that affect the brain.

The most important part of identifying the existence of a brain-based condition is the ability to pinpoint appropriate supports. These can be therapeutic, medicinal, behavioral, or a combination.

Here are some examples using the conditions listed at the beginning of this section:

ADHD impacts a person’s executive functions, which are crucial to helping us manage the complexity of life. The right intervention can help someone with ADHD manage their challenges more successfully.

A TBI can be mild or severe. It can cause difficulties such as memory problems and attention deficits among other challenges. Depending on the severity, a person may need help relearning basic routines or discover new methods of completing tasks.

People with clinical depression can have difficulty concentrating and remembering details among other symptoms. A combination of medication and therapy or other appropriate treatments helps people regulate their condition.

OCD often greatly impacts someone’s ability to complete tasks because they get interrupted by their obsessions and/or compulsions. Cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce the obsessions and/or compulsions so the person can complete activities in a more reasonable period of time.

Dementia as well as other memory-based diseases affect anything that involves memory. While they most often occur in people as they age, it is possible to have early on-set of some of these diseases. Obviously a correct diagnosis is crucial as there are medications for some memory-based syndromes which can reduce the pace at which the person’s memory decreases.

This is a very cursory overview of just a few brain-based conditions. The most crucial advice is to get any brain-based condition diagnosed by a qualified professional and seek appropriate treatment.

One strategy for making your brain be more productive is working with a coach who can help you learn how to successfully cross off to-dos, manage paperwork, and optimize time. If you think this might be useful, please schedule a free 30-minute, no-obligation Exploratory Call with me to see if working together might be just the support you’re looking for.