Better Time Management - Using A Little Neuroscience

While distractions may be a welcome source of creativity in some lines of work, most of us need periods of focus to be able to do our jobs to the best of our abilities.

In the social media age, where the potential for distraction has never been greater, this presents quite a challenge for professionals and their organisations. How do you switch off the 'noise' and ensure that you are diverting all your brain power to where it's needed - at the right time?

Neuroscience has some interesting insights that may be able to help answer this question.

Is this your typical work day?

Do you start the working day by checking emails and browsing a few web pages as you settle in for the day? Then, do you leave your email and social media channels open all day while trying to focus on the tasks at hand?

Many of us try to multitask, believing that it is possible to prepare that report for the boss, while chatting to a customer on the phone and messaging back to a friend about dinner plans.

In reality, unless we really can do the task on 'autopilot', like brushing teeth for instance, this is more likely to lead to mistakes, omissions, and possibly messed up dinner plans!

Why? Because the human brain is not able to multi-task. Neuroscience has shown that what we think is multitasking is actually 'switching' rapidly between activities. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time, and so when we juggle tasks, we are really asking our brains to switch frequently between activities. This is not only liable to cause errors; it is also energy-sapping for the brain. So, the more we try to juggle, the less 'fuel' our brains have, and the less likely we are to be successful at ANY of the tasks we are trying to complete.

This is why it's so important to prioritise, manage time, and schedule our activities and breaks through the day.

Managing time and taking proper breaks

When we ask our brains to do more as the tasks pile up, what we may really need is a break, to allow our brains to recharge. That overworked people get stressed and 'burnt out' is no surprise, but few people think about the effects on the brain that help to cause this.

Studies from neuroscience have found that people who take 15-minute breaks every two hours are more productive than those who try to plough on. These breaks should not be reading emails or engaging in more social media; they need to involve 'wandering' of the brain... a short walk, listening to music, or chatting with friends about last night's TV shows.

What we find is that social media or emailing tends to 'feed' the tendency towards short attention spans and constant 'brain shifting' from one task to another. Studies show that, with each interruption presented by a new email or a new chat message (for instance), it can take over 20 minutes to return to the task at hand.

When we return, we may be in a stressed state because the brain has still been switching between tasks rapidly, rather than being allowed to wander.

Social media and the 'always on' communication channels present a great challenge to workplace performance because we always have one eye on the things that are most important to us; increasingly these things are available to us through online activity, so the tendency to self-interrupt is high.

Scheduling times to check emails and social media, and being disciplined about sticking to pre-set periods for these activities, are therefore key to preventing distractions from hijacking our performance at work.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Better-Time-Management---Using-A-Little-Neuroscience&id=9460558

5 Simple Hacks To Reclaim Your Focus

I love the Internet.

It has democratized knowledge and information across the globe.

It has decentralized resources and power monopolized by corporations and governments.

It has destroyed the geographical boundaries of people's connection.

Massive benefits have been generated by the advent of the Internet.

However, the dawn of the information age has also brought us immense problems to humanity.

One of the most devastating examples is that it has killed most people's ability to focus.

Nowadays, everyone expects an instant reply once a WhatsApp message is read.

Everyone wants to gain the most amounts of likes in their Facebook and Instagram posts.

Everyone wants to get insider secrets of any kinds of "How To Solve My XYZ Problem" right now.

Immediate gratification has somehow become our societal standard, while most of us forget the truth that any rewards worth reaping require massive preparation and sowing.

Anyway, it's time to regain our focus. Here are 5 quick hacks you can use today to prevent yourself turning into an A.D.D. zombie.

1. Cut Off Your Hands If You Multitask Again

Okay, I am just kidding, don't cut your hands.

But hey, you must NOT multi-task from now on because it's almost always the root cause of losing focus.

We are cognitively incapable of multitasking and this very act of switching tasks is lowering your IQ, according to a report from CNN.

Use the power of full engagement to whatever you do and gain the pleasure of extreme productivity.

2. Prevent Distractions In Advance

Did people die back in the days when they didn't have cell phones?

Probably, especially when they had a heart attack and bystanders couldn't find a telephone booth for ambulance help.

The point is, the world is NOT going to explode if you don't use your mobile phones for a day.

Switch your phone into airplane mode when you need to work.

Stop replying to text messages and checking the updates of your social media accounts when you're having a date.

Avoid listening to music in your headphones while you're at a friend's dinner party and start talking and socializing with real people.

3. Dominate Your Goals In Chunks Of Blocked Time

Being clear about what you set out to do gets half the job done, even before you start it.

By meandering about the job and not able to clearly define what you are going to do, you lose focus midway and you may leave the job half done.

So block out specific times throughout the day where you'll do NOTHING BUT the most important one that's going to move you towards your big goals.

While we have different productive hours, it's generally a better idea to tackle the most difficult tasks first thing in your work day as that's when you have the most willpower, energy and focus.

4. Prioritize Your Day The Night Before

Never go to sleep without laying out the exact game plan for tomorrow.

Extreme productivity starts the moment you wake up and automatically follow the plan without much extra thoughts.

So set out your focus strategies the night before, prioritize the most important ones to complete first, and then just finish them one by one the next day.

5. Take Breaks & Exercise

If you are not making much progress in your current task, walking away from it and coming back to it later can sometimes increase your productivity and get it done.

Instead of keep banging your head against the wall, take a quick 15-20 mins break, rejuvenate yourself with fresh fruits and lemon water, take a walk in the nature if you want, and then come back to it with a refreshed perspective.

Also, make exercise a mandatory part of your daily routine. It increases the blood flow to your brain, sets you in a positive mood and helps you stay focused for the day ahead.

With these 5 simple hacks, you can easily reclaim your focus and get all the heavy lifting done today!

http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Simple-Hacks-To-Reclaim-Your-Focus&id=9525585

How to Stay Focused: Train Your Brain

As an entrepreneur, you have a lot on your plate. Staying focused can be tough with a constant stream of employees, clients, emails, and phone calls demanding your attention. Amid the noise, understanding your brain’s limitations and working around them can improve your focus and increase your productivity.

Our brains are finely attuned to distraction, so today's digital environment makes it especially hard to focus. "Distractions signal that something has changed," says David Rock, co-founder of the Neuro-Leadership Institute and author of Your Brain at Work (HarperCollins, 2009). "A distraction is an alert  says, 'Orient your attention here now; this could be dangerous.'" The brain's reaction is automatic and virtually unstoppable.

While multitasking is an important skill, it also has a downside. "It reduces our intelligence, literally dropping our IQ," Rock says. "We make mistakes, miss subtle cues, fly off the handle when we shouldn't, or spell things wrong." 

To make matters worse, distraction feels great. "Your brain's reward circuit lights up when you multitask,” Rock says, meaning that you get an emotional high when you're doing a lot at once. 

Ultimately, the goal is not constant focus, but a short period of distraction-free time every day. "Twenty minutes a day of deep focus could be transformative," Rock says. 

Try these three tips to help you become more focused and productive:

1. Do creative work first.

Typically, we do mindless work first and build up to the toughest tasks. That drains your energy and lowers your focus. "An hour into doing your work, you've got a lot less capacity than (at the beginning)," Rock says. "Every decision we make tires the brain."

In order to focus effectively, reverse the order. Check off the tasks that require creativity or concentration first thing in the morning, and then move on to easier work, like deleting emails or scheduling meetings, later in the day.

2. Allocate your time deliberately.

By studying thousands of people, Rock found that we are truly focused for an average of only six hours per week. "You want to be really diligent with what you put into those hours," he says.

Most people focus best in the morning or late at night, and Rock's studies show that 90 percent of people do their best thinking outside the office. Notice where and when you focus best, then allocate your toughest tasks for those moments.

3. Train your mind like a muscle.

When multitasking is the norm, your brain quickly adapts. You lose the ability to focus as distraction becomes a habit. "We've trained our brains to be unfocused," Rock says.

Practice concentration by turning off all distractions and committing your attention to a single task. Start small, maybe five minutes per day, and work up to larger chunks of time. If you find your mind wandering, just return to the task at hand. "It’s just like getting fit," Rock says. "You have to build the muscle to be focused."

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225321