Getting back to work..

Sitting outside, gazing over Lake Koocanusa on my holiday this summer, Kymme and I were talking about retirement and throwing around ideas on how we could get there sooner.

She mentioned a book: Your Brain at Work, by David Rock.

“You have to read this one, it Rocks!” .. or maybe she said it was really, really good.. So I read it, and it is.

Authors of these ‘self help’ books take simple ideas and .. make them really long.... Or at least all mixed up: in my head.. I know they just want to explain it to us.. so that we, the reader, ‘get it’, or are at least entertained. And it needs to be long enough to sell.

Mr. Rocks book is good.. but he uses a metaphor I don’t really ‘get’ .. and besides.. the only way I can ‘hold on’ to an idea.. to internalize it; simplify it: so you get to come along for the ride.. if you choose to do so.

What D Rock says according to D'Crabb.. is:

1. Plan your time: Figure out when you are freshest (morning, night.. Monday.. Wednesday) and use that time to get organized.

It might help to…Use a daybook.. You may need an hour free in the morning to get organized for the day, or want twenty minutes before a meeting to go for a walk and clear your mind. ..You need to organize your week around your brain instead of your projects.

2. Do attention rich stuff first. Your brain works best when it is fresh and doesn’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ going on. And that period of time is not that long!

3. Prioritize –

…Make a list: this saves ‘room’ in your brain and helps keep you on track. You don't have to 'hold' on to what it is you will be doing next.

… Identify that ‘attention’ rich stuff and put it down as the first priority.. You will get it done quicker and better if your mind is fresh.

… Stick to your priorities.. learn to say NO to things that are not a priority and delegate.

4. Generate ideas by using mental images

.. pictures in your mind: storytelling and metaphors work well.

.. and I find clarifying your ideas out loud, or on paper, expands and generates new ones.

5. Give your brain a break between projects.

…Get out of the pre-frontal cortex and into another part of your brain by doing something totally different.. physical, musical.. creative.. (A Change is as Good as A Rest)

... recognise that It takes time to switch from one thing to the next.

…Be in-the-moment. Don't worry about what you are going to do.. think about what you are doing.

6. Think Smart:

…Don’t think when you don’t need to.

…If you are unable to make a decision, maybe that is because it is not the decision needs to be made. There may be a 'higher up' decision that needs to be made first. The example he used was if you can’t decide on a color for the wall it may be because you haven’t decided on a color scheme for the room.

…If there are routine parts of your job.. focus on them for a few days to get them into your long term memory.. so that you don’t have to spend time ‘thinking’ about them every time. You can actually get routine things using a different part of your brain.

… recognize that making decisions is a limited resource, use it wisely.

7. Learn to ‘Chunk’.

...Get the big ideas down first – like Work, Health, Family, Creative and Spiritual needs, before thinking about the details of each. Actually.. what I am doing here is chunking.. trying to organize a book into a couple of headings and two pages.

8. Remove distractions

...Internal (worrying and thinking about other stuff)

...External (bad light, noise, phones, people) ones.

… don’t try and do two things at once. They have done the research on this and it really does slow you down, unless you have managed to put one of them into long-term memory

... every time you are distracted, you use energy and time getting refocused.

… being always on is exhausting, and studies show that it actually lowers your IQ.

9. Language gives you the ability to stop patterns from forming.

…Each time you inhibit something (stop yourself from opening that personal email at work, or saying no to a humbugger) it gets harder. (..”they wore me down”. ) Learn how to articulate exactly what you mean so you can more easily focus on what you are doing.

10. It’s that hormone thing again.. that one keeps popping up.. #10 is You Need to be ‘In The Zone’.

… not enough stress and you are bored and lose focus.

… too much stress and you are stressed and lose focus.

...You need to have just the right amount.. of adrenaline .. (think of something that scares you.. ) and Dopamine.. (think of something that excites you)

That is the first half anyway.. then he goes on about metacognition,.. and well… maybe I will blog about that tomorrow..

I think I have exhausted my pre-frontal lobe, or cortex.. or something like that, because, in my mind, I’m back at the lake… with some terrific, and very stimulating friends.

Hey.. I’m goin with number 5!