Ever Better Today:
Season 2 Episode 05
Focusing Your Brain
Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I’m Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let’s jump in!
Notes from this episode are below.
If you're not mindfully focusing your brain - every alert, email, person, or thought could become a distraction. If you can decrease these distractions, your productivity will go through the roof!
Yesterday I discussed how to find a quiet space with fewer interruptions. Once you’ve found that space, here are seven ways to focus your brain.
7 Ways to Focus your Brain
Take a look at the alerts that are set up on your phone. Are you getting alerts that relate to work? Your personal life? Are you getting them for social media? Breaking news?
Do you really need this information immediately?!
If not, turn them off!
1) Control Your Phone
2) Block Time for Strategic Thinking
Build strategic thinking time blocks into your calendar once a week or every day. Spend the time thinking about a challenge, the future, or your vision, and stay focused!
Step away from the computer, put down the phone, and just use paper! It’s been proven to enhance creativity!
3) Use Paper
4) Use a Meditation App
There are lots of meditation apps out there, but I use Insight Timer.
Whenever I need a stretch of time to work on a specific project, I turn on my favorite track that instantly allows me to focus. It’s a signal to my brain that it’s time to work.
5) Use YouTube Study Music
Similar to Insight Timer, YouTube has a wide variety of instrumental music options. Just search “study music” or “instrumental music for studying” or anything along those lines.
As you listen to Insight Timer or YouTube, you can block out external sounds with your earbuds! Earbuds signal to your brain that it’s your focus time. Sometimes I even put in my earbuds and forget to turn on music!
6) Use Earbuds
7) Use a Subtle Distraction
Listen to a webinar or podcast. I love listening to people who inspire me. I find their voices very soothing. By putting something on in the background, I get subliminal encouragement while working on a task.
Tara Mohr, the author of Playing Big, has some great webinars! I love hearing her voice, and she constantly inspires me. I can still work while listening because her words are not distracting enough to take me away from my tasks.
So try these out for yourself! If you've got other ways to focus your brain, please send me an email at Lisa@everbetteru.com.
References:
Here are some of the highly-recommended platforms you could use to prioritize the critical work that needs your total attention in order to actually deliver high-quality results.
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