Are your daily habits helping you, or actually holding you back?
The latest in neuroscience is actually showing us that an overwhelmed, overused and overtired brain is not an effective or efficient brain.
The problem with this is that a lot of the habits that we have as business owners are the very habits that are actually minimising our brain’s ability to work at its best.
I’m talking about things like:
- multi-tasking
- setting massive to-do lists
- struggling to stay focused
- being distracted all the time by all the things around you
So if you are doing these things everyday, then you are actually wiring in habits that are stopping your brain from working at its best.
I share a lot of strategies around this in my 6-week online Brain and Business Transformation program, but today I really wanted to share with you one simple strategy you can start implementing to work smarter and not harder and get more done.
Setting Smarter To-Do Lists
The first thing is we need to create a sense of spaciousness in our brains. Spaciousness is one thing lacking in most people’s brains today, but particularly in business owners’ brains. Our brains are always so full!
As business owners, we have so much to be across and so much to get done that our to-do lists are often massive! This is one habit that’s definitely stopping us from achieving more in our business.
When we set massive to-do lists our brain gets overwhelmed and an overwhelmed brain is not a smart or efficient brain.
The part of our brain, our prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making, critical thinking and planning, actually stops working effectively when it’s overwhelmed.
So how can we actually start creating really smart to-do lists that work with our brains and not against them?
Studies have shown that our brain does best when it has less to focus on.
This strategy is super simple:
By picking just three core tasks that we want to focus on in our day, we give our brain permission and space to focus and work optimally.
Imagine…sitting at your desk to start the day and seeing three core tasks clearly written out that you need to do in the day. You feel capable, confident and in control. It’s a far different experience to looking at a massive to-do list that stretches right down an A4 piece of paper. Stressful!
I used to set massive to-do lists.
But, I’d get to the end of the day and feel really unproductive when I looked at what I still had to do. I also felt exhausted because I tried to do it all.
When I started setting just three core tasks for the day, I noticed I got through so much more work, was less tired and ended the day feeling great because I had achieved my goals.
Massive to-do lists hold us back in our business; they overwhelm our brains, they raise our stress levels, they lower our motivation and they reduce our level of productivity.
The key to working more productively in your business is about choosing to do less.
When we try to do less, we actually achieve far more.
Your Challenge
- Your challenge today is to use this healthy brain habit. Look at your to-do list and pick your three core tasks that you will get done today.
- Share with me in the comments how you go. I would love to hear from you.
If you would love to learn more about your brain and how you can work smarter and not harder, then click here to learn more about my online course which is kicking off in May 2017. You can also pop over and say hi on Facebook.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I will see you in the next video with more tips and tricks to help you to work smarter, not harder, through the latest in neuroscience.