Most people mentally operate at around 40% of what they are capable of. No wonder. Throughout all our education we are never told how to take care of our mind. Never told how we can do simple things to optimise our mental performance and in turn help us become happier, healthier and more successful.
The first thing to understand with productivity is this, intensity is better than duration. It's better for us to do shorter focussed work than do longer periods of half-hearted work. That is the foundation of why this checklist was developed. So here are your 4 checks to optimising your mental performance.
Check 1. Establish On and Off time. Most people hover on stand by mode, where they are kind of working and kind of not working. This is the first thing you need to establish, when are you on and when are you off. What I mean by that is, when you are on, you are fully focussed on the task at hand and when you are off, you genuinely switch off. One of the key methods to do this is mapping out your work week before the week starts. Seperate your time into work blocks, on average people can only focus on a task for 15-20 minute before their cognitive performance declines. So split your day into 2 hour work blocks and clearly identify shorter breaks within those work blocks, so you align your work with how your brain works best. Try and create the day you want. This might sound silly when you work for an organisation and you have no choice of your work day, but you do have control outside of work. Schedule in the things you love to do, going for a walk, playing a video game, playing tennis. If you look at your diary and there are some things that you will enjoy it will motivate you!
Know when your work day and work week finishes. Obviously there are going to be scenarios where you might have to take an emergency call but in general you want your work time to be seperate from your personal time. That means your weekend or day off, stays your day off. You communicate with your work that you won't be available to answer calls etc, this might feel like a given but this boundary is very important.
Check 2. Nail the Basics. Science exists. We know what the key components are for optimal brain functioning. We've got caught up in hustle culture that we aren't looking at the data. Here are the things you need for optimal brain function; 8 hours minimum sleep, healthy diet, exercise, exposure to sunlight, meditation and minimal social media time. These are the basics that need to be controlled. The time you invest in these will give you greater returns in performance than you can ever imagine.
Check 3. Address your Behavioural Deficits. The way you behave on a day to day basis, is made up of all your past lessons from life. The reason you have limiting beliefs or fear rejection is because of your past. You can't change these behaviours that may be affecting your performance without addressing the underlying issue. You have two options to do this; go back into your past and document all the moments that you feel created your current behaviour or seek guidance from a professional (mental performance specialist or therapist).
Check 4. Keep your Reason at the Top of your Mind. If you have a day where you're tasked with sending 100 emails, that's boring. There's no two ways around it. One of the reasons it feels quite so boring is because there's no emotion behind it. The best way to counteract this, is to remind yourself every morning of why you're working hard. Perhaps you want to buy your mum a car or your dog a new puppy palace. The closer you can keep the emotive reason with the tasks you are doing on a day to day basis.
Understand this, productivity is in general related to work but these practises are going to make your life easier and more defined. The more control you can take of the basic things in life, the more control you will feel over your life.
Comments