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July 30, 2019 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus…

Inspiring places  Brain-stretch time? Top tips on how to focus... IMG 1566
Inspiring Places

How do you build ‘brain-stretch time’ into your life?

I strongly believe in the quest for a lifetime of learning. To me ‘learning’ in a work context means taking in other people’s views on things, in the form of books, podcasts or audio-books. It requires focus for extended periods of time. But I also love the buzz of life, being busy, ticking things off my list, getting things done. I relish the feeling of being productive,  particularly when accomplishments happen with speed and pace. While these are positive attributes that mean I can be hugely efficient, they have their downside when it comes to making time to learn.

I am good at managing my time, so it’s not that I procrastinate with the thinking, planning or writing activities. I Iike the idea of being able to be focus for a long time, but over the years I noticed that I’d always start with good intentions but then feel an ‘itch’ and allow myself to get distracted. I’d block out a morning, sit (or stand) at my desk and start to focus on whatever it was I needed to work on. I’d enjoy about 20 – 30 minutes of focus, then I would open outlook, check my emails and invariably end up in some rabbit hole of exploration on a completely unrelated topic. I’d then get annoyed with myself and find it hard to settle back into the focussed work.

The awareness of this behaviour has been with me for over ten years. However, it’s only during the last two years that I realised it had the potential to become a limiting factor in what I wanted to achieve. I had a plan for a business book. I was motivated, excited and energised about what I had to offer people in that book. I was going to need to focus on writing the book itself and also, once the manuscript was submitted, focus on planning the pre and post launch activity (within which there would be more writing; content to share on social media etc).

So, in the process of writing that book over the last two years, I finally discovered what I needed to create the right conditions to focus. I took 3 five-day retreats to focus on writing. During those retreats I switched off from everything for the majority of the day – blended writing with moving (walking, yoga, swimming, hiking), reading and listening to e-books while I walked (Brené Brown is a favourite).

Once the book was finished, I found myself craving ‘brain-stretch time’ in a way I never have before. So I am now away on my first retreat with the pure focus of reading, listening and writing. Here are my inputs for the week, which will be supplemented by some online webinars (this time from the Association for Coaching).

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It feels like a revolution for me to have discovered what I need to focus.

Here are my top-tips for you to find the secret to making ‘brain-stretch time’ work for you.

1.   How strong is your need for that busy buzz?

Consider this question:

 When you are taking time to do something important, something that requires deeper thinking, does it feel like ‘real’ work?

If your answer is ‘no’ read on…

A number of years ago now I became aware of the concept of urgency addiction (ref Stephen Covey, “The 7 habits of highly effective people”). Covey discusses how urgency addiction means your driving force in prioritising time is to respond to the sense of urgency. Your intention is to be über efficient. Paradoxically, that intention actually stops you being effective; you lose sight of your key strategic goals and get lost in what needs doing right now.

When you accomplish something, endorphins trigger a moment of euphoria. That physiological chemical release in your body is what creates the buzz. It feels great. It’s the reason it is so easy to develop a chemical dependency on the rush. This in turn is why the ‘slower-burn’, focussed work can have a sense of not feeling ‘real’ . There’s no immediate endorphin release as the accomplishment can take longer. If you notice yourself feeling ‘twitchy’ when you try to concentrate, the chances are you have some level of urgency addiction.

Top tips:

  • Pay attention to how you relate to work and your priorities to help you identify if you have some level of urgency addiction.
  • With your awareness, you can then challenge your need for the immediate buzz.
  • To help you focus on the one thing for longer – allow yourself breaks BUT make those breaks proper breaks NOT dipping into tasks you can ‘knock off the list’… as those are feeding your urgency addiction.
  • Use short breaks to make a cup of tea, go for walk around the office or outside, or just get up to stretch and move.
  • As you wean yourself away from the need for that buzz you’ll notice you can focus for longer periods of time.

2.   Know what conditions help you focus

What do you need to help you step into your most focussed, creative, thinking mode? This is likely to be different for different types of activity. When you are struggling to get into a slow-burn task think about the following.

Top tips: make choices on the following

Environment: Some people need quiet to focus, some need background noise but no other people around, others need to feel the energy of people. I find it productive to work on deep focus activities in a café (that’s where I’m writing this – I get energy from the buzz of chatter around me). If I’m wanting to read, or listen to an audio book, I focus best if I’m in nature… walking or sitting. For this time I don’t want other people around me.

Energy levels: do you feel more creative sitting or standing, or walking and pacing? If you need to walk and pace do just that!

Talking: Do you need to speak things out loud to remember them? When I’m planning workshops I find it helpful to talk out loud the structure I have in my mind then capture it on a flip chart. In speaking it I can feel where things work or not. I don’t do that in a café – obviously!

Capture medium: thinking straight into a keyboard won’t allow you to use your brain’s full capacity for creative thinking. If it needs to be digital, a tablet that you can freeform write and draw onto may work. Alternatively use whiteboards/ flip charts or old fashioned paper! I like to use an A3 pad to start broad thinking around subjects I need to structure and plan.

Harnessing neuroscience: Research shows that using colour and pen on paper supports our creative thinking processes. So gather some different pens, paper and pencils to help you. Who doesn’t love an excuse to get more stationery!

Minimise distractions: For example; shut down outlook (or at least silence any alerts that will pop up and interrupt you) and put your phone on ‘do not disturb’. If people are used to you responding immediately to things put an out of office message on saying you are focussing on some planning work and provide an alternative contact if necessary. I

I hope you have found this article useful. I’d love to hear any additional ideas that you have to help you create the time you need for brain-stretch, and to hear which of the ideas above work for you.

Janine Woodcock

Leadership, Executive and Team coach, Author, Speaker, NED

JanineWoodcock

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: focus, Leadership, Learning, motivation, Nourish, success, thinking

June 20, 2018 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day

Wildfitness, an inspired retreat

working from home Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day 9e345986 4b6c 4111 9f48 dec37bc600cfI have just returned from my second retreat with a superb company called Wildfitness. Their philosophy is to live, eat and move in ways that our ancestors would have done. I’m feeling so invigorated after the Wildfitness experience, that I’m inspired to share with you some of the ideas I have used over the last few years which help to keep me fit and healthy for work, at work.

Working from home and keeping fit

Today’s blog post is aimed at all of you who work from home. Incorporating exercise into your working day doesn’t have to be difficult. But it is essential. I am passionate about health and fitness and, other than the five year ‘blip’ outlined below, have always prioritised building movement into my day.

My ‘blip’ in prioritising exercise in my day was from 2000 – 2005. Back then, I had a driving commute of 1hr 15 mins each way and had clients in London. I was driving over 35,000 miles a year and working long hours. In those five years I gained 12kg and developed terrible back and neck problems. In 2005 I changed jobs to work locally. I swapped the miles in the car for a 40-minute walking commute (uphill on the way home). I lost all the weight I’d gained and recovered my health and fitness.

When I set up my own business three years ago, I no longer had my 40-minute walk to and from work each day. I also cancelled my gym membership as it had been on my old route home.  Given my past experience, I knew it would be vital for me to find ways to build movement and exercise into my new routine.

Here’s what’s worked for me over the years. I hope it gives you some ideas…

 A routine to start your day on the right foot

We’ve all met people at some point who have ‘gotten out of the wrong side of the bed’. No one wants to be that person and a good way to set yourself up to start your day on the right foot is by laying a yoga mat on your bedroom floor before going to bed. This way you can do some sun salutation or simple stretches first thing in the morning to get your body moving after laying flat, in bed, all night.

After my morning routine, I get ready and leave the house to go to work, just as I have done for years. No, I don’t show up at my old place of work, I take myself for a 30 – 60 minute round trip walk and arrive back at my house ready to start work. The time that I allow for this does vary depending on the day I have planned, but instead of walking the same route each morning, as I would have when I was actually walking to a workplace, I now vary it as often as possible.  I not only vary the route, but also the pace and any other things I build into the walk (e.g. alternating jogging and walking, some press ups or tricep dips on a bench). This keeps the experience, sights and interactions different and therefore stimulating. I also set out with the intention of being as mindful as possible during that walk so that I am present with my surroundings, and really noticing and appreciating them, rather than thinking ahead to the workload that awaits me when I get home.

Awareness and time management

In addition to being mindful when I go for my walk, it’s very important to be aware of how you’re spending your time while working from home. This is important not just for the sake of productivity but also for your health. It’s very easy to spend three or four hours at your desk without moving. You get absorbed in your work and suddenly a considerable chunk of time has elapsed, and you haven’t moved out of your chair at all. You may heard Tim Cook of Apple coin the phrase ‘sitting is the new cancer’. The dangers of being sedentary are now well reported. So how do we build our awareness of how long we are sitting? A good way to help keep us aware is to set an alarm for intervals that remind us to get up and stretch our bodies.

The Pomodoro Technique, a time management technique, suggests that you take a short break every twenty-five minutes. While this may seem too frequent, research suggests that our optimal concentration span is about twenty minutes, after which the quality of our attention and therefore our work, decreases. It has been suggested that the length of our concentration span is our age, where each year equates to one minute, plus two minutes extra. This holds up to the age of 18 after which it remains constant at 20 minutes. I, personally, feel that I have a longer concentration span when I’m really engrossed in, and enjoying, working on something. However, long periods of inactivity will have a negative effect on quality of thinking and output. For this reason, I began setting a timer for hourly intervals to remind me to move about throughout the day.

I used to work with an alarm to remind me to get up from the desk, however, I now have a fitness tracker, a Bellabeat. This tracker is geared towards women, but there is a whole range of fitness trackers available. The one that I chose, like many others, allows you to set the tracker to vibrate when you have been inactive for a certain amount of time. I find it great, because I don’t need to remember to set the alarm, it just picks up on my movements, or lack of, and gives me a nudge when I need it.

Making the right Choices

Choices play a huge part in how we nourish ourselves and sustain our success. Once you are aware of what you are doing, you can then make decisions about how to respond. Now that I have my fitness tracker reminding me of my activity levels, I am empowered to make the right choices for myself about how to improve my own activity levels on a daily basis.

 Stand Up

As I am conscious of the need to move my body throughout the day, I decided to get a sit/stand desk. This simple sit/stand solution sits on top of my existing desk and can be raised up so that I can work in a standing position and then brought back down again to continue while sitting. I have been using this desk for the last year and it has been incredible! I would say I stand 80% of the time now, which is a huge improvement in the space of a year. In deciding to make the change, I researched all the options on the market and found one that was ideal for me. The Yo-Yo Desk has a smooth lift/drop action, so your glass of water doesn’t spill as you adjust it. I would highly recommend it, although it is not cheap. Whatever model you choose, a sit/stand desk is a worthwhile investment in your wellbeing.

Get the Blood Pumping

In addition to standing while I work, I also build some cardio exercise into my working day. Cardiovascular exercise is important for your health, it gets your heart rate going and is a good way to maintain fitness levels. As well as the walk to work, build in other short bursts of activity. You can go for a short run or speed walk around the block, get a skipping rope and do a few minutes skipping in your garden or back yard. It is more important that this cardio exercise is easy to fit into your day and can, therefore, be maintained over time, it’s not about the achievement of the exercise itself. It’s about building exercise into your day to help you be more productive in your work.

I take about three short cardio-breaks if I’m working at home all day. Each takes about 10 minutes and I then come home and get straight back into work. Now, that does mean that I spend most of the day sitting at my desk in lycra so that I am ready to go out. If you don’t have client meetings, then getting into your lycra first thing in the morning is a good way to eliminate those excuses you may create to avoid taking your cardio exercise!

Get creative, work with What You’ve Got

Doing something is better than doing nothing. If it’s really miserable outside, and you just don’t feel like going out you can still move indoors. Star jumps, running on the spot and other HIIT inspired exercises (have a look at TheBodyCoach for some ideas) can all be done at home. But they can feel a bit ‘serious’ and for me, movement needs to be fun and enjoyable. Here’s a little secret, I often run up and down the stairs five or six times waving my arms around like crazy. Why? Well, the arm movement is great, it gets your heart-rate up and releases any tension that may have built up in your shoulders and back, but it also makes me laugh. A lot. Exercise doesn’t have to be serious and boring, the more you enjoy yourself, the more you will be motivated to want to do it. If you are struggling to get motivated. Then take a look at my top four tried and tested tips for getting motivated. Remember, no-one will see you in the privacy of your own home, so you can let go. And if you do start to laugh when you do this, it’s even better! It makes you feel good which releases endorphins and gets you pumped to get back into your work when you’re finished.

Try New Things

My twworking from home Working from home? Here’s how to build exercise into your day Picture1o outdoor retreats with Wildfitness this year gave me new insights about how I’m using my body. I do a lot of yoga and pilates as a way to keep fit and relax. There are quite a lot of pushing movements involved in both of those activities (downward dog, press-ups etc). However, during the retreats I realised that I don’t do any activities which involve the opposite action; pulling or hanging. To address this imbalance, I bought a pull-up bar which I have installed in the doorway of my home office. Although it will take time before I can do even one full pull-up, I plan to use it every time I pass through the doorway. I’ll swing into my work, like a monkey, enjoying the sense of fun and freedom it gives – and over time my upper body strength will develop in pulling, as well as pushing. I’m excited to try this new activity out and see what difference it makes over time.

Of course, you have to be aware of how you’re using your body before you realise where the imbalances lie, so spend some time observing the movements andactions you do on a regular basis. If there is an imbalance why not come up with a new, fun way to rectify it.

Have Fun with It

Working from home gives you lots of freedom to work in a way that suits you. You may be able to choose your hours or take breaks at different times, pop out to pick up the kids, and many other things that those who work in a more formal office environment cannot do. Why not use this freedom to your best advantage?

Inject some exercise and activity into your daily routine to keep you happy, healthy and full of energy. It doesn’t need to be dull, choose short activities that make you laugh, that you enjoy, or that get you out where you can see something different so that you come back to your work with a fresh perspective.

Have you got any tips for incorporating exercise into your work day? I’d love to hear them and we all learn from each other’s experience, so please leave a comment below and share your tips.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Goal focus, motivation, success

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Your time is precious. So make sure you’re not just working IN your business. Devote time to working ON your business. What needs to happen to unlock the potential needed to take the next step? I will help you focus, and challenge assumptions that are holding you back. I’ll support you in uniting individuals and teams towards bold business goals.

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