Do this simple thing to make your brain work better

For all the hours we’re intensely focusing, working, pushing for deadlines and trying to be productive, there are times when we need something … softer. 

How about this : do you like the idea of ‘soft fascination’?

It sounds a little dreamy, a little curious, and as it turns out, highly recharging and refreshing. 

Overworking our attention wears it out. There isn’t a never ending supply. We have to recharge. Frequently. 

Some of the research suggests that we have about 4 hours of sustained effort in us before we need a recharge. 

So when you do recharge, try some ‘soft fascination’. It’s where we let our eyes relax, drift and go here and there. 

It’s different to sustained focus. And different to white wall boredom. 

Nature is the best place for us to enjoy in this activity of soft fascination. 

You don’t even have to go into nature for it to work. Looking out the window at nature will do. 

I love getting into nature whenever I can for this exact purpose. Walks. Beaches. Sunsets. Trees. Flowers. Weather. 

It’s all a vital part of helping make our brains work better.

Read more about it in this article in Inc. Magazine by Jessica Stillman.

What to do when you dread the week ahead

Mondayitis is when it hits but many of us feel the dread of the working week before that, while we’re still in the weekend!

An article labels the ‘Sunday Scaries’ that feeling when you’re already overwhelmed by what’s ahead and you haven’t even started the working week yet!

Do you dread? 

I’ve had job roles, commitments, projects and colleagues that absolutely made me feel dread-full about Mondays … and I’d feel the dread approaching on Sundays. 

More recently, I’ve aimed to set up Mondays as a day of ease. I try to protect the day with some breaks, space, a gradual start to the week, not a slap in the face with the hardest task, toughest meeting or most annoying people. 

I think that ‘start with the hardest task first’ advice is dated productivity BS that sets off overwhelm in a second!

This article suggests 5 things we can do on Sundays to make them less scary. 

If it’s not work time yet, outsmarting the overwhelm of dread makes the weekend more enjoyable and doesn’t make us work hard ahead of time. 

Read the article here 

Searching, switching and cycling

It seems we’ve got a time-sucking app problem as we search, switch and cycle through apps looking for the information we need. 

And we lose up to an hour a day doing it!

Remote tools are given the blame here, as we have been forced into ‘uncontrolled adoption’ of apps to help us work better together across online platforms. 

Read more in this article in TechRepublic by Owen Hughes.  

It’s the switching that’s the main problem. From here ... to there.. looking, can’t find it, back there, looking again, interrupted, read something else, start again, ‘now where was I up to?’

And hybrid working environments are exaggerating the issue further. 

What is the impact of this loss of attention? 
Reduced productivity and efficiency. 
Less creativity. 
Poorer problem solving. 
Increased stress. Argh!

What about you? Do you switch, search and cycle through, clicking here and there trying to remember what you’re looking for and where you last looked at it? 

I know I do. 

Calm, focused attention can be difficult to find when you’re on a time pressure deadline and aren’t sure where the information is that you’re searching for. 

It’s another reason why we need to be better at managing our attention, maintaining focus and dealing with information overload. 

These are all topics I cover in my latest book ‘Argh! Too much information, not enough brain: A practical guide to outsmarting overwhelm.’

Have you got a copy yet? Even if you’re too busy to read it right now, (I get it, I do) put it onto your list to make progress towards reading it over the next 90 days. 

Weapons in the battle of distraction

Imagine wearing a huge motorcycle helmet that blocks the ‘out there’ and let’s you focus on the ‘in here’. 

It has a screen, noise cancelling everything and lets you get on with it, minus distractions. 

This seemingly crazy idea from 2017 was earlier considered by SciFi Pioneer Hugo Gernsback in the 1920s.

‘The Isolator’ as it was called earlier, was designed to block out the distractions that are all too familiar to us. 

But distraction isn’t new and even medieval monks complained that they were distracted and ‘rendered unproductive’. 

Expecting to be able to work or focus undistracted for hours on end is too high a standard to reach for. 

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, there is always distraction available. 

Our own minds (thinking) and our own interruptions (oh look, kitty wants to play) are contributors to what frustrates our expectation for endless focus. 

The most successful modern anti-distraction tool is ‘the timebox’ or Pomodoro. Set a timer and focus until it goes off. 

25, 30, 45, 50 minutes

Try it. I’ll wait here for you.

❓What tools or techniques do you use? 

The struggle of decision making

In the times of uncertainty we’ve been experiencing, it can feel too hard or overwhelming to make decisions. 

There are so many options, scenarios and what ifs that are possible

Try this 1-2-3 mantra I use with mentoring clients:


1. Find the path
A path helps give us more certainty of where we’re heading - even if we don’t know all the details or what’s ahead yet. It’s a direction marker. 

It may be a new path for you, or a path another has taken. 


2. Make a decision. 
What are you going to do? 

Our attention, energy and motivation is stolen by unmade decisions. To reduce overwhelm and pressure and move out of inertia, we can make decisions now we have a path. 

There’s less to fear about this because many decisions can be adjusted later (or reversed) if they’re not right for you. 

But make a decision. Making no decision on a path when a decision is needed saps our time, energy and attention. 


3. Take action. 
We can’t think our way through decisions. Action is the best way to work out if what you’ve decided and where you’re going is a good fit. 


You can step out along a safer, less uncertain path:

1. Find the path. 
2. Make decisions. 
3. Take action.