Do you have some days when you’re focused and productive for hours, and other days when you wake up with brain fog and feel exhausted by 3PM?
Your ability to focus comes down to mental energy — how much you have, where you get it, and how you use it.
Mental energy may seem abstract, but it’s rooted in biology: your brain’s ability to keep running ties directly to how much ATP your mitochondria produce.
ATP is the molecule that your cells use for fuel; if you train your brain cells to make more ATP, and give them the right raw materials to build it, your brain will literally produce more energy, and you’ll feel a profound difference in your productivity and mental clarity.
If you want to learn how to focus, follow these 3 brain hacks for maximum mental energy, improved focus, and higher productivity.
• Design your schedule to match your internal clock
You probably have a part of the day when you’re unusually productive. For some people it’s early in the morning; for others it’s late at night.
Everyone’s body has a different natural rhythm to it. Structure your day so you work during your most energetic times, and rest during the times when you’re less productive. If you usually feel focused between 6AM and 10AM and you want to relax during the afternoon, plan to do all your most challenging and thinking-intensive work first thing in the morning.
Ready to work at 2 AM, but not a morning person? Get your big projects done late at night and sleep in.
Studies show that if you follow your biology instead of fighting against it you will be much more efficient with your energy.
• Minimise decision fatigue to become more productive
Create as many routines as possible to remove decisions from your day.
Wake up, make your bed, have coffee, brush your teeth, meditate, check email, start work — follow the same routine day after day until it becomes automatic.
Setting out clothes and planning your meals, snacks, workouts, etc., in advance will also help. Not having to think about your schedule frees up a lot of mental energy to focus on the important stuff.
And if you have any big or complicated projects to do, or any important choices to make, always tackle them first, when you’re fresh and have plenty of mental resources to dedicate to them. Save smaller tasks like replying to emails for the end of the day, when you don’t have to do any mental heavy lifting.
• Keep learning to keep your mental muscles strong
Your brain’s energy requirements are so high that your brain cells live and die by the use-it-or-lose-it principle, literally. Whatever functions you’re not using quickly weaken.
Brains love to learn - What’s happening under the hood is your brain cells are firing, and they’re constantly forming stronger and weaker connections that help them work together in exactly the right networks for exactly the right output. And what do we mean by output? That could mean completing a project. That could mean perfecting a new recipe or an overhead basketball shot, or it could mean learning a language. It’s all about your brain optimising itself to get the job done.
To keep your brain strong, find something you’re interested in — a skill, a language, an instrument, an art medium — and spend some time every day practicing and improving.
𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 a complimentary 45 minute 𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗢𝗠 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 with me to find out how to have a more efficient and effective focus mindset.
♥️
Ｃａｔｈｅｒｉｎｅ
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & COACH
Catherine is a heart-centred wellness therapist, transformational coach, intuitive counsellor and mindfulness facilitator who specialises in helping you create calm confidence, nourish your self esteem and self-love, build healthy boundaries, ditch perfectionism and people-pleasing, and get out of your own way to achieve the life you deserve.
She offers her wise words, actions, and guidance to help people connect positively with their body, mind, and soul.
Her sessions provide you with real-life the support and the readily accessible mindset tools you need to achieve this.
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