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Brain Hack: Read it Right

Why can’t I focus when I read?? Use audiobooks. This approach benefits people who learn through listening, are easily overwhelmed when faced with a page full of text, or need to have movement while focusing. You can use your hands to make artwork, color, paint, or fidget. You can move your entire body on a walk, pacing the house, or just wandering around doing some tidying up. Use the physical copy of the book. Reading on your computer cuts out some methods of learning. A paper book requires you to hold it, you can follow words with your finger, and you have to turn pages as you move along. Divide and conquer! Break the material into smaller, more manageable chunks....

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Brain Hack: Build Endurance

Are you frustrated by your short attention span and the amount of focused work you can accomplish? Just like learning to run a 5k, it takes time to build your distance and speed. You can build the amount of time you can focus and the intensity of your attention.  There are lots of methods to increase your ability to get work done (even the kind you don't like). Want to build your endurance and focus? 1. Create a to-do list of tasks or goals you want to accomplish. Set a timer for 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Be realistic about picking a time that is a stretch for your current skills. Remove the usual distractions, and hit start on the...

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Progress Check: Catch Up

Take a minute to see if there is anything you've missed or need to review from the Skill Building Activities we've introduced so far: Set Yourself Up for Success: Quick Start Get Organized: Stop Relying on Working Memory Get Organized: Help Them Help You Get Organized: Brain Dumping Method Get Organized: See the Future Decompress the Stress: Check-out vs Re-charge Decompress the Stress: Re-charge Practice Body Balance: Fuel Your Brain Brain Hack: How to Start Something New Body Balance: Sleep Inventory Decompress the Stress: Redefine Self-care Brain Hack: Habit Bundling Brain Hack: Motivation Magic Get Organized: Color Coding is Brain Candy Decompress the Stress: Anticipate Anxiety Brain Hack: The Trick to Stopping a 'Bad' Habit  

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Brain Hack: The Trick to Stopping a "Bad" Habit

Human brains are great at doing routines (and habits and patterns), but stopping a bad habit is hard on our minds. If you want to drop a habit (like using your phone in bed), you must interrupt your routine at an earlier point in time. To successfully change that routine, you may need to move your charger away from your bed to a different side of the room. You could power it down, turn it off and set it on your nightstand. You can hand it to someone who will tell you NO when you ask for it. Creating an interruption ensures you won't just go back to the usual pattern. Interrupting your routine is just making one thing different to remind yourself about...

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Decompress the Stress: Anticipate Anxiety

If I asked you what makes you anxious, it probably wouldn't take long to come up with some go to things, and most likely they are things like public speaking, job interviews, and first dates. It's easy to feel the nerves, the stomach flutter, and the flush of your skin even when just thinking about those things. Let's take that intuition a step further and look at your plans for this week.  Zoom In Is there anything on your calendar that is holding a sense of dread, anything you secretly wish you could reschedule? Are there any times when you always feel stressed - running late to pick the kids because your standing Wednesday meeting runs long? Mark those moments on...

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