Giving your brain time to think

Finding the time to focus

Being in an open plan office is distracting - I’ve seen the brain scans to prove it! Your brain simply doesn’t work as well as it could.

Have you ever found it hard to focus?  Or struggled to find the space to give your brain time to think? If so, have you ever thought about sitting with a cardboard box on your head?! Believe it or not, one of my clients swears by this technique! Whenever he needs time to think, he pops a box on his head to help channel his thoughts.

Now I’ll admit, this is a somewhat unorthodox way of helping you re-gain focus but by giving your brain time to think you can release the power of your unconscious mind, making spontaneous connections and thus increasing your productivity.

Create yourself some space

Taking space is something we do automatically in our downtime and sleep, but frequently in the world of work and in our busy lives, we don’t have enough space, so the power of our unconscious is underused. We often feel it is irresponsible or lazy to give ourselves space, but that space is in fact, exceptionally productive.

Space gives your unconscious brain time to think. Instead of constantly pulling information into your conscious brain, you take some space to ensure your brain can properly process and distil matters, enabling you to make new connections between seemingly unrelated thoughts — and allowing a bubble of insight to surface. Without space we’re simply not as smart!

Take some downtime

Taking some time out or downtime is an incredibly powerful aspect of the creative process. That space harnesses your brain’s power to come up with that lightning bolt of inspiration!

Whilst putting a cardboard box on your head may not be your thing, try building space into your daily routine. Get into healthy habits that work well for you whatever you’re doing and wherever you are. As a simple example, you might spend 20 minutes going for a walk after every 90 minutes of concentrated deskwork: this is taking space. Acquire good sleeping habits and good posture. Eat healthily and do regular exercise. Learn stress control and mindfulness practices. Enjoy life and be playful. Hug your partner. Appreciate humour, wit and laughter. Keep your brain active by doing puzzles and stretching your memory. Keep learning.  And even on the busiest days you can always go and make a cup of tea!

Brick walls

Those problems you can’t get around

You know you’ve hit a brick wall when you’ve reached a point at work where you’ve got a problem that you can’t see your way around. You’ve tried over and over again, but no luck. You find yourself hitting your head against a brick wall. We’ve all been in that situation.

The key is to remember “if you stop hitting your head against the brick wall, the pain goes away”.

How to tackle brick walls

Here’s a tip to how I tackle this situation:

1. The first step is recognising you are doing it? Recognise that’s where the pain is.

2. Stop and take a break. Have a cup of tea or a chat with a colleague. Maybe go for a walk.

3. Think about what the problem is and not how to solve it. What’s the real problem? Articulate it so that it is clear in your head, what the problem is that you are trying to solve.

4. Is it the problem, or is it the symptom? Is there a deeper problem underlying the one you have recognised? If you fix that would it make a big difference to the situation?

5. Think about what’s causing the problem to continue being a problem? Define the root of the problem.

6. Try tackling one of the symptoms of the problem to try and and help. You may find yourself in a different place.

Step back and Re-Energise

By redefining the problem you may find another way around it. Once you have taken a step back, relaxed and re-energised you will think more objectively about the problem and be able to come up with new ideas and solutions.

So in summary: Stop, take some time out and get some new stimulus into your brain. You won’t solve the problem by banging your head against a brick wall.

Health & Well Being

Pressured environments

We often find that those working in high pressured jobs tend to work all hours under the sun, constantly firefighting the challenges they are faced with and never feeling like they have the time to really slow down or stop. Sound familiar?

At times like these, although it may feel like you are doing the best you can, the likelihood is you’re burning out, not thinking straight and therefore you can’t apply your skills and knowledge efficiently or effectively.

Give yourself space, take a break

Despite there never seeming to be enough hours in a day, it’s important to take a break – grab some food, go for a walk, chat with a friend - try stopping, even if just for 5 minutes and take a step back. You’ll be surprised by the results!

Overworking makes for an unsustainable work/life balance, where both sides of the balance are affected, and not in a good way. To be truly productive it’s important to make sure you take time out!

The Insight Gift

Get to know your customer

How much do you really know about your customer? If you had to buy them the perfect gift, would you know what to get?

Imagine you’re buying a present for someone you don’t know very well…you might choose some wine or a nice box of chocolates, as you know you can’t really go wrong with these! But, had you have known them better, you could have bought them something a little more personal – maybe some new trainers to help with their upcoming marathon or a new paintbrush that really helps with their usual style of painting. It’s far more meaningful and shows you’ve really thought about them!

So, why not take five minutes out to get to know your customer? Ask them a few open questions like, ‘What do you get up to in your spare time?’ or ‘If you could wave a magic wand, what would you do?’.

Understanding what makes your customer tick

Gaining insight allows you the opportunity to offer the perfect gift. For example, if someone hardly sees their partner because of their job and commitments to their kids, the offer of a trusted babysitter and a weekend away would fill them with joy! By posing this more insightful, thoughtful present, they feel a sense of being treasured and understood. You’ve spent time thinking about them and helped solve a problem.

Offer your customers something meaningful

It’s important to know what makes your customers tick, so that what you can offer them is meaningful and they’ll take you up on it without even thinking.

Think about your business or product as a gift – what do your customers really want? Not something typical that you’d offer to others, but something they’d find really compelling.

They’ll bite your hand off for it, they’ll remember you and they’ll come back for more. That’s the gift of insight.