If you are in charge of a business, you will always have a challenge: how to make better use of your time and become a more productive entrepreneur. With the start of a new year, you are surely determined to have more discipline and adopt new habits that will help you achieve your new business and life goals. What is the first thing you need to do? Strengthen your mind.
To achieve this, you have to exercise your brain daily through new activities and challenges. And it is that the repetitive and routine tasks, inevitable in the management of a business, can numb us and move us away from new ideas. Let’s see how to regain mental clarity through these seven simple exercises. Ready?
1. Take up a new hobby
Playing a musical instrument, molding ceramic pieces or cooking are mechanical tasks that will help you focus and devote all your attention to the present moment. Exercise new areas of your brain, which may be repeating negative and catastrophic thoughts all the time. Such a challenge can help you change your routine, meet new people and reduce your stress level.
2. Read books that change your perspective
Books are one of the most effective tools to exercise the mind and become a more disciplined person. If you don’t have that built-in habit, you can start by turning off the television at a certain time (for example, at nine o’clock at night) and reading for 20 minutes. Commit to doing it for seven days and you will see how it becomes easier and easier for you to do it.
First, choose topics that you find entertaining or interesting, such as novels or autobiographies. Later, look for others that challenge your opinions or perspectives, such as politics, sociology, or business development.
3. Feed your brain better
A more nutrient-dense and balanced diet will not only have a positive impact on your weight, your muscle mass, or the functioning of your heart, but it will also feed your brain, which consumes 20% of the calories our body needs daily. So, past the holidays, reduce or eliminate your consumption of alcohol, sugar, and carbohydrates.
Eat more fruits, vegetables, and healthy proteins, such as lean meat. It is also recommended that you have a general check-up and, after consulting with a nutritionist, take supplements such as ginkgo biloba, which help improve memory and concentration.
4. Exercise
Practicing yoga, pilates, running, or just walking can improve any aspect of your physical, emotional, and mental state. Because? Because during any of these practices, the body secretes endorphins, proteins capable of connecting with the central nervous system to generate feelings of well-being, joy, and happiness; which, in addition, are capable of eliminating stress and alleviating pain in patients with chronic conditions.
5. Sleep more and better
Have you ever felt sick, and after a restful sleep of more than eight hours you woke up refreshed? That is the effect that good sleep can have on our bodies. In the case of the brain, lack of sleep can be extremely harmful, since it affects the ability to concentrate, focus, and memory. Not to mention irritability, depression, and other worrisome mood signs.
If you are facing insomnia problems or if you wake up for no reason at dawn, start by going to bed at the same time every day, disconnecting from your cell phone and other electronic devices for 30 minutes beforehand. More routines that can help you prepare your nervous system for rest are taking a hot bath, meditating, reading, or listening to relaxing music in the background.
6. Challenge your less productive schedules
If you’re one of those people who loves to wake up early and feel more energized in the morning, try doing a challenging task in the afternoon or evening, or vice versa. For example, you can write an article for your blog or do memory exercises. By asking your brain to work more vigorously at times it’s not used to, you dramatically improve its performance, and it will surprise you with the new ideas, solutions, and insights that pop into your head when you try to solve a problem.
7. Practice memory games or memories for adults
Finally, incorporate the routine of playing every day with an application that exercises memory, such as Clockwork or Lumosity. Not only will you reactivate your brain, but you will also distract yourself from daily worries, focus on the now, and have fun.
