How wonderful would it be to always have the get up and go needed to get things done, and not to have to wait for the right moment to strike.
Improved clarity and focus is the difference between easily achieving what you want during the day, and either battling through trying to force yourself to get things done, or finding your to-do list growing ever longer by the day.
So here are my top tips for improving your mental power.
The first, obvious and expected, tip is to improve your diet. Cut the junk, don’t over or under eat, and you’ll see an almost immediate improvement in your focus. Go a stage further at watch your carbohydrate intake at breakfast and dinner to avoid energy crashes mid afternoon. Have you heard the gut being referred to as the second brain? Keep your gut happy and you will find your brain works better.
The next tip is to drink enough water. Our brains are about 3/4 water – if you’re dehydrated, it shouldn’t be a surprise that you can’t think clearly. Don’t rely completely on thirst signals to tell you if you need a drink; be sure to have a glass of water with each meal, and more if you feel thirsty. If all you’re drinking is tea or coffee, make a change.
Use caffeine strategically. Rather than enjoying a cup of coffee ‘just because’ why not spend 20 minutes having a cuppa, then get on with your task when the caffeine strikes. If caffeine doesn’t give you a hit any more, you need a week off! It only take 5-7 days for the receptors in your brain to be re-sensitised. I find one week caffeine free after four weeks of caffeine the right balance – I get the benefit of the caffeine for the four weeks, then no particular symptoms of cutting it out in the fifth week.
Take a break! There’s something about not being able to focus which makes us think we need to try harder. If we get out of breath while running, it doesn’t make us want to run harder! Sometimes we just need a break – get some active rest by going for a walk or similar, and some inactive rest by meditating or reading a book. Needing a break is not a sign of weakness, its a very underestimated way to keep your body healthy.
Get some exercise. Any exercise will help, but learning something which needs more than two minutes attention to get right gives your brain a different focus for a while and allows you to return to your usual tasks with a fresh focus.
Get outside in the morning. Boost your serotonin and signal to your body that its time to wake up. This isn’t going to be an immediate problem-solver, but none the less, it is well worth taking the time to implement for the long term benefits.
Make sure you’re getting enough good quality sleep. Our brains are ‘cleaned’ while we sleep, if we don’t get enough sleep (or if the sleep we do have is poor quality), then our focus and mental power suffers. If you’re staying up late because you’ve been struggling to achieve things during the day, try breaking the cycle. Get an early night or two and watch how things improve in the morning.