Many people are walking around in a fog these days. They have trouble remembering details of what was said in a meeting, they can’t concentrate for very long, and they even struggle to communicate their ideas clearly in an email or report. If this sounds familiar you probably have some experience with mental fog.
The short version of mental fog is the inability to focus
and
if you can't focus every task takes longer than it should.
Imagine if you could focus on a single task from start to finish like a mental spotlight cutting through the fog. You can do just that if you follow a simple 4 step plan.
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Here's the 4 step plan for Fighting Through the Fog:
- Organize – This means organizing your work space, your backlog of tasks, and your calendar. Sounds difficult doesn’t it? Nope, it is super easy! Clean off your desk and desktop by getting rid of clutter and distractions. No more facebook or other fog inducing apps running behind your main screen. Then make a single list of all your work tasks and rank them from most important to least. Finally block off one to two hour time slots on your calendar to focus on the most important tasks you will have every week.
- Turn off notifications – No checking email, texts, messages, social media, etc. during these focus blocks. This is key to achieving that laser like focus on the task at hand. Multi-tasking is a myth anyway as you only have one brain and it takes many minutes to switch from thinking about dinner plans back to the vendor agreement you’re supposed to be reviewing.
- Create rather than consume – Your mind craves new and interesting content, but instead of satisfying that with Netflix try writing a blog or starting a podcast. These can be especially powerful tools if your topics align somewhat with those of your work or field. This satisfies your brain’s craving for content while also furthering your knowledge and reputation.
- Be more active – Take walks during your breaks, take up tennis or yoga, whatever you do become more active. An active mind paired with an active body is a force of nature. Your mood and energy levels are directly influenced by your physical activity level so to increase mental energy you’ll need to increase your physical activity.
If you follow the four step plan above you will beat the fog! If you choose to let the fog win, you are settling for less than your best.
I’m hoping you will take the steps to fight through the fog and come out on the other side better, more prepared, and mentally tougher.
1 thought on “Fighting Through the Fog”
I need to work on ignoring the notifications. I can jot down the request and add to a to do list