Water aven aka Grandmother's bonnet.
These 7 tips can
help you back off and be even more productive.
Bruna Martinuzzi
If your brain is always working overtime to make it
through your never-ending to-do list,
it may be time to give it a rest.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed just thinking about all you
have to do?
Do you find yourself snapping at others who seem to be
too laid back?
Have you given up too many things that you used to enjoy
because you're too focused on work?
You may be a victim of mental fatigue.
Mental fatigue is the result of brain over-activity. It
can happen when you expend
too much mental effort on a project or task. You may
pride yourself on your laser-focusing ability, spending long hours on a task,
day in and day out.
But every strength, taken to the extreme, becomes a
liability.
Your overdrive eventually catches up with you, and you
deplete your mental gas tank.
The result is mental fatigue.
Research shows that mental fatigue results in an
inability to concentrate
and an increase in simple mistakes.
Unchecked, mental fatigue leads to feeling stressed,
irritated that you can't keep up
and even depressed. What's more, being in a state of
mental fatigue not only affects
your well-being, it also spills over into your
interactions with family and others you associate with.
It's draining for them to be around someone who is
continuously mentally exhausted.
If you think you may be mentally fatigued, here are seven
tips to help you prevent and combat it.
1. Stop Low-Yield
Activities
Be ruthless about how you spend your time. Instead of
mindlessly moving from one task to the next, focus on activities that grow your
business. Stop burning away hours reading Facebook updates
or answering useless emails. Instead, keep those
activities for a scheduled, timed break,
then move away to something more worthwhile. Don't meet
with acquaintances who want to get together for coffee—these are often people
who have time to waste and want to waste it with you.
Use the time you've saved to learn new things, and pursue
activities that increase your well-being and the quality of your life. Focus on
strengthening your bonds with family, friends and associates. Do what fuels
your mind and fills your heart. If you rescue wasted time consistently
over the course of a year, you'll be richer for it and
will feel more energized.
2. Use the Timebox
Technique
Timebox is a term that originated in the software
development industry.
It's defined as a period of time during which a task must
be accomplished.
Entrepreneurs like Steve Pavlina use
timeboxing as a way to manage work projects.
Because timeboxing forces you to limit the time you allot
to certain tasks that run the risk
of taking far more time than they're worth, it
counteracts any perfectionist approaches
to the wrong tasks and ensures that you do the best job
you can within a set time frame.
3. Try Focus@Will
Focus@Will is
a music service that's based on the latest research in neuroscience.
The selected music helps you focus, reduce distractions
and retain information.
As the company behind this intersection of art and
science explains,
most people can only concentrate for about 100 continuous
minutes:
"The focus@will system makes it easier for you to
get into the concentration flow,
and then keeps you there. It works in the background by
subtly soothing the part of your brain,
the limbic system, that's always on the lookout for
danger, food, sex or shiny things."
By staying focused, you can get more done in a shorter
amount of time,
so you can free up more time and reduce your chances of
mental fatigue.
Entrepreneur Sean Ogle described the
program as "magic."
You can try it out for free for 30 days and see what
happens.
4. Be Kind to Your
Eyes
Staring at a computer for long hours while you work
causes eye fatigue, which can tire you out
and negatively affect your ability to focus. Fortunately,
there are many things you can do
to avoid this. For example, every once in a while, look
away from your computer screen
and focus on distant objects or take a minute to stare
out the window.
Also, lower the brightness of your monitor—research shows
that when you lower the brightness,
the reduction in your ability to focus drops by half and
you feel less fatigued.
Check out "How to Combat Eye Fatigue Right Now" for other
ideas.
If you have employees, also consider the computer workstations advice
published by the Occupational Health and Safety
Administration.
5. Don Your Sneakers
Research reported in Science Daily reveals
that a bout of exercise
makes the brain more resistant to fatigue. According to
the study, "These findings could lead
to the enhancement of athletic performance through
reduced mental and physical fatigue."
What works for athletes can also work for you.
6. Learn to Do
Nothing Once in a While
We're a nation of doers—continuously on the go, rushing
from meeting to meeting,
project to project. Even when we're on vacation, a large
number among us spends more time
surfing the Internet rather than surfing the waves.
John Lennon once said, "Everybody seems to think I'm
lazy. I don't mind, I think they're crazy. Running everywhere at such a speed,
till they find there's no need.”
Planning for a little idleness in your week is a smart
move if you're trying to refresh your spirit—
it's a powerful antidote to mental fatigue.
7. Reduce Your
Sleep Debt
Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep
you should be getting
and the amount you actually get.
It's not uncommon for professionals to miss several hours
of sleep for a few days in a row.
This is a sure-fire way to invite mental fatigue.
Research shows, on average, Americans lose one hour of
sleep each night—more than
two full weeks of slumber every year. This has a negative
impact on our health.
As the research shows, you can't train yourself to be a
"short sleeper."
What's more, a study found that the more tired you get,
the less tired you feel,
which makes you think you're not shorting yourself.
It's time to earn back your lost sleep: Make it a
practice to go to bed when you're tired
and give your body the rest it needs so you can stop
mental fatigue in its tracks.
"The energy of the mind is the essence of
life," Aristotle said. Energy is everything. Mental fatigue saps us of our
most precious life energy. These seven strategies will help you guard against
this.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/7-secrets-preventing-mental-fatigue/
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