What’s the best way to keep your mind sharp?

I have good news for you — there isn’t just one.

There are so many strategies that can increase concentration, focus, and have a positive effect on your bra

 

n’s ability to function. The secret is finding what works best for you personally, and then putting that technique in to practice until it becomes a habit that you use naturally.

The following are three brain training strategies that have made the greatest change on my level of concentration and focus. I’ll break down each strategy in three segments to show you how it keeps your brain performing its best, why think it’s useful, and how you can practice it every day. I think you will find these techniques very helpful.

Technique #1. Ask yourself a question every morning when you wake: “What is the ONE THING I am going to accomplish today?”

How does it keep your brain performing?

It helps you start each day with a goal to focus on and increases focus on that goal.

Why is it important?

This single action is the biggest positive change for me I look forward to waking up each morning, just because I know that I am going to practice this and the effect it has on my focus. The simplicity of the question makes my life feel less chaotic, it helps my brain concentrate more, it makes me prioritize what’s important, and it forces me to choose what the most important thing is to accomplish that day.

How can you practice it?

  • Write the question in large letters on a sheet of paper and place it somewhere you will see it within the first five minutes of waking up. The important part is that it’s easy to see, and a part of your regular morning routine.
  • Read it out loud to yourself and find your answer right then and there. The important part is to get your eyes on it every day until it becomes a natural part of your morning, and you start to do it without thinking about it at all.
  • Keep your answer in the front of your mind as you go about your tasks and work projects for the day, so that you never have the chance to be distracted by other, less important things. Doing this will help you remember what your greatest priority is.

Technique #2. Do your “deep work” first thing in the morning.

How does it keep your brain performing?

Since your stamina decreases throughout the day, this allows you to take advantage of the mental strength you have in the first part of the day.

Why is it important?

Deep work—any type of heavy concentration and critical thinking, such as writing, analyzing and problem solving—needs a different type of thinking than the automatic, habitual things we do every day. I’ve noticed that when I started doing my deep, analytical thinking in the first part of the day, I don’t lose the momentum like I do in the evening. Additionally, it opens up the rest of my day for socializing, resting, and working on other meaningful projects.

How can you practice it?

  • Set aside a few hours in the morning for deep work. Research shows that this is the brain’s peak performance time. For example, if you wake up at 6AM, your peak times are between 8 and 10AM. If you really want to extend your peak performance hours, you can use the entire morning until lunchtime, around midday, for deep work.
  • For one week, keep a record of what you’re working on during this time. Are you concentrating on mental work? Are you educating yourself on new material, reading, or writing? For the rest of the world, this time in the morning is typically spent commuting, reading email, socializing with coworkers, or sitting in meetings.
  • Rearrange your brain’s peak performance time. Think how you can remove the things you do early in the morning that is not important to your development. Do you feel that you must keep up with the news? Move the time you would do this to your lunch break or sometime later in the day. Is your inbox filling up with email? Be cautious to even start reading them in the morning, you could lose the entire day. Choose two chunks of time to read emails, once around lunch and once at the end of the workday.

Technique #3. Feed your brain.

How does it keep your brain performing?

It keeps your brain constantly alert and learning, even when it’s in a “relaxed” state, like when you are running errands, reading on the couch, or spending time with friends.

Why is it important?

There was a time when I would spend hours watching cable television. I began to see my free time slip away as I watched the newest shows, filled with commercials and far from mentally stimulating. The worst part was, after I stopped, I couldn’t remember anything valuable from the wasted hours. I started to realize that I needed to be far more selective with how I filled my days, and my entertainment still needed to be enriching my life.

How can you practice it?

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