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Our brain is a muscle, and just like other muscles in our body, it needs to be worked and challenged on a daily basis. Reading and game-playing are two great ways to challenge our brains, but there are a few exercises that can be done during the course of our business day to make our lives easier while giving our grey matter a stretch. Here are 3 Brain Stretchers that will Help You be a Better Work at Home Pro.
K.I.S.S and Swiss Cheese: The K.I.S.S method usually means Keep It Simple, Silly and was a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960s. But this acronym can also be utilized when tackling a large and daunting task in business. If looking at your looming presentation, that includes a PowerPoint, several hundred potential attendees and hours of research, is making your heart skip a few beats it may be time practice the Swiss Cheese Method. The Swiss Cheese Method refers to taking a huge task and “poking holes in it” (or breaking it down) until it seems less overwhelming. When you break it down a project into manageable pieces it also works to help develop the ability to focus on one portion of a task and master it before moving to the next.
Master the Mundane: On the verge of losing your marbles over the tasks that you repetitiously need to do over and over? Instead of letting the frustration of these mundane tasks fester inside you like a pressure cooker, think of ways to put a little joy back into it. Anyone with children knows that sometimes the key to getting them to complete tasks (like cleaning their room) is to put a fun spin on it. By not only challenging them (let’s see how fast you can pick up your toys!) and then offering a reward (once you are done, you can have ice cream) the task at hand will get done quicker and with a lighter heart. We Big Humans are really no different so what can you do to make mundane tasks sail along (set up shop on your patio)? And what can we do as a reward for ourselves once it’s done (ice cream always reigns supreme). The idea is to remove the mindset of monotony and add an element of fun or challenge.
Watch or Read the News: I know of many entrepreneurs who avoid immersing themselves in the daily news like the plague. “Too much doom-and-gloom,” they say. Though I can’t completely disagree, there are some huge benefits to knowing what is going on in our world. Firstly, you MUST know what’s going on in your client’s space and you really need to know what is going on the markets in which you do business. Trends are another hot topic and those who pay attention can be early adopters to the new trends that could translate to more dollars for their business. This exercise also helps us see beyond our own little corner of the world and challenges us to hypothetically walk in someone else’s shoes on a daily basis.
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