Leadership Corner

Let’s Talk EQ-i Certification Leadership Academy

Build Mental Attentiveness in 6 Minutes

Discover What Drains Your Mental Charge

Have you ever focused on what drains your mental capacity? What drains your mental charge/charge? 

In order to build your MENTAL ATTENTIVENESS, you first need to identify what negatively affects your mental capacity and Bounce Back FactorTM.  We’ll focus on these four things that can drain your mental charge and overall focus, though these aren’t the only ones:

Multitasking


Multitasking is the first item because the majority of people do it; however, not effectively. It is one of the biggest drains of our energy. I have issues with multitasking and my guess is you do as well. Research has shown that our brains are linear. We are designed to focus on one task at a time.

When and where do you multitask? Are you on the phone talking to a client while checking your email? Are you attending a video meeting and reading a report? When you multitask, neither of the tasks (or persons) get your full attention. And nothing is accomplished as quickly or effectively as it could have been. To be everywhere is to be nowhere. When we try to do everything, we end up not doing anything very well.

To be everywhere is to be nowhere.
When we try to do everything,
we end up not doing anything very well.
 

Multitasking is not productive and will drain your mental capacity and charge. One reason you might be multitasking is that you don’t have an ultimate purpose.
 

No Ultimate Purpose


It is our Ultimate Purpose that allows us to understand the things that are most important to us. It points us to what we should focus on at any point in time. 

Do you have a strong sense of PURPOSE? Maybe you don’t or you’re not curious or interested in what's happening around you. Maybe you just don't have something that matters to you. You may choose to do the easier tasks or default to checking out social media, etc. You may take pride in your work, but you might not see value in putting energy into things that matter most. 

Related to lacking an Ultimate Purpose is not seeing the relevance of the task, project or action to your Ultimate Purpose. Maybe you have a clear Ultimate Purpose, but you feel that what you’re working on now is not related or relevant to your Purpose. When you can’t find relevance, you back away; you disengage.

Later, in the Power UP section, we’ll offer some ways to change this lack of PURPOSE and power up your mental awareness. 
 

Negative Self-talk


The third item that negatively affects our Mental Attentiveness is our negative self-talk. Maybe we do something we can't believe because it's not what we wanted to do. Or maybe we have what we would often call a failure. We get frustrated and angry. Then our inner monologue starts running on a loop and we say things like, “Oh my gosh, what were you thinking?” Or “You idiot.” 

When we do that, we drain our mental Bounce Back FactorTM. Your inner monologue doesn’t even have to be saying anything other than your name, over and over and over again.  When your negative self-talk starts, you’re not able to focus on other things. The key here is to know what your negative inner monologue is. What does it sound like? 
Once you know what your negative self-talk script is, then you are more able to catch it. Then you can actually redirect it to a point where you can physically and mentally Bounce Back. 
 

Procrastination


This one is probably not going to surprise any of you. Whenever we have something we know we need to do, but we don't want to do it (or we’re not sure how to do it), we often put it off. We’re still thinking of it and we’ve now added the negative self-talk that goes along with procrastination. All that is going to drain you of your ability to be focused and mentally attentive.

What causes you to procrastinate? Is procrastination routinely draining your mental charge?
 

Power Cycle Strategies to Build Mental Attentiveness 

First, we need to understand that our activities either allow us to power up or power down. 

Power OUT: We are utilizing energy (expending) to accomplish a task or perform an activity.  An example of this is when you expend a great deal of mental energy working on a project as you’re thinking and problem solving.

Power UP: This is where we intentionally renew and replenish our charge. Think in terms of exercise. If you want to increase capacity, you don’t (or shouldn’t) work the same muscle group to exhaustion every day. To have growth, you need rest in between to come back stronger. That is in essence what Powering UP entails.

Pick the power cycle strategies that work for you. Review the following strategies and commit to making a few of them a ritual to Power OUT and Power UP on your path to strengthening your Mental Bounce Back FactorTM.

Power OUT Strategy: Reduce Distractions (no multitasking)

If you want to be right there in the moment with your family, your kids, your friends, your coworkers, establish it as a NO cell phone zone. 

We had a client, the president of an organization that did two critically important things to be in the moment with his staff. First, every time someone came into his office, he would take his phone and put it in his desk drawer or closet. The other thing he did was he would take his two computer monitors and put them down so that the person across the desk from him knew that they got 100% of his attention. 

Figure out how to be in the moment and give the person 100% of your attention. Where are your NO Cell Phone Zones? What distractions do you need to turn off or hide when you want to focus on the person in front of you or the task at hand?

Power OUT Strategy: Work in Intervals or Bursts

Working in intervals or bursts, taking a break, and then getting back to work for another burst is a key strategy to keep your Mental Attentiveness high. Spend 45 to 90 minutes focused on the task at hand. Then disengage, take a break (5, 10 or 15 minutes). Go back and work for another burst of 45 to 90 minutes.

The above Power OUT Strategies help your Mental Attentiveness but they are still using your mental Bounce Back Factor. As the tank (your mental capacity) goes down, you’ve got to power back up.

Power UP Strategy: Proper Nutrition 

It sounds basic and simple, but you’ve got to put proper nutrition into your body. Many of us know that when we don’t eat, it’s hard to focus.  We may even get hangry (hungry and angry) and it’s even harder to stay focused. If you want to focus, be Mentally Attentive, and get work done, you need to fuel your body.  For more on Nutrition and your Physical Charge.

Power UP Strategy: Getting Enough Sleep

Get your sleep. Again, a basic principle. It's so much easier to be in the moment when we are rested. The general goal is 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. You might need more or you think fewer hours work fine for you. Rather than give you a number of hours of sleep you need, I’ll simply state — get more sleep than you’re getting now.

Power UP Strategy: Move - Engage in Physical Activity

Next, move! Some movement is better than no movement (even a few minutes spread out during the day matters). Every 30-45 minutes stretch or make small movements. Every 90-120 minutes take big movements that are of low to moderate intensity  (i.e. walking to get the mail). For more on Movement and your Physical Charge.

Power UP Strategy: Shift Your Strategic Focus To Something Else

This last Power UP Strategy is the idea that if you are stuck on something, and you can't be attentive, shift your strategic focus to something else. Don’t multitask, shift your full focus to another task. If you have something weighing down your mind, maybe an email that's bothering you, back away and go do something else and then come back to it.

Maybe organize your desk, listen to music, go refill your coffee, or get a drink to revive yourself. Again this is not multitasking, it’s a shift of your focus from one task fully to another. Or if there is a conversation that you're stuck on, call the person. Give yourself a chance to focus and move the idea that's stuck in your mind to something else that will give you a chance to really Bounce Back.
 

The Challenge:

We have plenty more strategies (below). But we need to make sure that you know the goal is to make productive moments occur in all facets of your life by building your Mental Attentiveness. The challenge is to:

Pick a few of the power cycle strategies which address or counteract the things you identified as draining your mental charge. Incorporate them into your daily routines and create habits that Power OUT and Power UP.

You can also grow as a team. Sit down and talk to your team about this. Find out the things that are distracting them. You’ll then have a better idea and understanding how you can help each other out. A great place to start with your team is identifying some distractions in a video meeting. Then talk through the power cycle strategies each team member might use to make the meeting as effective and productive as possible and build their Mental Bounce Back FactorTM.
 

More Power OUT Strategies


Be in the Moment

Reduce Distractions

Reduce Multitasking

Reduce Procrastination

Visualization

More Power UP Strategies


Take care of yourself physically

Strategically focus

Gain perspective

Journal

Craft your Ultimate Purpose Statement

What’s Next?

Check out the 6-Minute Stretch™ Challenge #4 — Mental Attentiveness video below to create strategies to build your Mental Bounce Back Factor.

Share these 6-Minute StretchTM Challenges with your friends, your family, and your team. Help everyone leverage their Bounce Back FactorTM. Because it's not just about helping ourselves, but helping others do the same. It's about bringing your best self to every situation. Life’s calling! Live with passion and make it a great day!