(i.e. The thinking we do when we’re not thinking) The brain skill of Sustained Attention is all about focus. Directed focus on one task makes the brain work hard. This one-pointed attention engages the prefrontal cortex – as well as the hippocampus, billions of neurons, and who knows how many neurotransmitters. It takes a huge […]
Planner Best Practices
A place for everything and everything in its place! Here are a few Planner Best Practices that will help keep your planner free from clutter. – – 1. Be consistent about what/where you document events – – 2. Keep yourself grounded in time – – 3. Track important events – – 4. Keep ongoing goals on […]
Effective Weekly Planning
The goal in creating a weekly plan is to complete what’s on the list and give you a solid, well-thought-out list from which you can create an effective daily plan. You’ll know you have succeeded when you get to the end of next week and everything on your weekly plan has been scratched out! Here […]
The Science of Getting To Where You Want To Be
When I heard Katy Milkman’s* TedX talk about why people feel compelled to make New Year’s resolutions, I knew she hit the nail on the head when she said the beginning of a new year feels like a fresh start. On January 1, we feel that we’ve been given a clean slate. And in the […]
The Neuroscience Behind Training Your Brain
I recently heard a fantastic talk at the Center for Brain Health by neuroscientist and professor Selena Bartlett PhD. Her information on brain plasticity as it relates to stress and resilience was so interesting and hope-filled that I wanted to share the highlights of her talk here. Imaging technology has opened up a whole new […]
In Case of Emergency: What My Family Should Know
This might be one of the most-procrastinated tasks on people’s lists. The good news is that this ICE template includes everything you (or more realistically, your family) will need in case of an emergency. Spend 10 minutes a day filling it out and I promise it will be done inside of a week. There are […]
Opportunity Doesn’t Knock Once… It Knocks All The Time
Years ago I offered a Time Management class to a group of maintenance generalists. These are the maintenance and repair people who work behind the scenes keeping buildings running. This was a jovial crowd and the class was full of their jokes and one-liners. We laughed a lot but I remember thinking, “Am I making […]
Have You Ever Wanted to Unsend an Email?
I was trying think of a catchy phrase to use with my email signature when I came up with something I thought was great. I was so excited, I immediately fired off an email to my sister so she could see my cleverness and this is what I sent to her “I can help you […]
Help your Aging Brain
Years ago, I heard someone say “If you are so lucky as to live to be an old person…” The phrase made me feel such optimism about old age! If you are lucky enough to live to be an old person, here are some tips to keep your brain healthy along the way. These come […]
Tricks to Getting Your Bedroom Organized
In one of my recent planning classes, a couple of people came forward with the same problem project: Trying to get the bedroom organized. They both shared whenever they tried to work on it, they just ended up with a bigger mess than when they started. After a few failed attempts, the brain starts to […]
The Secret to Sticking with New Year’s Resolutions
Are you determined to make a New Year resolution for 2021? Research shows that almost 50% of all Americans make New Year resolutions. And half of them will make more than one.