Mind Your Thinking

This morning I have been thinking about my thinking.  I have been cleaning out some cupboards lately.  It all seemed a bit random – a bit of a cupboard here, and a bit there.  As I said to a friend, I felt like I was hyperlinking my way from place to place.  Have you ever had that experience – in the middle of doing a job and something you think about distracts you from the task at hand?  It’s easy to end up leaving that job incomplete, or remembering some hours later when you find the cupboard doors open and the contents still spread all over the floor!

Notwithstanding that the idea of us having left and right brains has been dispelled by many neuroscientists in recent years,  I will use that terminology here as I think most people understand the idea behind it.   I think the “right brain” is a bit like this – random, creative, overflowing with ideas and dreams, and somehow a bit of a free spirit, free from the restraints of convention, expectation and practicality.

But there are times when the “left brain” approach is far more effective to get jobs done, especially when there are essential things that need to be achieved and a deadline to be met.  This is the time for a to-do list (eek!) and goal setting and chunking down big jobs into a series of smaller tasks.

The question I asked myself this morning when trying to shift from right-brained bliss into left-brained organising mode is how best to achieve that simply and quickly.  Here are a few things that seem to be working for me right now – try some or all of them and let me know how you get on.

1.  Sit down and be still for a few moments.  Focus on your breathing or an object – whatever helps you still your mind.  Write a list of things you want to have done by the end of the day.  You can draw pictures if you prefer.

2.  The advanced version of this process is to then pick the item on the list which has the highest priority and highlight it in some way, or move it in to another column on the page and focus on just that one task until it is complete.  Then move the next most important item into that column and repeat.

2.  Use visualisation to imagine your day in front of you and what you want to get done.  Run it like a movie in your head – first I am going to do this, then this, then this.

3.  See yourself at the end of the day having completed those tasks and how that will make you feel.

4.  Allocate yourself some time in the day to do your random activities (like playtime), and be strict with yourself sticking to your allocation.

5.  Try and find ways of getting things done that suit your personality.  For example, if you have to hang out the washing, make the activity creative – sort the washing items by age, colour, or who they belong to.  Create a work of art on the washing line.  Use all the same colour pegs, or make a patterned lines of pegs based on their colour.

I’m thinking of giving my left brain and right brain behaviours names – that way I can call upon each of them to give me a hand at the appropriate times.  Brian and Brina come to mind.  I’ll keep you posted