Focus, organization, productivity: is there a unifying element for success?

What?

I guess at this point in my life, some would say I’ve gone completely overboard on this topic of being more focused, organized, and productive. It is no longer just an area of ​​interest for me. It’s my career, my passion and pretty much everything I want to do for the rest of my life. I believe that studying and teaching this body of knowledge is my true “calling,” and my fascination with this field continues to grow stronger each day.

If you study any subject diligently, sooner or later you will begin to see fascinating connections and begin to understand how various lines of knowledge and bits of information come together at a common point. When this starts to happen, you can’t help but wonder about the unifying element of it all. You ask yourself, “Is there a central idea, concept, or focal point that ties it all together?”

So… is there a focal point or unifying element to focus, organize and be productive? I’m starting to think so!

And that?

If you observe highly focused people, you can usually trace their behavior back to the very source of control. If you trace well-organized clothes back to their source, you always end up at the same place. If you track what makes a person highly productive, once again, you find yourself going in the same direction. It is as if you were going backwards along the train tracks that leave New York City until you reach its point of origin. If you do this, sooner or later, you will reach or near 42nd Street and Park Avenue… New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

Similarly, if you go back down the tracks that lead to focus, organization, and productivity…they lead you to the Grand Central Terminal of human beings…the brain.

I often tell people who struggle to get organized, “If you get your mind right…everything else will fall into place easily.” I suspect most people probably pass this off as a casual statement or consider it tired and worn advice. However, in my opinion, there is no better advice I can offer. I have studied this topic for a long, long time. I am increasingly convinced that the human brain is the focal point that ties everything together. So if you understand more about how the brain works, you’ll begin to discover the real secrets to living a more focused, organized, and productive life.

Now what?

A friend of mine recently bought a very expensive and very sophisticated new car. Right after he bought it, we jumped into his car and took a short drive. The car is the high-tech automotive equivalent of a thermos. He knows! Just as a thermos somehow “magically” knows how to keep cold things cold and hot things hot… this car knows how to assess various situations and respond accordingly and appropriately. It has enough buttons, switches, bells, whistles, gadgets, and features to keep a rocket scientist happy for quite some time. Fortunately, my friend is an expert in these matters and I am convinced that he will learn to use all the technological wonders available in his new car. However, I imagine some people will buy a car like my friend’s and never learn to use a fraction of the devices. All devices will be available, out of the box…but you will see little use of them until you take the time to understand how these features work.

In a sense, this is a good metaphor for your brain. It also has many bells, whistles, gadgets, and cool features. You will increase your ability to take advantage of these wonderful features if you learn more about how they work. These are just some examples:

• The brain has three separate systems that work in harmony or compete for control of your behavior. A system controls your automatic functions, such as breathing, heartbeat, temperature, metabolism, etc. A separate brain system controls your emotional functions. A third system controls your ability to think and exercise good judgment. Everything works better when systems are in balance and working together. When you see someone focused, organized, and productive, all three systems work in harmony. The best way to create a balance between all three systems is to pace yourself (instead of overloading your systems with too much input) and simply think about what you’re doing… when you’re doing it. Another way of saying this is: Do one thing at a time! Kind of weird behavior these days. Brain systems work better together when you focus on one thing at a time.
• When you start to overload your brain systems by multitasking, rushing, or operating under too much stress, your emotional brain (the limbic system) take control and start making the decisions. A part of your emotional brain (the amygdala) hijack your body and take full control over your behavior. While this can be a good thing at times (for example, if you’re being chased by a saber-toothed tiger), unlike a thermos, the emotional brain doesn’t always know how to respond appropriately to incoming messages from your five senses. . For example, when incoming messages indicate that a tiger is on its tail, all nonessential brain systems that don’t have much to do with running in the opposite direction essentially shut down. One of the first systems to shut down is your brain’s thinking system (the neocortex). Your emotional brain basically says, “Don’t think… run!” The good news… we don’t get chased by tigers very often these days. The bad news… the brain doesn’t know. Whenever you operate under too much stress, the brain thinks a tiger is on its tail and shuts down your brain’s thinking functions. In general, when your brain’s thinking functions shut down, you revert to your default habits…good or bad.
• The moral of this story… if you’re going to operate in a state of heightened emotions, you had better instill very good habits into your brain and nervous system to handle the things that are important to you. That’s why they make pilots, astronauts and the military train so much in emergency procedures. When the amygdalin hijacks their bodies, they are still able to function effectively. Therefore, forming habits is the key to success to be more focused, organized and productive. Planners, filing systems, electronics, and gadgets only work if the right habits are formed first.
• The brain also houses your memory system, which works like a sophisticated tape recorder. Unlike a normal tape recorder, the brain’s memory system stores both facts Y feelings. When things happen to you, one part of your emotional brain (the hippocampus) records the events related to what happened and another part (the amygdala, again) records the feelings associated with the events. When a similar, not necessarily identical, set of events occurs in the future, the recorder turns on and the recorded feelings resurface and strongly influences their behavior. For example, if your parents scared you as a child by saying, “Don’t talk to strangers” too often and with too much emotion, you may have trouble being a superstar salesperson as an adult. You probably have a treadmill running that inhibits your ability to perform one of the most critical functions in sales…talking to strangers. Most people have strong tapes related to money, taking orders, giving orders, being assertive, and other issues related to being a successful business person. Some of their tapes serve them well… some don’t! Learning more about your tapes can be an enlightening experience.
• Although people often compare the brain to a computer, it is actually better to think of it as a chemical factory. All instructions issued by the brain are carried out by chemicals called neurotransmitters. So what you eat, how much you exercise, how you breathe, and anything else you do that alters the chemicals flowing through your brain can alter your behavior. Basically, the neurotransmitters that circulate in the brain and nervous system fall into two categories…excitatory or inhibitory. So take a look at your current life speed and find out if you need to slow it down or speed it up. Here’s a hint… learning to breathe correctly is a good use of your time if you want to influence neurotransmitters.

I could go on and on about how the brain, tapes, neurotransmitters, and other factors influence behavior. But here’s the bottom line: If you really want to experience quantum advances in your ability to focus, be organized, and be more productive…learn a little more about how your brain works. When you understand more about how the brain works, you can begin to exercise some control over it, especially when under stress. Otherwise, it controls you… and you wonder why you intended to do one thing… but did something else entirely.