Do you often feel overwhelmed by ‘information overload’ caused you to be constantly distracted and disorganized? This week’s guests will help you! They are the co-authors of a fascinating book, Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time. Paul Hammerness, MD is a clinical researcher on ADHD and assistant of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Margaret Moore, aka Coach Meg, is the founder and CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation, a leader in building international standards for professional coaches in health and wellbeing. She also is affiliated with Harvard Medical School as a founding advisor of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Hammerness and Coach Meg have developed six “Rules of Order” to help us better manage our emotions and harmonize and focus the various “thinking” parts of our brains. When our mind is better organized, we become better-focused, more attentive, less distracted and able to adapt to new situations. We discuss their book’s organizing principles or “Rules of Order” that are the hallmarks of an attentive, focused brain, one that can shift, adapt and function at maximum effectiveness. The first step is Taming the Frenzy which gets the thinking areas of the brain more engaged to help manage negative emotions and manage distractions. Second step is Sustain Attention, which helps us become more mindful of how we are feeling and how to stay more focused on our tasks. Applying the Brakes, the third step, means exercising “inhibitory control” when we become able to restrain or regulate our attention. In discussing step four, Dr. Hammerness explains how to “Mold Information” and not jump to a different task and use our memory to stay focused and become better organized.
Coach Meg explains step five, “Shift Set”, the ability to be flexible in thoughts and behaviors. She provides tips for improving our memory, including the value of shifting perspectives rather than being rigid, which enables us to be more “cognatively agile.” Cognative flexibility enables us to shift attention fully to something else yet still be able to return and complete other tasks rather than multi-tasking. The final rule of order is “Connecting the Dots”, which can enhanced by working with a coach to help us elicit new insights and perspectives to obtain new clarity and focus, enabling us to “connect to the dots” and see the big picture and act on it.
For more information about our guests and their new book, please visit: www.organizeyourmind.com