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That tweet just cost you 25 minutes. 23.15 to be exact. That is how long it takes our brain to refocus on the task we are working on after we have been distracted. 

There is a great book written by Dr. David Rock called "Your Brain at Work". In it, he talks about how our brain has a limited amount of glucose. As the day goes on, that glucose starts to deplete. 

We hear of all these super successful hustlers and how they all get up at 4:30 in the morning, and that is why they are so great. Well, it's not that there is anything magical happening at 4:30 in the morning, it's just that there are less distractions. It helps us focus. 

Take advantage of that early morning brain glucose and anytime you need to do a project or any kind of planning that requires a lot of heavy thinking, do it early in the morning.

Go ahead and share this with a friend, or a colleague who you want to help hold you accountable to this. 

Try it with your friend and let us know how it goes. 

Get More Aha Moments

Not having any "aha" moments lately? This might be why.

I recently had to reboot my computer... all of you tech people are going to be very upset with me, but my computer had been on for months. Meaning, I had not needed to put my password in for months.

When I rebooted it, I went to put my password and I did not remember it. I thought "Laine, what is wrong with you? This is your computer password, you have done this a million times." I sat there for an embarrassing amount of time trying to remember this password.

I became so frustrated with myself that I ended up saying "forget it, I will do it later.”I got in the car and drove to the grocery store.

Upon returning home, I open the front door, and immediately it hits me. Oh wait, I know my password. I go, I put it in and all was well. But here is the thing, this happens to all of us all the time and this is why:

Dr. Mark Beemen from Northwestern University did a groundbreaking neuroscience study that showed that we try to force insights from a logical perspective. 

The creative ideas, the insights, the "aha" moments actually come from unintentional processing. What does it all mean? 

It means that the reason you have come up with all those great ideas in the shower or while on a job is because that is how our mind actually works. It draws from our experiences and helps us come up with new ideas.

What does this mean for you? A great practice in the workplace is to throw a new idea, or a question to your team, let them stew in it for a week or two and then come back to the table and discuss what their ideas are. 

Give them time to unintentionally process. Give them a little teaser as to what it is you all need to accomplish and just let it sit in their minds. Let the brain do the hard work. 

Go take that walk in the middle of the day. It might be just what you need to get inspired. 

For more other inspiring ideas that will kick-start your creativity, head over to the Business Lab with Laine Schmidt podcast.

Team Meetings

When was the last time you and your team sat around a table and really discussed how everything is going? 

The team at Laine Schmidt Coaching has had the great pleasure of working with lots of other teams on taking a step back, and assessing what’s working well, what is not working well, where they are headed and what is required in order to get there. 

Afterwards, every single team says the same things: 

1 - Why didn't we do this sooner?

2 - When are you guys coming back?

It's a really productive process. My question to you today is when are you going to do this? It does not require a coach, but I would recommend two things: 

1 - Bring in an objective person who is going to be able to see things that your team can't see.

2 - Get off site. It is amazing how much more creative and objective we are able to be when we are not in the middle of the office.

So, go grab an outside table at a restaurant and have a good chat with the team to really strategize what you are doing well and what you are not doing well and what you are going to do about it. 

Warren Buffett claims the reason he is so successful is because he spends 80 percent, yes, 80 percent of his time reading and thinking. So many other CEOs of really, really profitable, successful companies in America have followed suit. Why should we be any different? 

If you and your team are interested in having a full on strategy session, let us know. We would love to sit down with you and talk about what that would look like. 

Parkinson's Law

Want to see some magic? 

Turn off your computer tonight at 6:00pm and see how much more work you get done tomorrow.

There's an economic theory called "The Parkinson's Law", not to be confused with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's law states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. 

What this means is, if you give yourself a week to complete a task that only needs one day, you will spend that entire week on activities related to that task such as stressing, brooding and procrastinating. That sucks up so much unnecessary energy. 

The next time you are feeling stressed about things you have to do, do this instead: 

1. Make a list of the tasks you need to get done. 

2. Write down next to each task how long you think it is going to take and then don't give it a minute more.

I recently did this myself. I hesitantly committed to shutting my computer off at 5:00pm and not opening it again until the following day. 

I was sure I’d be behind the next day, but instead, I found that in the time I gave myself to work during the day, not only was I more productive, not only did my business actually grow, but the time at night that I had was now free. I felt free to just enjoy the things I was doing and the people that I was with and I guarantee you can do that too.

Give yourself a certain amount of time to get something done and stick to it, because you can do it. 

If you are interested in Parkinson's Disease,  also do this: head over to https://www.michaeljfox.org  and be a part of the group of people who are working towards finding a cure for Parkinson's disease which affects 10 million people worldwide. 

Even though it will only take you five minutes, I bet if you give yourself three, you will still get it done.