Month: July 2020

How the Heart-Brain Connect Can Help You Improve Making Decisions

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “follow your brain, not your heart.” For years we’ve been told that your brain makes logical decisions while our heart makes decisions based on emotions. However, recent studies show that the heart has a mind of its own and business leaders are trying to figure out how to control it!

Does Your Heart Have a Mind Of Its Own?

For the better part of human history, it’s been widely accepted that the heart receives signals from the brain. Scientists later discovered that the heart has a complex communication system that sends more messages to the brain than vice-versa. More importantly, these scientists found that the heart communicates with the brain in ways that significantly affect how we react to the world.

The heart sends messages to the brain in four different ways: via nerve impulses, hormones, pulse waves, and energetic communication methods. Scientists have begun to call the heart the ‘heart brain’ because the heart is so intelligent and communicative. How can business leaders take advantage of this information?

How Can Business Leaders Control the ‘Heart Brain’?

If the heart has an intelligent mind of its own, how big of a factor does it play in our day-to-day decision-making? Strengthening the communication between the heart and mind will allow you to make choices with more clarity and certainty. Scientists and neuroradiologists believe that you can tap into the power of the heart organ for better decision-making with simple exercises.

One of the better exercises to begin practicing requires you to only ask yourself two simple questions. The first question being ‘what emotion am I feeling right now?” This question helps us better understand and process the emotions we feel. The second question is ‘How do I want to feel?” This allows us to be in better control of how we dictate our emotions.

If how you feel doesn’t align with how you want to feel, focus on a positive emotion you’d prefer and thing of things that make you feel that emotion. For example, if you want to feel inspired, think back to a moment when you were inspired.

The ‘Heart Brain’

In recent years, science has proven that the heart is much more important than we previously believed. Your heart is as intelligent as your brain and is capable of making decisions and channeling emotions. Business leaders should do all they can to become in-tune with their ‘heart brain’.

We would love to hear your comments on this article or any of our latest articles.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

How Meditation Can Help You Become a Better Leader

Becoming a better leader stems from many daily practices. Mediation may not even be on your radar when it comes to finding ways to be a better leader. However, making this a part of your daily routine can change your day completely.

Here are ways that meditation can help you:

1. Objectively Tackle Daily Task

Meditation is a mindful discipline that can do wonders for not only your personal life but for the leadership aspect of your life as well. Pride is one factor at the root of failed relationships and poor management and with the lack of quality leadership, these days meditation is a technique worth trying. When one stops to quiet their mind and breathe deeply they are able to silence many of the thoughts that tend to create conflict.

Even a short ten to twenty-minute meditation session can help to refocus the mind, reevaluate an email, a tough phone call, and reply without “self” involved. When you practice stillness you can virtually remove thoughts that contribute to defensive behavior and think more clearly.

2. Build Deeper Connections

Over time it has been noted that meditation allows a person to feel more empathy and better connect with their employees. People who practice meditation regularly learn to release fear and can then connect better and approach and confront employees they find “difficult”. This approach is not only for the workplace but can be used in other forms of leadership.

Parenting is a great place to practice these techniques especially during the teen years or if you are a caregiver for someone with special needs or mental illness. Take some quiet time to breathe in and out, listening to the breaths, then reevaluate how to respond. Acting out of emotion instead of logic just because we could not take time to meditate can cause long-term relationship hardships.

3. Still Your Mind

Our minds on average have 70,000 thoughts that run through our minds on any given day. The goal with meditation is to release those thoughts, release the ego, the pride, the thoughts that hold us back. Find a quiet place with a chair and set your timer for anywhere between five and twenty-five minutes.

Count to one in your head while you take your first breath in and then breathe out on two. Repeat this process all the way to 10 and start over. With every breath release the thoughts, let go of the anxiousness and notice how this helps during your decision-making throughout the day.

Practice Regularly and Extend Your Practice Over Time

Start out with five minutes and slowly work your way up to ten or fifteen. If all you have is five minutes then just make sure to meditate for five minutes daily. Start with your consistency and then work on extending your meditation time.

Want to learn more? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.

Set Boundaries to Protect Your Work Time

Attending meetings that regularly run over or being inundated with requests of your time by your employees can lead to frustration. What’s more, all this can cause you to miss out on valuable time at home with your family when you’re having to play catch up. Here are some ways you can set boundaries within your workplace to protect your time.

1. Meeting Availability

The first and most important boundary to set is your meeting availability. This might take some adjusting if everyone is used to you always making yourself available for meetings. Block out certain parts of your daily schedule that you dedicate to meeting times.

Create your meeting schedule around what best suits your daily personal schedule such as around commute times or if you need to pick children up from school. There are times when you can’t reschedule a meeting to happen during your meeting times. At this point, you’ll need to determine if calling out of the meeting will benefit you in the long run and increase your overall workplace benefits, such as if a meeting will cause you to lose sleep.

2. Set Boundaries About Meeting Length

Meetings that regularly run over schedule can cost you in the long run. For example, just a few meetings every week that run over by just 15 minutes can cost you an hour of your workweek. There are a few things you can do to set some boundaries to keep meetings on schedule.

First, if these are meetings that you run, send out a calendar invite with the exact meeting times and a prefilled agenda for what you’ll be discussing.  Secondly, book your meetings close together so that you’ll have a reason to end a meeting on time. Lastly, the best thing you can do is start the meeting with your time expectation, such as telling everyone that you need to end the meeting by a certain time.

3. Keep Your Time At Work Focused

One of the best things you can do for time management is to keep yourself focused an on-task at work. This day and age, there are many distractions that can get you off course and have to make up for it later. A good strategy is to use a block schedule.

A block schedule means your group tasks together. For example, a block of time is set apart for all your meetings and then the next block of time is set aside for checking and replying to emails. This keeps your brain more focused versus jumping around from task to task. If you’re able to, physically close your door during times you need to quietly work. Also, make sure to turn off your phone or put it somewhere where you won’t be distracted by personal texts or social media.

Want to learn more? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professionals.