An article from Jamie Turner
– Randy Wolgemuth
- How to Improve Your Focus: Dr. Andrew Huberman shares research indicating that focusing on a dot (or any object) about 2 feet in front of you for 60 seconds will improve your focus. It sounds crazy, but I’ve tried it and it works. My theory (as yet unsubstantiated) is that throughout evolution, our brains were trained to stay hyper-focused when we zero-in on an object (a leopard in a tree?) for 60 seconds.
- Improve Your Communication Skills: According to Chris Voss, when things get heated in an argument, do these three things. First, lower your volume. Second, slow down your tempo. And third, lower the pitch of your voice (you can do this by dropping your chin down to your chest. Go ahead, try it). The person you’re having the argument/debate with will match your volume, tempo, and pitch and things will calm down.
- How to Improve Your Email Communications: Messages are always read by the recipient in the worst tone-of-voice possible. What you might consider “being direct and getting to the point” will be read as rude, inconsiderate, and impolite. Always write emails (and texts) in the most polite way possible.
- Make Better Presentations: Your enthusiasm will be matched by your teammate’s enthusiasm. If you’re excited about a project, they will be, too. If you’re not, they won’t be either. Even though we live in a world that applauds authenticity, sometimes we have to act like we’re excited by something even when we’re not.
- Be a Better Leader: Your team members want to know which mountain to climb, not now to climb it.
- The 4-7-8 Breathing Technique: If you feel stress at the office or at home, I have some good news. You can use the 4-7-8 breathing technique to stimulate the nerve that runs from your brain down to your tailbone. Breathe in through your nose for 4 beats, hold for 7 beats, then breathe out through your mouth for 8 beats. Do this 4 times. Give it a try — you’ll find that it will calm you down by about 10% to 30%.
- EFT Tapping: Would you like to get rid of repetitive negative thoughts? If so, try this — studies show that tapping vigorously on your collar bone while you shift your thinking from the negative thought to the positive thought will create new neural pathways in your brain that replace the old (negative) ones. I’ve tried this and it works great. You should give it a try, too!
- Act Rather than React: I’ve found it helpful to get an early start in the morning. If you get in early and spend the first 30 minutes getting organized, then by the time everyone else gets to their computers, you’re ahead of the curve and are driving things instead of letting things drive you. In other words, you’re driving the day’s initiatives and are having people respond to you, rather than the other way around.
I hope you found the tips above helpful. And good luck in 2024!