Do you try to do more than one thing at a time? How does that work for you?

When sitting at a table or desk to discuss documents with a colleague, avoid spreading out the documents in front of the two of you.  A jumble of face-up documents encourages people to read ahead or get distracted from what you’re trying to focus on.

Instead: Place the focus document face-up and the others face-down or out of sight.

How do you double your brain power?

You probably sometimes wish that you could think faster, grasp new information quicker and recall more of what you read and hear.  You can, with these tips:

·            Tackle information.  You want to commit to your short-term memory in the morning.  Reason: The brain section that stores short-term memory items performs about 15% better in the morning.  But switch to the afternoon for items you want to keep in your long-tern memory because that part of your memory bank hits its stride later in the day. 

·            “Reverse and rephrase”. Overcome negative thoughts about your ability to learn something new.  Example: Instead of “I won’t remember what I’m learning,” tell your brain “I’ve already learned to recall many things – names, dates, computer commands.  So I can and will remember this.”

·            Plan for an upcoming learning event by selecting a reward you’ll give yourself afterward.  Pick something you wouldn’t usually buy or do.  Picture yourself enjoying the reward just before the learning event starts.  Repeat the process whenever you feel anxious about learning the information.  Note: No matter how things turn out, give yourself the reward.

·            Answer these questions after you read something that you want to remember: What was it about?  What parts of it were most important?  What opinions, if any, did it contain?  What’s my opinion of it?  What element makes it unique?  Note: Do this mentally or in writing – whichever works best for you.

·            Rely on graphic devices to increase your reading speed and to help you zero in on the main points in the books and other publications.  Examples: italics, boldface, underlining, bulleted lists, charts, graphs, etc.  As you go through pages, ignore regular text and scan only for these devices.  When you find one, slow down and read those sections more carefully.

·            Boost your thinking power by taking the time to really think about the answers to these questions about a situation, some information, or a problem: What seems to be the key idea here?  Does this resemble or parallel anything I’ve already learned or experienced?  Do I still have a nagging question about any part of this?  When I put everything together, what do I see as most important?

Source: Double Your Brain Power: Increase Your Memory by Using All of Your Brain All the Time, by Jean Marie Stine, Prentice Hall, 240 Frisch Court, Paramus, N 07652.