Would You Like To Know How To Combat Brain Overload?
The brain is probably one of the most powerful and complex organs in our bodies. Scientists keep discovering new capacities and capabilities.
However, despite its vast capabilities, your brain can experience overload, especially if you do not exercise some form of control over your time and the activities in which you engage.
Brain Overload is the result of mental fatigue caused by long periods of cognitive activity.
It basically sends your brain into overdrive which, apart from exhaustion, also leads to reduced cognitive function.
Brain Overload can slow down your brain, and in turn, negatively impact your performance, your confidence, your enjoyment of life, work, and play, and all major factors that can contribute to undesirable results.
How Do You Know You Have Brain Overload?
Brain Overload may manifest in the form of restlessness, impulsiveness, forgetfulness, and getting easily distracted, among a slew of other brain struggles.
Your brain will usually send messages in the form of symptoms, including:
Mental and physical exhaustion
Mental confusion
Debilitating lack of confidence
Self-doubt
Analysis paralysis
Self-questioning
Lack of focus
Inconsistent results
Sleeplessness or broken sleep
Inability to unwind
Inappropriate emotional outbursts
How Do You Get Brain Overload?
Brain Overload is often the result of brain overactivity. We live in a culture that glorifies ‘putting in the hours,’ pushing ourselves and expending too much effort on projects or tasks.
Further pressure from our personal lives means that you get increasingly harried as the days roll around.
Multitasking, which is often admired, can also contribute to cognitive overload. But the science is clear; we are wired to be mono-taskers.
No matter how many task balls you think you can keep in the air at any one time, our brains aren’t equipped to handle multiple tasks, especially when they require brainpower.
More often than not, what we are really doing when we multitask is, shifting rapidly between individual tasks.
On the other hand, too much information and unrelenting internal pressure can also lead to Brain Overload.
Other kinds of pressure such as negative self-talk, self-doubt, our own enormous expectations, and external pressure from family, leadership, coaches, etc. can also lead to Brain Overload.
How Do You Eliminate Brain Overload?
Here are 3 powerful steps to prevent Brain Overload and win from within:
Step #1: Monitor Your Self-Talk
There’s a myth that being self-critical will push us to perform better. This is only partly true. It does not lead to happiness or sustainable progress.
Our inner critic is often more harmful than useful.
Negative self-talk creates internal pressure that forces the brain to overload and misfire. While often lauded, perfectionism, like any other extreme habit, can also be a double-edged sword.
Perfectionists are more likely to ruminate more and are also prone to excessive worry. This taxes the brain leading to overload.
If you constantly find yourself over-analyzing, overthinking, and complicating your decisions, you may be setting yourself up for an overloaded brain.
Tip #1: Substitute words such as “I must” and “I need to” from your self-talk with words that don’t pile up mental pressure.
Instead, use words like “I could” or “I prefer”, that allow you to relax and consider your options.
It will help you take a stronger more sustainable, more powerful perspective to help you make the right decision.
Step #2: Ask Yourself What Are You Focussing on? What You Want Or What You Don’t Want?
When you have a habit of focusing on what you DON’T want, your mind tends to create an internal picture of what that looks like and may even take action on it.
For example, if I said, “I don’t want to eat any chocolate,” what do you suppose I’m thinking about?
You guessed it; Chocolate. And how long do you suppose it would take before I rummage through my cupboards looking for the chocolate bar I hid earlier that morning?
Desperately trying to avoid something can build unnecessary internal pressure and is not a great strategy.
Tip #2: When you focus on what you DO want, you give your brain very specific instructions that will yield more powerful and productive results.
As simple as it may sound, this strategy helps unnecessary pressure in the brain.
Step #3: Find A Model Of Excellence
Changing the tires on an overworked Ferrari isn’t going to tackle the problems in the engine.
If the problem with your performance is Brain Overload, then you need to work on the brain.
As a leader, you are likely going to have a lot thrown at you including constant streams of information and ‘noise’ coming at you at any given point.
Tip #3: Find someone who can mentor or coach you to be able to handle the demands made on you.
If you believe you are experiencing Brain Overload, then now is the time to make a change for the better.
If you feel increasingly overwhelmed, find a powerful role model, trainer, or coach with a proven track record of success.
For overload that has just shown up, watching a youtube video or reading a book can be genuinely helpful.
If the problem has been showing up for at least 6 months make a bold move by contacting a mentor/coach personally and ask for help and advice.
Isn’t it time you took action?
Are you overwhelmed, overworked, stressed, dealing with self-doubt, and a poor work/life balance?
Do you want to become more confident, sleep better, accelerate your performance, and be the successful leader you were always meant to be?