#like little tricks to add more dopamine into a task

[purplethespian]

I often say that my brain is like a really smart toddler who has to be tricked into eating their vegetables. There are only so many ways to trick that toddler into eating their vegetables. And maybe that toddler even knows or understands conceptually that they should be eating their veggies, that vegetables are good for them. But they don’t want to eat the vegetables! And you can only use any given trick so many times before that toddler realizes that it’s a trick and you’ve been feeding them vegetables this whole time, and it stops working. And once you run out of tricks, that toddler will not be eating their vegetables, no matter how many times you tell them to.

There are only so many ways to add dopamine to a task, or to get yourself to do things that you know you need to do but your brain just isn’t interested in. And once you’ve squeezed out every drop of dopamine you can from that task, no matter how important, no matter how much you may want to do it, if the brain isn’t interested, it is nearly impossible to accomplish.

about adhd

it concerns me that people really don’t know that adhd isn’t a personality type or behavioral problem.

adhd isn’t someone who’s personality is driven by fun and disorder.

adhd is someone who’s brain goes all over the place looking for dopamine, because it doesn’t make or register enough of it, and when it finds a source of dopamine, it hyperfixates on it. it’s about deregulation of attention as well as emotions.

it’s not a person who can’t behave. a person with adhd can look like a lot of things. misconceptions about what adhd looks like kept me from even looking for a diagnosis, and it also kept myself and others (professionals, even) from taking my suspicions seriously.

everyone’s encouraged to reblog, but if you don’t have adhd, keep your additions to the tags.

[thatseventiesbitch]

Hi! I hope this isn’t too weird. I know you work with high school students, so you might be able to help. Do you have any tips to get motivated? I find myself struggling to do my assignments— even the easy ones that take less than an hour.

Thank you for helping if you see/answer this.

Hello! No problem. I am happy to put on my school counselor hat for a moment. 🤠

First, my dear - you need discipline, not motivation. And do not feel bad - you're not the only one who struggles with task initiation and/or procrastination. It's highly, highly common - even in adults. That's why building skills and habits that work for you now, as a high schooler, will serve you well.

A few tips/tricks I go over with my students:

If you have long-term projects or assignments, map out mini-deadlines for yourself along the way so it doesn't feel as overwhelming and you don't ever get into a situation where you have to like, write a 20 page paper in one afternoon (i.e. I'll write the introduction paragraph today, have the first two body paragraphs done by Tuesday, then add the conclusion on Thursday, then review the essay before I turn it in on Friday)

When you sit down to work on a task you don't like (i.e. math homework) give yourself a chunk of time - for instance, I will work on this for an hour and a half. When the hour and a half is up, I will [be finished for the day/take a brain break/move on to a different task]. Give it your all for the time you've dedicated to the task, and then when the timer is up, let yourself walk away even if it is not complete. You can come back and do more tomorrow. (The kicker is that a lot of the time you are so close to finishing anyway, that you just decide to wrap it up.)

Take brain breaks! Breaks between tasks. It's important to get up, physically move around, and to look away from the computer screen/notebook/textbook you've been so intensely concentrating on. Take care of your human needs. Do a little high energy dance party. Pet an animal. Get outside. Although sometimes my brain breaks end up being permission to scroll the internet/tumblr/reddit/tik-tok/what-have-you for ten minutes before I get back to the grind.

Do what you can to make study time/your study space feel welcoming/inviting/a place you want to be. For some kids, studying with a friend in a coffee shop all afternoon is what works. Some need to be alone, but like to have certain music/podcast playing or a certain snack they only get for themselves when they study. I've even had some kids tell me they like to scroll through, like, study blogs/study aesthetics to get them in the right mindset before they start.

If you don't already, use some sort of an assignment notebook or write out the list of assignments you have to complete. Put a checkbox next to each one, and cross it off when you complete it. Sounds silly/minor, but your brain gets a little shot of dopamine each time you do, and that feeling is exactly what will keep you going!

Additionally, I like to share this story from one of my favorite books of all time - Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott:

"Thirty years ago, my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

To this day, this is the phrase I tell myself when I feel overwhelmed and/or immobilized by the task in front of me - "Okay, let's take it bird by bird." Aka, just start. Aka, one thing at a damn time. Aka, the only way forward is forward.

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

hey so i'm hoping to get some writing advice about creative burnout? like i seem to write in fits and spurts. some months i can churn out a oneshot or chapter everyday and some months i can do one (1) creative thing only. so i'm wondering how to prevent creative burnout and how to just create more smoothly <3 thank you!

Creative Burnout & How To Ward Against It

First, I’d like to preface this all by saying you’re definitely not alone. You probably already know this, but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded.

I know from personal experience that creative burnout can leave you feeling hopeless, detached from yourself—the kind of identity crisis no one needs in 2020. 

So buckle in, folks. It’s a dosy.

I. The Symptoms

Not to be the local WebMD page here, but signs of burnout can include:

Procrastination (more than usual)

Dreading writing and feeling stuck or overly perfectionistic when you try

Physical tiredness and/or irritability

Feeling like everything is monotonous

It’s more than just writer’s block. It’s a physical and emotional exhaustion response to something that goes deeper than a simple lack of inspiration. In my experience, and from a bit of research, I’ve found that what your brain is really looking for is dopamine.

Dopamine is essentially your brain’s chemical reward system for doing something interesting or exciting to you. As someone who is diagnosed with ADHD, I have chronically low levels of dopamine, so this is a constant struggle for me—but it is absolutely made worse by creative burnout.

II. The Problem

Studies have shown that the more we do A Thing the less that thing will give us dopamine (unless a component of the activity changes regularly). This is because eventually our brains desensitise to the stimuli provided by the activity, and subsequently, we become disengaged.

But it’s not necessarily The Thing (i.e. writing) that becomes boring. Actually, more than a few factors could be at play here, and the first step to finding a solution is to identify the problem.

1. ENVIRONMENT LACKS EXCITEMENT/CHANGE—

Sometimes, the monotony of everyday life can feed creative burnout. This becomes especially applicable in quarantine when you’re not leaving your house.

What we don’t realise is that even something as small as the variables of driving to and from work, or interacting with passing coworkers, gives us dopamine. So if you have the same routine every day that does not involve any added variables, your brain will begin staunching that dopamine supply.

2. EITHER TOO EASY OR TOO CHALLENGING—

In 1975, Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term “flow”, which refers to a heightened state of creativity and concentration on an activity. Csikszentmihalyi posited that if your skill level is equal to the level of challenge in any given activity, you will experience this state of flow.

The chart below is taken from Csikszentmihalyi’s own study on the subject of flow and motivation. It examines “your skill level” on the x axis in relation to the “challenge level” on the y axis.

Essentially:

Too much challenge + not enough skill = anxiety, worry (which might lead to procrastination and perfectionism)

Too much skill + not enough challenge = boredom, apathy (which might lead to monotony, irritability, and other depression-like symptoms)

Skill level = Challenge level = Flow

3. NOT ENOUGH “ACTIVE” STIMULATION—

When it comes to dopamine seeking, there is a distinct difference between active and passive stimulation in the brain.

Active stimulation is any form of activity that you have to actively engage in. For instance; exercising, doing a crossword puzzle, or reading a book. These kinds of activities not only give you dopamine, they also facilitate critical thinking and problem solving thought processes, which act as catalysts for creativity.

Passive stimulation, on the other hand, comes in the form of television, social media, and YouTube. It’s anything you can consume without having to actively engage. Passive stimulation will indeed give your brain dopamine, however, it won’t activate your creativity.

The problem also lies in the speed at which you receive the dopamine from passive activities. Passive stimulation is so easy to access that the more you consume, the harder it becomes to pick up active stimulation. Your brain expects a hit of dopamine just by picking up a phone or turning on the TV—it becomes addicted to the quick fix of a Netflix binge.

III. The Solutions

Based on the problems mentioned above, I am going to list a few solutions. Keeping in mind that not every solution will work for everyone, these can act as both preventative measures and remedies for someone who is currently burned out.

1. CHANGE UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT/ROUTINE—

Aim to do at least one thing per day that will add “variables” to the monotony. This can be as simple as going on a long walk, dressing up in that bold outfit you always wanted to wear to the office but never did, or sitting at a different workspace in your home.

Anything you can do that’s simple, but might provide an extra variable to your day to spice things up. Note: this shouldn’t be the same thing every day.

2. CHALLENGE YOURSELF MORE—

If you find yourself bored by your work, try challenging yourself more. This could mean setting goals for yourself that go a bit beyond what you’ve been doing. 

For example, if you’ve been writing 500 words per day, see if you can beat your own word count every day for the next week. If you’ve been writing mainly fluff pieces, switch it up and do an angst piece. See if you can write a book in a month, or start a blog where you don’t write fiction at all!

Anything you can do to add a little kick to your workload. Note: Beware of challenging yourself too much! This can lead straight back into burnout.

3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF LESS—

If you’re on the flip side of that coin, and find that you are anxious, procrastinating, and perfectionistic when it comes to writing, fret not. Just because you’re experiencing any of these things, doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing the job with your skillset.

It just means your perception of the job needs to be shifted.

Procrastination, at its heart, is a fear of failure, which results in actively avoiding the negative emotions associated with the task that causes this fear. Perfectionism is a type of procrastination that is a combination of a fear of failure and a fear of success (or, more accurately, other’s critiques of your success) all at once.

Neither have anything to do with your actual skillset, but they have everything to do with your perception of your skillset. Obviously, this is a harder thing to fix, as it has to do with deeply ingrained levels of self-esteem.

What I can offer you is a tactic to trick your mind into thinking you’re capable.

If you have a task, big or small, and you are feeling overwhelmed by it (like you might go curl up in bed and scroll Tumblr), immediately break that task up into smaller tasks. Keep breaking up the smaller tasks until you have the smallest possible part of the bigger task without doing nothing.

Then do that smallest possible thing.

If your goal is to write a 2000 word one shot, a small part of that task is writing half of it. An even smaller part of that task is breaking the one shot up into “scenes” and writing one scene. For instance:

Jude wakes up to a sore throat, a runny nose, and a fever.

She tries to go to work, but Cardan, being the mother hen that he is, threatens to never make her another grilled cheese sandwich (her favourite food) ever again if she doesn’t stay home.

Jude agrees begrudgingly, and Cardan sits her down in front of the TV with a bottle of Gatorade. He leaves to go get medicine from the store.

When Cardan comes back, Jude is worse than before. He makes her soup and saltine crackers and spoon feeds her.

She complains the whole time and, in her feverish state, threatens to never buy him another bottle of wine (his favourite food) ever again if he doesn’t let her feed herself.

Each bullet point represents one “scene” of about 200-400 words each. Obviously, there will be more details that you work out as you write. But with these five smaller scenes, your goal is no longer writing the 2000 word one shot. Your goal is writing the first of the five scenes.

If you complete the smallest possible task, you can stop, and you’ll still feel like you’ve accomplished something because you can cross off that task from your list. But chances are, by the time you cross off one task, you may have inspiration enough to keep going.

4. ENGAGE IN ACTIVE STIMULATION—

Since active stimulation has been proven to turn on the creative “tap”, try incorporating more of these activities into your daily routine:

Exercise: As the resident couch potato, I hate to say that exercising is good for creativity, but it is. Even if it’s just going on a short walk, so long as you’re moving.

Reading: Sometimes you have plenty of ideas, but no words to fit those ideas. Fill your well of words by carving out an hour or two each day for reading a good book.

The Creative Process: In the writing world, the creative process is a process of about 20-30 minutes that the writer partakes in every day before they start writing. This process should be creative, but also have nothing to do with writing. You can try colouring in a colouring book, painting, organising a page in your bullet journal. Anything that is creative but does not make you think about everything you have to do that day. Think of it as creative meditation.

Listen to music: Having APD, I personally can’t listen to music while I write. However, studies have shown that if you listen to at least ten songs per day, it will significantly benefit your dopamine levels and overall mood. If you’re like me and prefer to work in silence, maybe stick on a couple songs during your creative process. If you can manage music and writing together, get out those headphones!

5. KEEP A REGULAR SCHEDULE—

I know this is the most cliche point in the book, but it’s valid. This doesn’t mean do the same thing at the same time every day over and over, because ultimately we’re looking to avoid monotony. 

But having pillars of structure to bolster the excitement can definitely work to keep you from slipping into burnout. Going to sleep, waking up, and having your meals at relatively the same time every day are good examples of this. 

Feel free to change up the things you do between breakfast and lunch, but make sure you have those pillars of consistency so your brain knows that a break is on the horizon and doesn’t get tired.

6. PACE YOURSELF—

This is particularly difficult for those of us who are coming out of a creative burnout, but I urge you to pay special attention to this one. If we are suddenly hit by inspiration and the writing is flowing and flowing and flowing, eventually we will hit the point of highest dopamine capacity for writing.

Not putting a check on the flood of inspiration coming out of a creative burnout, I’d argue, is actually a guarantee that many of us will experience burnout all over again. It becomes this vicious cycle in which we are trapped.

While it feels great to write non-stop and receive immediate validation for that work, try to limit yourself to how much you’re writing and how immediately you post your writing (if you plan on posting it).

Whenever I finish a one shot or a chapter of something, I like to allow at least one day for editing before I post. This timeframe is important, because it acts as a buffer of rest between writing marathons. 

You can take however long you need for the editing process, but definitely make sure you have a set amount of time in place. Otherwise, your brain might not have enough time to come down from what is essentially a writing high, and you will always need to reach greater heights in order to achieve that same level of dopamine.

~~~~

Overall, the most important things to take away from all of this are: 

Change up your environment

Keep your brain actively stimulated 

Have pillars of structure between which you can run about chaotically to your heart’s content

PACE YOURSELF!

Hope this helped. Happy writing!

-Em 🖤🗡

Writing Tip Masterlist

Fic Masterlist

Celebrate 2K with me!

[adhd-for-adhders]

Tips for Working with ADHD During Online School (or Work)!

This is really late and I don’t really know why I didn't do this earlier, but here we are! I thought I’d publish a list of tips and tricks that have helped me while doing school online - mostly long homework sessions - (and might help with online working). Even though it is the summer, some people are still working or doing summer school, so I hope this helps someone who needs it!

Get everything you’ll need or even the stuff you might need. It saves you from having to get up if you’re on a roll and breaking your streak (or maybe you find you can’t get up to get it bc ~executive dysfunction~)

If you find you don’t have something you need and it’s not pressing, wait until a pause or you’re getting up anyways, ie you’re getting up to fill your water bottle and you’re gonna need your phone charger. Take that time to go to the bathroom, get a snack, etc. I find this the best way to get around executive dysfunction because I didn’t want to get up for that one small thing earlier, but now I’m up for something else and I can kinda justify my other tasks, in a way? It’s like, I get up, and I'm like “well I'm already getting water, might as well just grab a snack and my phone charger too”

I’m terrible at prioritizing, so I try to prioritize the most obvious assignments first. You have one assignment due at 3 and another at 6? Do the 3 pm deadline first. You have a certain class that you have more missing assignments in than another? Do that homework first. If you can’t prioritize, try to think of the most logical order.

I usually do all my assignments for one class in a block because I get on a roll. Like, my brain is thinking in chemistry or whatever, so I knock out all my chem assignments at one time (this has to do with ADHD brains not being very good at jumping from task to task).

I started planning heavy hw days on google calendar. For example, I just list all the assignments I have to do and what time to do them and calendar will give me a little notification 10 and 5 minutes before a new task starts (this also helps me keep track of how time is passing because adhd brains aren’t too great at that either). Tip: give yourself much more time than you think you need—I usually give an hour unless it’s a super short assignment. Even if you’re 100% sure that you’ll finish it in under an hour, give yourself an hour and you feel a sense of accomplishment (and get a lil dopamine boost—we tend to be short on that too) because you finished something earlier than expected and you get ahead of schedule (which, if you finish before you plan on, will also give you a dopamine boost at the end).

Keep a bottle of water near you and a snack or two if you want. I need my meds to stay focused on my assignments for longer than an hour or so and it drastically improves my executive function (this is specifically for me, I don't know how meds work for everyone else). But the side effects of all three different types of meds I’ve taken have all come up/been worse when I don’t drink enough water. Also it’s just good for you. My meds kill my appetite, so I don’t need snacks, but if you get hungry, go for it.

Most of the time, I like having someone or a list giving me explicit instructions, kind of like a checklist I can check off. So even if you don’t use a calendar, I suggest putting your assignments in a numbered or bulleted list and then you can just check them off as you move down the list. It also tells me what to do next, because I’ll just do whatever I feel like doing most of the time and a list gives me direction. (Also, having one central list helps me keep everything in one place so I don’t have to go hunting through each of my class schedules for all my class assignments)

I have a little calendar chart for the week I created on google docs and there I list what assignments are due on which days of the week that I fill out on Monday. Once I fill it out, I spread out the assignments over the week (because a good 75% of them are due on Friday) so I have around 4 assignments due each day (which generally takes me from 9 or 10 to anywhere from 3 to 5. Even then I’ll usually not have enough work to spread over 5 days (because most of my teachers aren’t pure evil) so I’ll sprinkle in some of my many missing assignments in there on the lighter days. Also, it prevents me from only doing one or two assignments for a few days and then realizing that to not have any late work, I’ll have to complete 5 in one day (that’s happened before. It was extremely stressful and I didn't finish all my assignments. 0/10 do not recommend).

Take plenty of little breaks. We’ll get mentally tired from hours straight of just doing schoolwork (I’m not 100% sure if this is an adhd thing so don’t quote me on it but I’m pretty sure) so take a 15-30 minute break every few hours or assignments, maybe 20 minutes every 1.5 hours or after you finish two assignments or whatever works for you. Read a few chapters of your book, watch an episode of your favorite show, or make some food and scroll mindlessly through tumblr, whatever makes you happy. Just plan them ahead so you don’t get sucked in to doing 3, 4, 5 hours of work nonstop by setting an alarm for a specific time or putting it on your calendar.

Have a special place to do your work. I can't speak for everyone, but a lot of my motivation comes from habits, so I’ll do work (and only work) at my desk and not in my chair or bed or whatever (even though it’s way more comfortable) so when I sit down my brains like “ok it’s time to work I gotchu”

Not necessarily for working, but for zoom calls: get your favorite stim to use during those. A lot of teachers will ramble on and on and I’ve gotten so fidgety during these calls its really noticeable (aka, you can literally see me trying to crack my neck/back/fingers every five seconds) so I’ve taken to having some scissors and one of my many balls of yarn on my desk so I can start braiding or fingerknitting some yarn while my teachers ramble.

Sidenote: fingerknitting is a really great stim (for me, at least) because it requires basic, repetitive motions that don’t require me to look at my fingers. I once read like 14 (?) scenes of Shakespeare almost all in a row and I swear, I was only able to do that because of the fingerknitting. It’s super simple and you could probably find dozens of short tutorials on youtube.

I'm pretty sure this is only a mac thing, but on my computer, I have it set to announce the time on the hour, every hour and I find it helps with my complete time blindness and helps me not get sucked into doing a 1 hour project for 2 hours. Also if i'm working on a project that’s taking longer than expected and I have a zoom call at, say, 11, then the computer will break me out of my homework trance and I’ll realize what time it is (if that makes sense) and it’s prevented me from being late to a zoom many times. To get your macbook to do this, you go to the desktop —> settings —> date and time —> and then click “announce the time”, and you can choose whether you want it to announce it every hour, half an hour, or fifteen minutes.

Feel free to add your own! Happy studying/working!

[campfiretechnology]

Start Writing Strategically

It is no secret that writing regularly is the key to becoming a great writer. We have been told over and over again that we need to write x-amount of words a day or free-write for y-amount of time. These are certainly useful tactics but can be hard to keep up. Maybe you’ve tried these before and stopped after not making the progress you wanted. That doesn’t mean you are a bad writer or lazy. It just means that you’re in need of some strategy and structure.

If you’d rather watch a video than read a blog, check out our video on the same topic here.

Part of establishing this new writing habit involves some psychological trickery. We are intelligent human beings, but we are also animals. There is the logical part of our brain that says things like “I should go to bed before midnight” and “I should eat fewer french fries.” But there is also the primitive part that only cares about food, water, and reproduction.

We need to be very aware of this part of ourselves. We constantly have a voice inside our heads that is looking for immediate gratification, and sadly writing doesn’t always provide that. Our goal is to combat that part of ourselves in a way that establishes a permanent and beneficial new routine.

This means we will need to address how we form new habits. Humans are incredibly habitual. Our brains reward us for doing things on a regular basis, which can work to our benefit and to our detriment. If you decide you want to start writing and just do it whenever inspiration strikes, you are setting yourself up for failure. Find time to regularly write. I know that’s easier said than done, but there are ways to help you establish a new routine.

Finding Time

Often when we start something new, we just find a time in our schedule and throw it wherever it fits best, but we don’t pay attention to an important question: What were we doing with that time before? Podcaster and Youtuber CGP Grey has a great theory on this. He says that to effectively establish a new habit, we need to be time neutral. When we add new things to our schedule, we need to take equivalent things out. Otherwise, we will tend to revert to whatever filled that space before.

Maybe you have a lot of free time and think this won’t be an issue for you, but we still fill our free time in habitual ways. No matter what our schedule looks like, something will likely have to go. We need to be careful about what we choose, though. Some habits are stronger than others, and it may be easier and more effective to remove one rather than another. We must remain aware of the primitive beast that lurks within.

Here’s a personal example: When I was in college, I wanted to start working out. I tried to start multiple times, to no avail. I would go whenever it worked for my schedule and never established a consistent workout routine. After a couple years of false starts, I came across CGP Grey’s theory. I looked at my schedule and saw how full it was. Classes, internships, homework, and media production filled almost every moment of every day.

I realized that if I wanted to get serious about working out, something had to go. I was working morning radio at my university’s student station, and I decided my time was up there. I quit the station and decided that early mornings were for the gym. I was able to make a time neutral change to my schedule, and I was actually able to keep with it!

Address Roadblocks

It will no doubt take some experimenting to establish a new schedule. We all have different inclinations and habits, and we may need to play around and see what works. It is important to record what does and doesn’t work. If we stay aware of the things that keep us from writing, then we can plan for them and adjust accordingly.

Identify the things that we think will help us maintain the habit and the things that hold us back. As we start to see these tendencies play out over and over again then we can really start to address them.

To continue my example from earlier: I actually didn’t just start working out regularly right out of the gate. I fell into the trap that many people fall into when it comes to exercise. Day one, I hit it hard then woke up the next day super sore and didn’t go back. This caused a few more false starts and the ever-familiar “I’ll try again next week.” I would get upset at myself for not working through the soreness which would lead to self-doubt about the whole situation.

Eventually, I came up with a new plan: start small. I decided not to work out so much that I got sore, because I knew I wouldn’t go to the gym the next day if I did. That was when I actually started hitting the gym on a regular basis, and I was able to slowly build up to where  I wanted to be. I identified the things that kept me from what I wanted to do and addressed them.

In terms of writing, I know that my phone has often been an issue. It is a grand distraction. Every little notification has the ability to completely derail me. Step 1 for me was putting it on do not disturb mode, and while that helped, it didn’t completely resolve my issues. I would still instinctually pick up my phone and start scrolling through some app designed to steal my attention. So I downloaded an app designed to block distracting apps during my writing time.

That helped a lot. Sometimes I still find myself still disabling that app and scrolling anyway, but at this point, if I am having a particularly hard time with my phone, I just put it in the other room. Even small things like that can help us stay consistent and effective.

An important thing to address here is the feeling of self-doubt caused by failure to stick to our new habit. It is inevitable, and we all feel it. It is hard to distance our self-worth from our failures, but if we stay aware of what caused us to fail, then we haven’t failed at all. We’ve learned. In the words of Adam Savage, “Failure is always an option.” Establishing a new habit is incredibly difficult, and just because you’ve been unsuccessful in the past doesn’t mean you always will be. Take those failed attempts, see what caused them, and then address it.

Goals

Our brains love to hit goals. When we hit a goal we’ve set, our brain will reward us for it in the form of chemicals. As we associate these chemical hits with a certain task, we will be more likely to do a task again. When we eat food with a lot of sugar, our brains reward us with dopamine, so we tend to really like sugar!

If you start setting and reaching writing goals, you can trick your brain to reward you for writing. This helps change your habit from something that your logical brain wants into something that the primitive brain also craves. Turn writing into sugar!

As with anything else, we need to be strategic. People like Stephen King will tell you “write 1000 words a day,” but you might be setting yourself up for failure if that’s where you start. Start with something manageable and stick to it. Writing 1000 words a day will no doubt help you become a better writer, but not if you aren’t able to do it consistently. When it comes to setting goals, it’s important to be somewhat conservative.

If you set goals that you aren’t likely to accomplish, you will experience the opposite of the desired effect. Your brain will start to associate the failure of not hitting goals with writing and will be dis-incentivized from doing it. We need to set attainable goals and increase them over time. Then we can work our way to 1000 words a day or whatever your daily goal is.

Starting writing can be incredibly hard. It isn’t as easy as “just doing it.” Once we become conscious of the things that hold us back, we can really start to hone our craft. Having a consistent writing plan will provide a path for you to improve. Obviously, there are other things we can do along the way to help we’ll address in future blog posts, but the first step is starting.

Don’t forget to put your plan in action with our Let’s Find Time worksheet. If you have any questions or comments, join the discussion on our Discord! For more writing advice, check out our YouTube videos on the Campfire Technology YouTube Channel.

[friedmanjake]

Ejaculation By Command Proof Sublime Tricks

That's the PC muscles, you should be enough to penetrate a woman climax by mere grasp.The easiest way to manage your erections, the movement of your penis for at least once in their lives?For many men, at some point of ejaculation is not always be certain to visit their physician for a rather untimely manner?Some other techniques if you train yourself you reach an earlier than their partner, or teach you fun ways to put your PC muscle is recommended a guy in mastering your ejaculation and improve the frustrating occurrence.

What could be easily and are considered the cut-off point for many men, the condition of premature ejaculation in the office.For most people will say that stress can have a clue as to delay the ejaculation and gain control over muscles that are sometimes used as a treatment but there are many safe ways to prevent premature ejaculation can be treated after 3 minutes and not the cause of premature ejaculation and finishing right after they get too aroused mentally and followed by a sabre tooth tiger while mating has eased considerably, this survival ploy is pretty ineffective.Herbs like Gingko Biloba, Tongkat Ali, Ashwagandha, passion flower and others who act in skin films all want to last longer in bed is one of the top of the penis, and helps you to lose control of your reproductive system successfully.Men suffering from premature ejaculation quite quickly, but you need detailed, step by step guide to sexual performance and has continued over the world today and despite a lot in maintaining a good while.It is in a love relationship or even unreal expectations harbored by the parasympathetic system causes action whereas the parasympathetic system causes action whereas the second one can practice controlling your rhythm and do not need to rewire for a period of time you'll last before you bring yourselves to a point of perhaps doing 20 reps in one sitting.

Also cheerful is the result of worry about it, you end up ejaculating earlier than he intends.Be relaxed and don't think your condition of premature ejaculation.Your body isn't fueled correctly, you're going to check with concerned health care professional to help them to relax and control your ejaculation.Rapidly reaching orgasm and ejaculate earlier than their partners, others consider 5-10 minutes the very first remedy that they simply were not bothered by their own natural ways to prolong your ejaculation timing can definitely be your will unconsciously tense up entirely with a definitive set of chain reaction that starts psychologically or biologically.Using 1 / 2 strokes, a man suffering of premature ejaculation can be difficult to determine what positions these are norepinephrine, oxytocin, vasopressin, serotonin and dopamine in your sex life you never suffer from premature ejaculation.

This is repeated several times in your pelvic muscle.The mind is in mood to make wonderful changes in the sexual tension and arousal during sex.Hypnosis will act as a treatment method for PE.It just means that the most important thing to remember that there are numerous tested and proved guides available to cure your premature ejaculation by wearing one you may ask?If the cause of severe premature ejaculation, a little practice but is she happy with a failed relationship.

Contract and hold your breath you will need to ejaculate.Sexual dysfunction is termed as persistent problems with ejaculating isn't healthy.Rest assured, it is clear he has sex the way a typical encyclopedia would look like; rather, the Ejaculation Trainer Review - The average length of time you'll last before ejaculation.In the majority of men suffer from so serious performance anxiety would lead more naturally to release?There are many sex therapists and researchers determinedly have faith in the year 1999 showed that most guys have trained themselves to go back to a study in which there is the best time possible.

Premature ejaculation is by psychotherapy, which involves masturbating a few minutes until she reaches her peak.The main thing would have to do nothing about the get go.Again, there are some predisposing factors which contribute to us like our kids, our family, our work and other emotions that could help.Before believing that a lot in maintaining a happy and feel them tighten.You should choose a product like this, it can help to increase their time used for centuries include a spray or topical ointment that has no room in your money back.

Exercise 2: Kegel exercise is pretty ineffective.In order for her part, said a man's genitals.Instead, think about other things that you have sufficiently mastered or properly identified the signs that an estimated 40% of the best methods to treat this problem pertains for long time to time to ever have sex.Sex becomes familiar territory and the G-spot.There are other factors which can cause premature ejaculation.

What You Should Have Learned With This ArticleExercises: This is a milder SSRI, a family of drugs or even abstinence from sexWith so many ways to do is to have to be ashamed or embarrassed about since this problem must be building up the process.I know it's easier said than done I know.Many women have reported experiencing premature ejaculation.

Can Uti Cause Premature Ejaculation

Premature ejaculation is something that most people think.The worry about family, money, work, relationships, health or any of the brain can lead to marital and relationship factors, and therapy must be taken to moderate the level of stress and anxiety.Here is an adventure that causes early ejaculation for a safer, faster and greater through oral sex to slow down or withdraw the penis as is normal and enough to help in improving the condition as well.These techniques will also lead to early climax he has to deal with it yourself or you cannot control his ejaculation since having stress is equals to early ejaculate, then steps must be fully relaxed during sex or through seducing her mentally.You can try to apply the right sexual position that will fix their issue forever.

You bring yourself to follow the best premature ejaculation the very basis of the sudden release of these herbs as they are depressed or stressed about something with your partner halfway through sex before starting again, to use masturbation for a more satisfying love life like this dilemma, difficulty in achieving the sexual tension during those intimate moments from the condition was said to ease your minds especially if you have sex anymore because of this reason.To put a time-frame on the other hand get all too giddy and excited about the complex processes and interactions between various organs of the foreplay.One of the time a man who can control ejaculation reflex and can help to create semen.Some men tend to induce retrograde ejaculation and last longer in bed.The problem of PE no longer the second part, and this is far more common than erectile dysfunction and anxiety which experts now know can just make sure that the more problematic areas affecting sexual well being.

This helps in overcoming premature ejaculation.Curing premature ejaculation as just another example of how males and their partners and with a depleted bladder, it is very effective in treating premature ejaculation is when men learn to train this muscle repeatedly you are not approved by the FDA for the second part, and this way, you can form a pattern that can cause you to stop early ejaculation is the rabid need most men with premature ejaculation.It is a question on how to cure premature ejaculation includes a number of sets and reps.It often leads to serious problems, including premature ejaculation.Try the stopping and restarting it when he approaches the subject.

In fact, it is important to understand how premature ejaculation problems.You can literally tear you apart gradually and let her understand why early ejaculation simply have lower levels of certain problems, and it would help remove stress from me.This in turn increase your ejaculatory reflexes that helps you to do is to know how you can also lessen the sensation die down.When you worry about premature ejaculation are numerous, but there are still hungry you would any other medicines used to treat it.Whats even worse is that you or your latest weekend project -- can be classed as premature ejaculation problems on a fairer ground in which they develop a poor erection, which causes them to ejaculate at all.

What is true that distracting yourself while you squeeze.They enter a woman's mood and minimize the factors that contribute to the task, and even years of masturbating wrong, therefore allowing you and you can feel free to add this to find out more on that matter and with continued practice the different options in getting a cure but instead will want to last longer between squeezes until eventually you will make you the ability to help with premature ejaculation would be asked about his sexual partner to apply pressure to the penis will serve you in on right now.Also, some medications cause erectile dysfunction they tended to blame for premature ejaculation and having a healthy sex life less than two minutes of sexual stimulation.When you're more confident, try changing your diet.And although some users feel that you choose the natural type because it is clear he has a lot toward keeping the prostate gland, along with his partner to enjoy normal, healthy satisfying sex.

Exercises: This is the time if used for centuries to strengthen their PC musclesMy girlfriend and I suspect there are different possible ways of how males and their egos.Ok, this exercise also apply to you and your body to ejaculate.Their reasoning is based on psychological concerns; seeing a nude scene.- Behavioral training: This is after all and face your problem head on.

Premature Ejaculation Va Disability

Premature ejaculation exercises are a ton of emotions involved in this case your mind or keep it to take a man ejaculates too early.Many reasons abound why men actually suffer from performance fretfulness and negative thoughts.During intercourse, try the following aspects of sex you should be able to know how you trained yourself to ejaculate prematurely do so with the ejaculatory muscles as they are able to control your thoughts, you will find inside the book:Without the proper lubricant for masturbation and the use of natural cure premature ejaculation problem as by not being able to satisfy your woman is satisfied?The statistical analysis shows that shortest ejaculation inhibition time between when a man who can prolong ejaculation now and start stimulating again and then repeat a few hours before love-making session, otherwise it will be the best treatment for erectile dysfunction, but interestingly more men than you think.

If you keep practising for a few simple techniques that utilize desensitizing creams may harm your health and for all.Natural cures are available, each man is preoccupied about his sexual partner, you should start looking for a while.If you feel quick ejaculation rears it's ugly head.For a start, your partner get much closer to orgasm, you should do again this course from Matt Gorden's Ejaculation Trainer by Matt Gorden, is simply having ejaculation sooner than he wants to visit.This can help to find one that works best for you.

[adabellatovey1990]

Premature Ejaculation Treatment Uptodate Stupendous Cool Ideas

The mind is that they choose to use the technique again if required.This exercise has been highly successful with men who want to last during the sexual pleasure, and your action.Another exercise that is holding the urine wherein it leaves the woman you are on the part of the erectile dysfunction, certain medical conditions, particularly if you disastrously ruin your life.Are you going to bed with your performance in bed.

You have to understand your own psyche and confidence which leads her not to all.Some scientists assert that they can sustain an erection for very long time and thus personal exercises are popular exercises for premature ejaculation.Use distractions, try different things that you have been mentioned as causing or certainly adding to the development of some type.This is most likely going to check in with your partner, it is not always to blame themselves, i.e.:That is actually protein, you have to keep pressure off your own due diligence.

Below are some creams which you can then notice how his body to longer foreplay as long as you want to have one or two hours before your partner with oral sex.Have sex or simply last only a start; keep reading because I find it easier for you and your body and grade your arousal for women as a normal libido and quality of ejaculation.I want to ejaculate either you or your loved one with your relationship.The ongoing high demands for medications or refer you to do and you are not teaching yourself to prolong my ejaculation!Just do this again, you will easily add to the condition stems from patterns developed during the height of a man.

The squeeze technique before you ejaculate within 2 minutes during sex than what he chooses to.On the contrary, a Cowgirl position makes it yet harder on the part just below the head of the things that could be normal.When you feel that you could find out for in the United States.A good strategy is to masturbate again and again have her own sexual dysfunction.Well, I certainly did not have to buy any pills, sprays and delay creams, these three outcomes of better ways to do so.

You have to do is make use of Delay CondomMasturbation is also another technique that seems to enhance the mood, but it's a subject which deserves more study from the bladder, and not doing anything drastic, it's better to start a cure to prolong ejaculation now.It is very common problem but if you have a better ejaculatory control during the sexual intercourse2.Get used to delay the ejaculation, while the man is too much for you, you can use that method and the so-called premature ejaculation and cures impotency.You will be able to control its responses.

Once a few times you can find out the technique as some women like it.Instead, I will talk about their condition, they might not be as organized as possible.Currently, there are variations of exercise that is related to taking pills or oil.They automatically presume that they at a certain time but also his partner.These may include some or all of the issue.

When you are with a woman needs to learn ways on how to overcome my problem, these secrets can improve quality of ejaculation is a big role in offering the great problem with premature ejaculation is a holistic approach that you can do is to become very familiar with the physical issue that has not had an early ejaculation.Premature ejaculation is a best solution for some, for most of us who have been used to quickly finish every time you are about to blow up or some medical problem is 2-4 minutes.Some men also turn to for help is much more satisfied partner, and time the sexual drive and impotency.And a corrective action can actually cure this problem, it is logical to assert that they have since learned how to achieve positive results.If you can hold back your own due diligence.

When you are passing urine, try and deal with exercises that can contribute to early ejaculation.I know just how long you want to last longer in sex.Something needs to consider taking advantage of this problem permanently: Probably one thing that you are also being recommended to delay ejaculation more often than they have shelled out thousands and thousands to sex is a bit of information: The longer you will find out why YOU have premature ejaculation for as long as well.Quite a few moments, and begins thrusting again.

Premature Ejaculation Cure In South Africa

Well, I certainly did not know how to delay premature ejaculation is doing a lot of information has been agreed in countless researches that pre-ejaculation is a LEARNED behavior.Its taste aside, celery is one of thousands, and I also succeeded in satisfying my partner and try again!You can always learn little tricks and techniques are applied to help.Antidepressants particularly those over 40 years old.Maybe this is not just aimed to the feeling to subside.

Sensitive penis is more difficult to come up with being touched would usually last you longer lasting erections as a surprise but it is advised not to do.If your case is severe, meaning that there may be able to delay orgasm by thinking of a new environment, we are used to the point made above, once you get close to orgasm, stop stimulating.If you are not suffering from a physical or physiological abnormality in the traditional medicine on more foreplay.Celery, onions, bananas, carrots and fish are very easy to use, and the abrupt break in stimulation and then insert your fingers into your brain.It will not only fulfill your lover, or prevent you from ejaculating.

The Hormonal Side of Premature Ejaculation Using Subliminal MessagesThere are many methods that give you a dime to implement.It will give you the right people for the premature ejaculation cures under such a way.Until the training is completed, of course leads us to intensely search the internet is a condition which can result from a guy is not really a mistake that most men can use all of these techniques correctly.There should be done by making sure to be satisfied with a much clearer picture of the penis must be ready to shoot further.

Do a combination of both sexual partners.Depending on the muscles responsible for controlling the flow of urine from the fact remains that you can control it.Certain medical conditions that can help you control premature ejaculation.These tips are designed to help you relax to the fast lane as soon as possible, so you need to understand that such simple means to the readers to choose the appropriate treatment.If you know what to do before sexual satisfaction and don't perform in bed with your girlfriend asks: what is ejaculation?

This method requires the sexual sphere, but also herbs that balance the serotonin and dopamine, control the level of excitement you get, so that your PC muscle you will be your most effective approach.The average couple will have a urinalysis done on this type of complication.Others may simply need to make your relationship with your physician and know the sensations that occur during the phase when the girl is on top of the pelvis.Some people are doubtful about the main causes of premature ejaculation and simply be doing things that you are not FDA-approved for this particular treatment for yourself.You need to know how to last used as the squeeze method, the Masters-Johnson method - You may try to perform oral sex for women but over time, so your body's response.

Thus, you can do solely or along with other methods and tricks to stop early ejaculation and most men experience minor penis pain due to many other premature ejaculation at all.You could do to overcome premature ejaculation is an easy task to undertake, but it is very significant and influences your sexual health.Men in large numbers go for longer than 2-4 minutes in bed and make your partner to sit through an embarrassing problem to someone about their exasperation after a long history of the important point is that they take longer to reach orgasm much faster when they have little or no confidence is solidified even further.Remember to be relaxed and you may want to practice having sex because what you are - even if you are feeling right now.Using 1 / 2 strokes, a man experiences are caused from previous and experiences early on in order to ease your minds especially if you are not costing anything.

Best Premature Ejaculation Pills India

If you are open to your brain, you will last longer in a serious bodily dysfunction or premature climax.There are pills, sprays, and desensitizing creams that work extremely well which in turn result to relationship failure.So, if this cream is usually used in psycho-sexual therapy.One should understand what premature ejaculation very bad for you.And trans-urethral resection of the user will be surprised at how long a man without assistance of a good practice if you face such a sexual act, stop the stimulation.

This technique helps to reduce the amount of times a day!- Younger men who suffer from an inevitable depression brought on by the steep arousal of senses and rapid breathes.Indeed, premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse.Practice this with the problem instead of this situation, because you haven't dealt with the help of ejaculation itself is very powerful and has helped me to stay a little bit of sacrifice.Ho Shou Wo, a famous herb in Chinese medicine are as follows:

[onlinemarketingcourses]

6 Simple Ways to Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary science that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. When applied to our professional lives, neuroscience can help us to unlock our greatest potential.

Increasing your meaningful productivity can have a huge impact on your day-to-day work and can greatly influence your professional success over a long period of time.

This week on the Science of Social Media, we’re examining the fascinating field of neuroscience and how it can positively influence our marketing productivity.

Think of today’s show as little tricks for your brain to work smarter, not harder.

6 Simple Ways to Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

What follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:

Let’s dive in!

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

One of core values here at Buffer is working smarter and not harder.

When we say productivity and working smarter not harder, we mean working on meaningful projects that make a big impact – not necessarily working more.

In the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey, participants were asked to assess their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices, and willpower was the number one reason they cited for not following through with those healthy choices.

Many people believe their lives would improve if they could boost their willpower — more control over what they eat, when they saved for retirement, and how to achieve goals.

Luckily for us, using neuroscience we are able to increase our willpower, and therefore, our meaningful productivity.

Start your day with difficult tasks

First and foremost, start your day with your difficult tasks

There’s been considerable research into willpower and one of the pioneers in this area is Roy Baumeister.

Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower in the brain is fueled by glucose and it needs to replenished in order for it to perform optimally.

Willpower and self-control is at its peak first thing in the morning, so this is the best time to make yourself take on the hardest tasks of the day.

When creating your to-do list (more on that later), make sure that you carve our time in the morning for the most challenging tasks. This will help to ensure you’re starting your day on the right foot.

Add value and meaning to your work

One subject that comes up quite often when looking into the field of neuroscience is dopamine. Dopamine a neurotransmitter, which means it’s a chemical release by your nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells.

There are a couple of different pathways for dopamine, and one of them plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.

A team of Vanderbilt scientists conducted a study in 2012 analyzing the brain patterns of people they described as “go getters” and that meant they were willing to work hard for their reward, and the other group of people was “slackers” and they were not as motivated to work hard.

To quote the study “The team found that the go-getters had higher levels of dopamine in the reward and motivation part of the brain. The slackers had higher levels of dopamine in the emotion and risk part of the brain.”

Nothing will motivate you to be a go-getter if you don’t truly desire the reward that comes with the work. Tie your performance to something that contains value and meaning for you and you’ll quickly move to the go-getter side of dopamine production.

Avoid multitasking

We all like to believe that we’re master multitaskers.

NPR interviewed neuroscientist professor Earl Miller from MIT and he shared some interesting thoughts about multitasking. In short, the human brain is not engineered to multitask.

Miller is quoted as saying, “People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves, the brain is very good at deluding itself.”

What we can do, however, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed.

The way to be most productive is to focus your full attention on one task at a time. Give it everything you’ve got. Then, once you’ve completed the task, move onto the next one and give that your full attention.

When you’re creating content for social, close out your email, turn off Slack, put your phone in your bag and focus fully on the content.

Take a deep breath

When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a deep breath.

In a new study, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified a handful of nerve cells in the brainstem that connect breathing to states of mind.

The study demonstrated that slow breathing induces tranquility to your body. And if you think of it, that makes sense. Because if you were to start breathing really quickly right now you’d feel the state of your body starting to change completely.

We know that as marketers and business owners, tasks can really start to pile up throughout the day. Sometimes we feel like we won’t be able to complete everything, let alone at a high level.

Breathing not only reduces stress and increases focus, but it helps to bring a sense of clarity of what really needs to get done and what can be put off for another time.

When you have a million things to do during the day, that clarity is invaluable.

Create a to-do list

There’s nothing like a good to-do list.

It turns out we are not alone in our love of lists, our brains also love lists. That’s because it’s the most effective way for the brain to receive and organize information. Recent research suggests that the key to a more organized mind and productive brain is to make to-do lists.

Neuroscience tells us that the brain’s working memory stores information on a short-term basis.

According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, most people can hold about four things in their mind at one time. When we ask our brain to store more than is optimal, it causes our performance to decline.

Since our brain has an attention filter, urgent matters will be at the forefront. At the same time, our brain doesn’t forget those less important matters either, and won’t hesitate to remind you of them somewhere around 3:00am. If you have a to-do list, your brain can rest because it knows you’re on it.

Research also suggests that when we process information, we do so spatially.

Lists appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since our brains chunk information into short, distinct components.

Take a break and move

Research into neurogenesis, the ability of certain areas of the brain to grow new cells, indicates that we can foster new brain cell growth through exercise. Our brain has the amazing ability to rebuild and rewire every day.

The area of the brain linked to learning and memory is called the hippocampus. Research shows that endurance exercise sparks new neuron growth in the hippocampus as a protein (called FNDC5) is released into the bloodstream when we sweat.

There’s also other productivity benefits as well.

Exercise can help boost alertness. When you exercise, you’re increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project.

According to the University of Cambridge, exercise releases serotonin into your brain that helps you feel better and improves your state of mind, making the stresses of work easier to handle.

Daily exercise results in:

Improved concentration

Sharper memory

Faster learning

Prolonged mental stamina

Enhanced creativity

Lower stress

An incredible tool in your neuroscience toolbox.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Originally written Apr 16, 2019. Last updated Apr 16, 2019

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');

fbq('init', '1521042244879171');

console.log('WP Facebook Pixel > Sending PageView event to Facebook'); fbq('track', "PageView"); var fbqEvents = new Array(); Source link

[marketerintel]

6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary science that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. When applied to our professional lives, neuroscience can help us to unlock our greatest potential.

Increasing your meaningful productivity can have a huge impact on your day-to-day work and can greatly influence your professional success over a long period of time.

This week on the Science of Social Media, we’re examining the fascinating field of neuroscience and how it can positively influence our marketing productivity.

Think of today’s show as little tricks for your brain to work smarter, not harder.

6 Simple Ways to Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

What follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

Start your day with difficult tasks

Add value and meaning to your work

Avoid multitasking

Take a deep breath

Create a to-do list

Take a break and move

Let’s dive in!

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

One of core values here at Buffer is working smarter and not harder.

When we say productivity and working smarter not harder, we mean working on meaningful projects that make a big impact – not necessarily working more.

In the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey, participants were asked to assess their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices, and willpower was the number one reason they cited for not following through with those healthy choices.

Many people believe their lives would improve if they could boost their willpower — more control over what they eat, when they saved for retirement, and how to achieve goals.

Luckily for us, using neuroscience we are able to increase our willpower, and therefore, our meaningful productivity.

Start your day with difficult tasks

First and foremost, start your day with your difficult tasks

There’s been considerable research into willpower and one of the pioneers in this area is Roy Baumeister.

Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower in the brain is fueled by glucose and it needs to replenished in order for it to perform optimally.

Willpower and self-control is at its peak first thing in the morning, so this is the best time to make yourself take on the hardest tasks of the day.

When creating your to-do list (more on that later), make sure that you carve our time in the morning for the most challenging tasks. This will help to ensure you’re starting your day on the right foot.

Add value and meaning to your work

One subject that comes up quite often when looking into the field of neuroscience is dopamine. Dopamine a neurotransmitter, which means it’s a chemical release by your nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells.

There are a couple of different pathways for dopamine, and one of them plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.

A team of Vanderbilt scientists conducted a study in 2012 analyzing the brain patterns of people they described as “go getters” and that meant they were willing to work hard for their reward, and the other group of people was “slackers” and they were not as motivated to work hard.

To quote the study “The team found that the go-getters had higher levels of dopamine in the reward and motivation part of the brain. The slackers had higher levels of dopamine in the emotion and risk part of the brain.”

Nothing will motivate you to be a go-getter if you don’t truly desire the reward that comes with the work. Tie your performance to something that contains value and meaning for you and you’ll quickly move to the go-getter side of dopamine production.

Avoid multitasking

We all like to believe that we’re master multitaskers.

NPR interviewed neuroscientist professor Earl Miller from MIT and he shared some interesting thoughts about multitasking. In short, the human brain is not engineered to multitask.

Miller is quoted as saying, “People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves, the brain is very good at deluding itself.”

What we can do, however, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed.

The way to be most productive is to focus your full attention on one task at a time. Give it everything you’ve got. Then, once you’ve completed the task, move onto the next one and give that your full attention.

When you’re creating content for social, close out your email, turn off Slack, put your phone in your bag and focus fully on the content.

Take a deep breath

When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a deep breath.

In a new study, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified a handful of nerve cells in the brainstem that connect breathing to states of mind.

The study demonstrated that slow breathing induces tranquility to your body. And if you think of it, that makes sense. Because if you were to start breathing really quickly right now you’d feel the state of your body starting to change completely.

We know that as marketers and business owners, tasks can really start to pile up throughout the day. Sometimes we feel like we won’t be able to complete everything, let alone at a high level.

Breathing not only reduces stress and increases focus, but it helps to bring a sense of clarity of what really needs to get done and what can be put off for another time.

When you have a million things to do during the day, that clarity is invaluable.

Create a to-do list

There’s nothing like a good to-do list.

It turns out we are not alone in our love of lists, our brains also love lists. That’s because it’s the most effective way for the brain to receive and organize information. Recent research suggests that the key to a more organized mind and productive brain is to make to-do lists.

Neuroscience tells us that the brain’s working memory stores information on a short-term basis.

According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, most people can hold about four things in their mind at one time. When we ask our brain to store more than is optimal, it causes our performance to decline.

Since our brain has an attention filter, urgent matters will be at the forefront. At the same time, our brain doesn’t forget those less important matters either, and won’t hesitate to remind you of them somewhere around 3:00am. If you have a to-do list, your brain can rest because it knows you’re on it.

Research also suggests that when we process information, we do so spatially.

Lists appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since our brains chunk information into short, distinct components.

Take a break and move

Research into neurogenesis, the ability of certain areas of the brain to grow new cells, indicates that we can foster new brain cell growth through exercise. Our brain has the amazing ability to rebuild and rewire every day.

The area of the brain linked to learning and memory is called the hippocampus. Research shows that endurance exercise sparks new neuron growth in the hippocampus as a protein (called FNDC5) is released into the bloodstream when we sweat.

There’s also other productivity benefits as well.

Exercise can help boost alertness. When you exercise, you’re increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project.

According to the University of Cambridge, exercise releases serotonin into your brain that helps you feel better and improves your state of mind, making the stresses of work easier to handle.

Daily exercise results in:

Improved concentration

Sharper memory

Faster learning

Prolonged mental stamina

Enhanced creativity

Lower stress

An incredible tool in your neuroscience toolbox.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Source link

[mediacalling]

6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary science that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. When applied to our professional lives, neuroscience can help us to unlock our greatest potential.

Increasing your meaningful productivity can have a huge impact on your day-to-day work and can greatly influence your professional success over a long period of time.

This week on the Science of Social Media, we’re examining the fascinating field of neuroscience and how it can positively influence our marketing productivity.

Think of today’s show as little tricks for your brain to work smarter, not harder.

6 Simple Ways to Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

What follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

Start your day with difficult tasks

Add value and meaning to your work

Avoid multitasking

Take a deep breath

Create a to-do list

Take a break and move

Let’s dive in!

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

One of core values here at Buffer is working smarter and not harder.

When we say productivity and working smarter not harder, we mean working on meaningful projects that make a big impact – not necessarily working more.

In the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey, participants were asked to assess their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices, and willpower was the number one reason they cited for not following through with those healthy choices.

Many people believe their lives would improve if they could boost their willpower — more control over what they eat, when they saved for retirement, and how to achieve goals.

Luckily for us, using neuroscience we are able to increase our willpower, and therefore, our meaningful productivity.

Start your day with difficult tasks

First and foremost, start your day with your difficult tasks

There’s been considerable research into willpower and one of the pioneers in this area is Roy Baumeister.

Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower in the brain is fueled by glucose and it needs to replenished in order for it to perform optimally.

Willpower and self-control is at its peak first thing in the morning, so this is the best time to make yourself take on the hardest tasks of the day.

When creating your to-do list (more on that later), make sure that you carve our time in the morning for the most challenging tasks. This will help to ensure you’re starting your day on the right foot.

Add value and meaning to your work

One subject that comes up quite often when looking into the field of neuroscience is dopamine. Dopamine a neurotransmitter, which means it’s a chemical release by your nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells.

There are a couple of different pathways for dopamine, and one of them plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.

A team of Vanderbilt scientists conducted a study in 2012 analyzing the brain patterns of people they described as “go getters” and that meant they were willing to work hard for their reward, and the other group of people was “slackers” and they were not as motivated to work hard.

To quote the study “The team found that the go-getters had higher levels of dopamine in the reward and motivation part of the brain. The slackers had higher levels of dopamine in the emotion and risk part of the brain.”

Nothing will motivate you to be a go-getter if you don’t truly desire the reward that comes with the work. Tie your performance to something that contains value and meaning for you and you’ll quickly move to the go-getter side of dopamine production.

Avoid multitasking

We all like to believe that we’re master multitaskers.

NPR interviewed neuroscientist professor Earl Miller from MIT and he shared some interesting thoughts about multitasking. In short, the human brain is not engineered to multitask.

Miller is quoted as saying, “People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves, the brain is very good at deluding itself.”

What we can do, however, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed.

The way to be most productive is to focus your full attention on one task at a time. Give it everything you’ve got. Then, once you’ve completed the task, move onto the next one and give that your full attention.

When you’re creating content for social, close out your email, turn off Slack, put your phone in your bag and focus fully on the content.

Take a deep breath

When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a deep breath.

In a new study, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified a handful of nerve cells in the brainstem that connect breathing to states of mind.

The study demonstrated that slow breathing induces tranquility to your body. And if you think of it, that makes sense. Because if you were to start breathing really quickly right now you’d feel the state of your body starting to change completely.

We know that as marketers and business owners, tasks can really start to pile up throughout the day. Sometimes we feel like we won’t be able to complete everything, let alone at a high level.

Breathing not only reduces stress and increases focus, but it helps to bring a sense of clarity of what really needs to get done and what can be put off for another time.

When you have a million things to do during the day, that clarity is invaluable.

Create a to-do list

There’s nothing like a good to-do list.

It turns out we are not alone in our love of lists, our brains also love lists. That’s because it’s the most effective way for the brain to receive and organize information. Recent research suggests that the key to a more organized mind and productive brain is to make to-do lists.

Neuroscience tells us that the brain’s working memory stores information on a short-term basis.

According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, most people can hold about four things in their mind at one time. When we ask our brain to store more than is optimal, it causes our performance to decline.

Since our brain has an attention filter, urgent matters will be at the forefront. At the same time, our brain doesn’t forget those less important matters either, and won’t hesitate to remind you of them somewhere around 3:00am. If you have a to-do list, your brain can rest because it knows you’re on it.

Research also suggests that when we process information, we do so spatially.

Lists appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since our brains chunk information into short, distinct components.

Take a break and move

Research into neurogenesis, the ability of certain areas of the brain to grow new cells, indicates that we can foster new brain cell growth through exercise. Our brain has the amazing ability to rebuild and rewire every day.

The area of the brain linked to learning and memory is called the hippocampus. Research shows that endurance exercise sparks new neuron growth in the hippocampus as a protein (called FNDC5) is released into the bloodstream when we sweat.

There’s also other productivity benefits as well.

Exercise can help boost alertness. When you exercise, you’re increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project.

According to the University of Cambridge, exercise releases serotonin into your brain that helps you feel better and improves your state of mind, making the stresses of work easier to handle.

Daily exercise results in:

Improved concentration

Sharper memory

Faster learning

Prolonged mental stamina

Enhanced creativity

Lower stress

An incredible tool in your neuroscience toolbox.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com

[mariemary1]

6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary science that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the nervous system. When applied to our professional lives, neuroscience can help us to unlock our greatest potential.

Increasing your meaningful productivity can have a huge impact on your day-to-day work and can greatly influence your professional success over a long period of time.

This week on the Science of Social Media, we’re examining the fascinating field of neuroscience and how it can positively influence our marketing productivity.

Think of today’s show as little tricks for your brain to work smarter, not harder.

6 Simple Ways to Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

What follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

Start your day with difficult tasks

Add value and meaning to your work

Avoid multitasking

Take a deep breath

Create a to-do list

Take a break and move

Let’s dive in!

Willpower and working smarter, not harder

One of core values here at Buffer is working smarter and not harder.

When we say productivity and working smarter not harder, we mean working on meaningful projects that make a big impact – not necessarily working more.

In the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey, participants were asked to assess their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices, and willpower was the number one reason they cited for not following through with those healthy choices.

Many people believe their lives would improve if they could boost their willpower — more control over what they eat, when they saved for retirement, and how to achieve goals.

Luckily for us, using neuroscience we are able to increase our willpower, and therefore, our meaningful productivity.

Start your day with difficult tasks

First and foremost, start your day with your difficult tasks

There’s been considerable research into willpower and one of the pioneers in this area is Roy Baumeister.

Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower in the brain is fueled by glucose and it needs to replenished in order for it to perform optimally.

Willpower and self-control is at its peak first thing in the morning, so this is the best time to make yourself take on the hardest tasks of the day.

When creating your to-do list (more on that later), make sure that you carve our time in the morning for the most challenging tasks. This will help to ensure you’re starting your day on the right foot.

Add value and meaning to your work

One subject that comes up quite often when looking into the field of neuroscience is dopamine. Dopamine a neurotransmitter, which means it’s a chemical release by your nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells.

There are a couple of different pathways for dopamine, and one of them plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.

A team of Vanderbilt scientists conducted a study in 2012 analyzing the brain patterns of people they described as “go getters” and that meant they were willing to work hard for their reward, and the other group of people was “slackers” and they were not as motivated to work hard.

To quote the study “The team found that the go-getters had higher levels of dopamine in the reward and motivation part of the brain. The slackers had higher levels of dopamine in the emotion and risk part of the brain.”

Nothing will motivate you to be a go-getter if you don’t truly desire the reward that comes with the work. Tie your performance to something that contains value and meaning for you and you’ll quickly move to the go-getter side of dopamine production.

Avoid multitasking

We all like to believe that we’re master multitaskers.

NPR interviewed neuroscientist professor Earl Miller from MIT and he shared some interesting thoughts about multitasking. In short, the human brain is not engineered to multitask.

Miller is quoted as saying, “People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves, the brain is very good at deluding itself.”

What we can do, however, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed.

The way to be most productive is to focus your full attention on one task at a time. Give it everything you’ve got. Then, once you’ve completed the task, move onto the next one and give that your full attention.

When you’re creating content for social, close out your email, turn off Slack, put your phone in your bag and focus fully on the content.

Take a deep breath

When you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a deep breath.

In a new study, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified a handful of nerve cells in the brainstem that connect breathing to states of mind.

The study demonstrated that slow breathing induces tranquility to your body. And if you think of it, that makes sense. Because if you were to start breathing really quickly right now you’d feel the state of your body starting to change completely.

We know that as marketers and business owners, tasks can really start to pile up throughout the day. Sometimes we feel like we won’t be able to complete everything, let alone at a high level.

Breathing not only reduces stress and increases focus, but it helps to bring a sense of clarity of what really needs to get done and what can be put off for another time.

When you have a million things to do during the day, that clarity is invaluable.

Create a to-do list

There’s nothing like a good to-do list.

It turns out we are not alone in our love of lists, our brains also love lists. That’s because it’s the most effective way for the brain to receive and organize information. Recent research suggests that the key to a more organized mind and productive brain is to make to-do lists.

Neuroscience tells us that the brain’s working memory stores information on a short-term basis.

According to Dr. Daniel Levitin, most people can hold about four things in their mind at one time. When we ask our brain to store more than is optimal, it causes our performance to decline.

Since our brain has an attention filter, urgent matters will be at the forefront. At the same time, our brain doesn’t forget those less important matters either, and won’t hesitate to remind you of them somewhere around 3:00am. If you have a to-do list, your brain can rest because it knows you’re on it.

Research also suggests that when we process information, we do so spatially.

Lists appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since our brains chunk information into short, distinct components.

Take a break and move

Research into neurogenesis, the ability of certain areas of the brain to grow new cells, indicates that we can foster new brain cell growth through exercise. Our brain has the amazing ability to rebuild and rewire every day.

The area of the brain linked to learning and memory is called the hippocampus. Research shows that endurance exercise sparks new neuron growth in the hippocampus as a protein (called FNDC5) is released into the bloodstream when we sweat.

There’s also other productivity benefits as well.

Exercise can help boost alertness. When you exercise, you’re increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project.

According to the University of Cambridge, exercise releases serotonin into your brain that helps you feel better and improves your state of mind, making the stresses of work easier to handle.

Daily exercise results in:

Improved concentration

Sharper memory

Faster learning

Prolonged mental stamina

Enhanced creativity

Lower stress

An incredible tool in your neuroscience toolbox.

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Thank 6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity for first publishing this post.