
Practice makes the man perfect! But its new-age version would read - Smart Practice makes a man perfect! Practicing without focusing will not give any result. According to a leading psychologist, Anders Ericsson, the perfection of an art or skill can be achieved with 10,000 hours of focused practice.
What is Smart Practice?
It involves
► Focusing -helps you notice/recognize obstacles and helps you remember how you overcame them in the future when the time comes to actually use those skills.
► One thing at a time – focus on one mistake – correct it and only then go to the next one.
► Curiosity -knowing what is happening in practice – helps you will realize the change that you need to adapt to perfect it.
► Patience –Try, try and try again till you succeed. Then you practice more!
Smart Practice for your Brain
While we like to keep our bodies active through gym practice etc., the brain is usually neglected. The brain is an important part of our body, without which all body parts can never function.
The brain is working every day without a break. Unlike other organs, the brain never rests. To keep it healthy, one needs to give it ample practice and exercise. To keep your brain focus, you can do the following…
● Break your regular routine at times. Set off on an adventure, experiment with new stuff, mix and match exercise, etc. to keep it healthy,
● Take in brain food like salmon, Omega three fatty acids to make your brain strong.
● Solve puzzles and word games. Start from a low level and advance as you can answer questions.
● Stress –Keep stress under control to save your brain. Solve stress points as soon as possible so that sleep deprivation and prolonged stress does not affect the healthy working of the brain
● Take good food and exercise your body, keeping it in good shape, playing games, etc., which provide multiple benefits to the brain.
Some special Brain games online
Games are appealing to both old and young alike. Putting Brains on Games can help improve memory and focusing ability at the same time. Brain training puzzles even help calm the mind. Brain games also provide Smart Practice to the mind to be a success in whatever job you are undertaking by:
● Upping problem-solving skills,
● Enhancing flexibility and
● Increasing speed of processing information
Some games are available in print, and some are available online. Few games are free, and some need you to take a membership. Here is a list of some very good Brain games to improve memory and concentration:
Sudoku
Sudoku is a number placement game. It involves planning, focus, and short-term memory. It is a very addictive brain game for adults and youngsters alike. The challenging levels go on increasing as the player progresses from a lower level to a higher one.
The puzzle has 9 X 9 grid boxes with a few pre-typed numbers. The main objective of the game is to fill the other boxes of the 9 X 9 grid such that each row and column of 3 X 3 sub-grids contains all the digits of the numbers 1 to 9.
Sudoku is freely available in newspapers, websites, and apps on phones.
Crosswords
Just open the last few pages of your printed newspaper or its online version to access the very popular crosswords exercise.
Crosswords test your knowledge in whatever field you excel in. So there are endless crossword options that you can complete to exercise your brain and enhance its functionalities
Braingle
This website developer claims it is the biggest collection of brain games – about 10,000 games, challenges, and puzzles online.
It has an option with which you can create your own puzzles as well
Lumosity
It is a Brain training website also available on iOS and android.
One can open a free account on this website and play a maximum of 3 games per day. Purchase of games is not necessary. The website has brain exercises in the form of games that the developers claim help in significant improvement of cognitive skills for its users. The cognitive skills that are said to improve are
● Information processing speed,
● Mental flexibility,
● Reasoning,
● Attention – selective and divided,
● Verbal,
● Visual and Spatial and
● Problem-solving skills
The sheer variety creates curiosity, interest, and admiration for this website.
Queendom
Queendom has personality tests, polls, some surveys, and a huge collection of quizzes, aptitude tests, etc., to challenge your brain.
The website helps you to discover yourself in an interactive mode even while keeping the fun element intact. All are high-quality content developed by professionals to help you understand your real potential. Feedback is also provided to help you assess yourself better.
This site is perfect for HR professionals, life coaches, therapists, athletic organizations, professors, marketing personnel, researchers, and businessmen.
Happy Neuron
The exercises in this website activate 5 functions of the brain that deal with language, memory, attention, visual/spatial, and executive functions. Free trial of this package available.
The site developers recommend completing 10 basic training exercises every day for the best results.
Brain age concentration Training
It is another app available on the Nintendo platform that can help you sharpen your memory, improve focus and attention and enhance calculation skills.
Elevate app
It is similar to Lumosity in the features, but its look is more colorful in design than understated Lumosity. This app helps develop comprehension, reading, listening, and writing skills through some 35 different games. It also helps enhance communication skills. You can track your progress on the app as well. Unlimited access is an added advantage.
MyBrainTrainer
This website is similar to Lumosity and has various exercises for the brain. You can find various games, puzzles, and activities to make you sharper.
Elementary Cognitive Tasks (ECT) is the interactive challenges that form the basis for these puzzles. Each ECT taps a particular part of the brain for exercise. When a particular part of the brain is stimulated by the ECT, it receives more oxygen, blood flow, and certain amino acids to improve neural connections resulting in higher brain processing speed.
Other popular brain training apps include FitBrains and BrainHQ. Brain games are a great way for smart practice. Challenging your brain can create great wonders for your confidence and skill enhancement. Keep practicing and growing every day.
Mark Jackson
Life today is hectic. So much to do and so less time. You may have so many goals in life. But in spite of putting in a lot of effort, you are unable to achieve them. Do you wonder why?
Achieving your goals can be possible only when you put First-things-First! To know why and how to read on…
Workdone Priority-wise
Every goal you aim for can be achieved by performing a set of tasks. Each task in this set has a different priority based on its connection to your goal.
Doing First-things-First means focusing on tasks that have more value in achieving your goals. These tasks may be called Priority Tasks. Making priorities and acting on them is an important job whether you are a student, an executive, or even a member of the top management.
Why you should do First-things-First
Every moment in life is valuable. Most people are careless with priorities and waste their precious time on unimportant things in their daily lives.
The result - work is delayed. Focus and attention on important things are completely lost. Consequently, it becomes too late to complete your Priority jobs.
The reasons are many... The biggest reason is that we do not know which job is important and which is not. Sometimes, external things and the environment influence or exert undue pressure. They demand your attention even though they have no bearing on your goals.
Doing First-things-First will help you focus on the most important tasks. Every moment is covered appropriately when doing so.
Different methods to set priorities
How to decide what a priority job is and what is not? There are many time-tested methods to understand and categorize your tasks based on priorities. Here are a few methods that you can adopt.
Each method has different advantages and disadvantages.
1. Setting Reminders
This method is the basic one and is commonly used, even at the domestic level. The procedure has just two steps:
Preparing to-do lists
● Setting reminders for the same
These reminders call your attention to a task when it reaches its deadline. This method is easy to implement. But long-term planning cannot be completed with this method.
2. Planning
This method helps in setting deadlines for tasks while anticipating future events. Some tools that you can use here are the calendar and appointment books. This method has been effective for executives who have a lot of daily tasks and need to organize them based on priorities.
However, deadlines and appointments bring your focus and attention only to official activities. Personal relations, etc., may be pushed to the background. A provision should be made for these tasks as well, which is ignored in this method. For example, an emergency call from home may not be encouraged during a meeting… So there arises a need to find better methods by including these factors also.
3. Priority Setting and Planning
This method involves:
First, setting priorities based on goals and values and scheduling daily tasks. The tools used for this method are Personal Organizer and e-Planner.
This method helps you focus on your set goals. However, situations may arise when goals are reached, but health issues and personal values like honesty, etc., may be bypassed.
4. Time Management Matrix
This is one of the most popular Time Management concepts of modern times, developed by President Dwight Eisenhower and made popular by Stephen Covey.
The Time Management matrix can be applied for priority setting solutions at all levels - beginning from very minor tasks such as household jobs to high profile Management tasks such as Decision Making.
Based on the ideology of this method, our daily activities can be classified into four quadrants. Each quadrant has tasks that seek your attention.
But the focus should be more on the one box that can lead us closer to our goals.
The four quadrants and explanation for each quadrant are as follows:
● Urgent work that is a few days/hours/minutes away from its deadline
● Activities that require immediate attention like fire fighting
Tasks here to be done and dispensed with at the earliest!
● Tasks that are not very urgent but help in augmenting work quality
● Focusing on them now can take you on the right path to your goals
● More time to be spent here so Quadrant 1 and other tasks will reduce
Your main focus should be on these tasks!
● Tasks look important and urgent
● Tasks are not your priority as you do them as an obligation to others
● They take your focus away from your goals
Tasks here to be delegated to others
● Time Waster – not urgent
● Tasks are a time waste – avoid these tasks
● People enter this quarter after spending time in 3
Avoid/Discard these tasks completely
Quadrant 1
Urgent – Important Tasks
Examples: Deadlines, emergencies, important meetings
All pressing issues (jobs that have arrived at their deadline) that have a linkage to your achieving goals are here. They need your immediate attention. These jobs have to be completed quickly so as to go to the next and the most important quadrant.
Some people spending a lot of time in this quadrant are at the lower levels of the organization, accountants, etc.
Quadrant 2
Important but Not Urgent Tasks
Examples: Planning, relationships, decision making, etc.
This quadrant is one place where the most important people in the organization should focus on.
The importance accorded to this area will improve the quality of tasks leading to the achievement of goals in a phased manner.
The tasks in this area are not urgent but have a great bearing on the achievement of your goals. It is the area where one should focus on to achieve the most important goals, such as life goals.
The importance of the tasks in this quadrant is realized only when these tasks gain urgency as they enter Quadrant 1.
Take the example of your health. There is no sense of urgency when you are in the pink of health. But you should maintain health by eating right and exercising on a daily basis. Else you will enter Quadrant 1 – rushing to a hospital for surgery due to negligence.
There are many reasons that this area is often ignored. One, it needs more time and attention from you. Two, the results of those efforts and time are not visible in the short run.
This example can help you understand how imperative this quadrant is.
A coconut tree planted today will grow only after 10 – 15 years. But, when it reaches maturity, it will give you coconuts for the rest of your life and even beyond!
Quadrant 3
Urgent but Not Necessary
Examples: Regular phone calls/emails, less important meetings, etc.
Do not confuse tasks in this quadrant with Quadrant 1 because, though the tasks here look important, they will not help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
For example, doing a report for a friend may have no influence on your salary slip or promotion at all.
Quadrant 4
Time Waster – Not Urgent
Example: Social media
This quadrant creates no value at all and does not have any potential to lead you to goal achievement. Excessive time on social media can be slotted under this category.
Synopsis of Time Management Matrix
Experts have shown that most people waste their time in Quadrant 1, 3, and 4.
Urgent things (Quadrant 1) keep coming up daily. We lose energy in fire-fighting and doing jobs for others while wasting time in Q4 tasks like watching useless TV shows that are not connected to our goals. To focus on your actual goals and achieve results:
● Tasks of Quadrant 4 should be avoided completely
● Delegate Quadrant 3 to someone else
● Finish Quadrant 1 quickly and spend more time/focus on Quadrant 2, which is the most important area.
Conclusion
Time is not limitless. Using it judiciously will help you achieve your goals ultimately. Doing everything is impossible. But it is okay to say no to a few things and concentrate on a few important things first using some priority-setting methods. Emphasizing on First-things-First is the only solution here.