Boost your brain power and revitalise your memory
March 11, 2010
By Catherine Pritchard, Radiance Healthcare Centre
Your brain is a powerhouse! It requires a large amount of fuel in order to keep it functioning at it’s peak all day long. Stress, poor diet, deadlines and a lack of fresh air can all compromise your brain function. Use the following tips to help keep your brain and memory in tip top shape.
Lecithin granules
Lecithin is rich in phosphatidyl choline which has been found to be beneficial to brain function and memory. Add two tablespoons to your cereal or smoothie at breakfast.
Eat regularly!
Being busy is no excuse for skipping meals and snacks. Since your brain is the greatest consumer of glucose in the body, it is important that you refuel your body every 3-4 hours with good nutritious food.
Fresh air and nature – rich in negative ions
Experience more of the ocean, the mountains and waterfalls as they have been found to generate tens of thousands of negative ions which have a positive impact on mood and brain function. Air conditioning and computer screens emit positive ions which are more likely to contribute to stress levels.
Memory Herb - Gingko Biloba
Studies show that Gingko Biloba helps to increase blood flow to the brain and improves concentration and memory. (Do not use if taking blood thinners or anticoagulant medication such as warfrin).
Good fats
Essential fatty acids are found in high concentrations in the brain and especially involved in our ability to create and maintain memories as well as help to improve circulation. Oily fish, eggs and nuts and seeds are great ways to increase your omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.
Antioxidants
Fresh fruit and vegetables are full of antioxidants that help to protect the brain from damage from free radicals which tend to cause damage to cells particularly in the brain. Blueberries, raspberries, brussel sprouts and broccoli are some of the key fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants. The vitamins A, C and E have also been found to protect the brain and green tea helps to prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine which in turn helps to maintain memory.
Replenish lost nutrients from stress
Brain function suffers when we are under stress largely due to the depletion of certain nutrients such as the B vitamins and imbalances in our neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that act as electrical switches in the brain. When you have a memory blank or can’t recall a piece of information it is because there is a short circuit or power failure due to inadequate neurotransmitters. Vitamin B Complex and neurotransmitter precursors such as glutamine, choline, taurine and tyrosine can help to improve memory.
Drink 2 Litres of water each and every day!
Dehdyration affects the ability of the brain to store and retain information.
Meditation
Even 5-10 minutes per day helps to improve brain function.
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Catherine Pritchard - Radiance Healthcare CentreCatherine is a scientific naturopath who is experienced in working with business women to increase their energy, motivation and productivity. Her innovative programs are based on the latest research and incorporate simple dietary changes so that you can get the most out of each and every day. Prior to commencing her career as a naturopath almost 10 years ago, Catherine was an industrial chemist in an oil refinery. Her scientific background caused her to seek out the latest technology to assess your health, energy and vitality. In conjunction with a thorough assessment, these state of the art tests allow her to personally prescribe you the most suitable nutrients that will make the greatest impact on your health and wellbeing.
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What’s Getting In The Way?
February 26, 2010
By Cat Matson, Alito
One of the questions I often ask my mentoring clients is:
“What’s getting in the way?”
By that I mean, what’s getting in the way of you making the progress you want, achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself, working on the things that are important as opposed to urgent? Generally the list tumbles out of their mouths – clients, customers, staff, kids, IT issues, emails, traffic, the government, change in policy … blah, blah, blah.
This list of barriers can often feel insurmountable – particularly when day after day feels like a never-ending list of issues and challenges instead of productive, satisfying work. So what gives?
Well, my first tip is to break the barriers down into three categories.
- Speed Bumps – these are the things that are slowing you down … they’re an annoyance but aren’t insurmountable. A speed bump I’ve experienced today has been intermittent and slow internet connectivity. Extraordinarily annoying for someone who practically lives online … but I know it’s temporary and I’ve been able to work around it.
- Bottle Necks – this is where the traffic-flow of your business is slowing down due to a constriction of flow. It often happens when a particular staff member needs to approve ‘things’ … so work piles up in their in-tray while team members ‘wait’ to move-on. In a micro-business, a bottle-neck can often be lack of effective email management systems – so highly valuable emails (like a new client enquiry) gets lost in the ‘mass’ and doesn’t get addressed until the client has lost interest.
- Road Blocks – just like at major road-works, a Road Block in your business is where you’ve hit a complete stop with a particular project or conversation. For me at the moment it’s a major client who just won’t return phone-calls or emails. I can see the writing on the wall … but I can’t get a response and therefore can’t take any action on the file.
By categorising the list of barriers in this way you are in a better position to problem-solve … and you no longer see an endless list of ‘complaints’, rather items that need attention and can be resolved. Pay attention to recurring speed-bumps and bottle-necks – they may point to systemic issues in your business management or business model which, once resolved, could make a huge difference to your business. Road Blocks hopefully are one-off events … but by articulating them as such you can often quickly figure out a resolution.
By categorising the list of barriers in this way, you are in a better position to problem-solve
So next time you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall in your productivity, ask yourself
‘What’s getting in my way?’ and
‘Are these Speed Bumps, Bottle Necks or Road Blocks?’
When you do, you’ll find yourself on the freeway again in no time.
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Cat Matson - Alito
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| Phone: | 07 3289 7055 |
| Email: | cat@alito.com.au |
| Website: | www.alito.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/catmatson |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/AlitoFusion |
| LinkedIn: | www.linkedin.com/in/CatMatson |
| Blog: | www.alito.com.au/blog |
| Member Profile: | See Cat’s Member Profile |
Solutions to your best excuses!
February 23, 2010
By Catherine Pritchard, Radiance Healthcare Centre.
You know you have them! Your list of best excuses that are stopping you from starting the things you have been putting off for ages like your business plan, exercise or a healthy dietary program.
Excuses are funny things. To the person who created them, they are justified and valid. We stand by them even though they prevent us from achieving our goals and dreams. When you are employed our excuses can be few and far between. Why? Because we are accountable to someone. Deadlines and KPI’s keep us in line. If we don’t meet them then there is an underlying understanding that we could lose our job.
It is important to start learning to keep your agreements to yourself.
When it comes to our personal goals or when we are running our own business, the scenario is slightly different. All agreements are made with ourselves. As such, we tend to easily break that agreement if something comes up or we don’t feel like it as we perceive there is not much of a consequence. But there is. Every time you break an agreement with yourself, you diminish your self worth and trust in yourself that you can do anything, no matter what you come up against. It is important to start learning to keep your agreements to yourself.
Pick an area of your life that you would like to make a difference to. Write out all your excuses (even the ones you think are really valid and true) on why you aren’t taking the steps you know you should.
The next step is to then write out solutions to your excuses. Get creative. If you are busy, then cook in bulk and freeze it. If you are time poor, go and get an exercise DVD so you can exercise in the convenience of your home. If you are finding it difficult then this is where regular appointments with your coach, accountant, naturopath or personal trainer may be beneficial. The act of giving our word to someone else to have things completed often assists us in achieving our goals step by step without excuses!
What is your best excuse and how are you going to overcome it?
A recent one of mine was using long hours as an excuse for not exercising. I threw myself in the deep end, signed myself up for a biathlon and have been exercising ever since!
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Catherine Pritchard - Radiance Healthcare CentreCatherine is a scientific naturopath who is experienced in working with business women to increase their energy, motivation and productivity. Her innovative programs are based on the latest research and incorporate simple dietary changes so that you can get the most out of each and every day. Prior to commencing her career as a naturopath almost 10 years ago, Catherine was an industrial chemist in an oil refinery. Her scientific background caused her to seek out the latest technology to assess your health, energy and vitality. In conjunction with a thorough assessment, these state of the art tests allow her to personally prescribe you the most suitable nutrients that will make the greatest impact on your health and wellbeing.
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5 tips to boost your energy and productivity through your diet
February 11, 2010
by Catherine Pritchard, Radiance Healthcare Centre
How much is your fatigue costing your business?
Fatigue is a common complaint for busy women. Juggling a business, career, family, kids and a social life can take its toll. Coffee, chocolate, convenience foods such as pasta, 2-minute noodles, Cup-a-Soup and bread quickly become the staples you rely on to get you through your day. The 3pm slump, crashing on the couch as soon as you get home and poor energy first thing in the morning are common signs that your diet is impacting your energy.
What if there was a solution to your fatigue allowing you to be productive all day long including during the normal 3pm slump?
Research shows that simple changes to your diet can dramatically increase your energy throughout the day due to the stabilisation of your blood sugar. Going too long without eating, combined with excessive consumption of complex carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and rice have been found to create havoc with your blood sugar resulting in fatigue. The following five tips are easy to implement and have been designed to maximise your energy!
- Increase your protein (chicken, lamb, beef, lentils, chickpeas or eggs) especially at lunch. Protein helps to stabilise your blood sugar.
- Eat breakfast every day. (Coffee does not count as breakfast!)
- Limit your servings of bread, pasta and rice. Avoid white carbohydrates as much as possible. Eat wholegrain or brown instead.
- Increase your overall intake of veggies and salad veggies.
- Eat regularly. Don’t go longer than 3-4 hours without eating. This is a big key to having super fabulous energy.
Do an experiment on yourself! Record what your energy is out of 10 and identify whether you suffer from morning, afternoon or evening fatigue (or all three!). Follow the above 5 tips for two weeks then record the changes. You will be pleasantly surprised with your increased energy and productivity.
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Catherine Pritchard - Radiance Healthcare CentreCatherine is a scientific naturopath who is experienced in working with business women to increase their energy, motivation and productivity. Her innovative programs are based on the latest research and incorporate simple dietary changes so that you can get the most out of each and every day. Prior to commencing her career as a naturopath almost 10 years ago, Catherine was an industrial chemist in an oil refinery. Her scientific background caused her to seek out the latest technology to assess your health, energy and vitality. In conjunction with a thorough assessment, these state of the art tests allow her to personally prescribe you the most suitable nutrients that will make the greatest impact on your health and wellbeing.
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Are you creating results or just trying to?
September 30, 2009
Recently I took part in a four-week challenge put on by the gym I go to. For four weeks I had (with recommendations and guidelines from the trainers) determined what I would do for four weeks to challenge myself for the purpose of being fitter/healthier at the end of the 4-week intensive.
I could make the rules as tight or as loose as I liked, with the awareness that the decisions I made would influence my results.
I don’t like a lot of rules… and so I let myself believe that I didn’t have to give up coffee and wine (which I don’t intend to in the long run) but that I would avoid them… I decided that I would give up sugar and grains.
Now.. I know myself well enough to know that ruling something out totally means 100% commitment but ‘avoiding’ gives me loopholes through with to slide and make excuses. It’s the difference between DOING SOMETHING and TRYING to DO SOMETHING. It’s the difference between GETTING RESULTS and TRYING TO GET RESULTS.
Chocolate mud cake did NOT get eaten during 4-week intensive
Have you said to yourself:
“I will try and work on my business 3 times a week for one hour at a time.”?
versus committing 100% and saying:
“I will work ON my business plan 3 times a week for one hour at a time.”?
I have!
You can, as a result, get to the end of the week and have accomplished either!
“Well, I tried… but other things came up..”
OR
“I worked on my business for three hours this week.”
We have enough pressure on us as business people without needing to punish ourselves for not doing what we set out to, but I know from my own example that I did what I said I’d do….
- I avoided drinking
- I avoided going to bed too late
- I didn’t eat sugar
- I didn’t eat grains
and so I can honestly say I did these things. I kept my word to myself, both ways.
I just know that not committing to something 100% could be a clue as to why I may not be performing to my peak in other areas of my life or business.
So, I’m now reflecting on ….
- What am I 100% committed to doing?
- What am I only willing to half-commit to?
It doesn’t matter to me which one I’m choosing as long as I’m doing it consciously and not fooling myself.
Suzi
PS In case you’re interested… here is what I did do on the 4-week Intensive:
I chose to:
- Cut alcohol down to four glasses of wine a week
- Reduce my milky coffee intake from 2 x soy flat white coffees a day to 1 x ‘milky’ coffee and if I had a 2nd it would be a macchiato
- No sugar (including honey) except from fruit
- No grains (except oats)
- Only fruit allowed was pear, apple, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi (but only 2 pieces max per day
- Eating 5 small meals a day (and managing my portions each time)
- Working out 5 times a week
- Limit dairy to cottage cheese and yoghurt
- Avoid red meat and eating more fish
- Get to bed by 10pm and try and get at least 7 hours of sleep
- Take my vitamins/supplements daily
My Goals were to:
- reduce body fat %
- lose 2kg
- get stronger
- ween myself off the daily sugar treats (usually a piece or two of chocolate at dinner)
- drink less alcohol
My results were:
- The first week I suffered. I felt very tired from the lack of sugar. By week three I was more energetic than usual (and those of you who know me know that I already have lots of energy).
- My jeans started to feel loose around the waistline by week 3.
- My running speed seemed to improve by week four - to the tune of running on average 0.5km an hour faster.
I had my measurements on Monday and the results were better than I’d hoped… much better.
What I don’t know is how much better they would have been had I totally cut out alcohol and the milky soy coffees. Truth is, I don’t intend to cut them out forever… so I didn’t want to set myself up for a regime that I’d not be willing to stick to for 70-80% of the time.
Are you a slave to your To-Do list?
September 7, 2009
Who’s ‘ruling the roost’ when it comes to your daily workflow? For many of us (me included most days), it’s not our big-picture vision, our strategic plan, our business plan, or the big goals that we’ve set for ourselves. More often than not, it’s our to-do list and our email inbox. (For some it’s also the messages we receive through our social networks.)
In a conversation with my coach last week I expressed my frustration at being so weighted by the things that I had to do that I wasn’t getting around to doing. My mood around my to-dos was a solemn one.
Each to-do that was incomplete had tied to it a piece of my energy. Does that makes sense? When I looked at the list I could see that a lot of my attention was on unfinished items - tied up so that I couldn’t use it productively in other ways. It was time to take action and to pull back any wasted energy to the things that matter.
(Many of us have more to-dos than can be accomplished in two life-times, so it’s a big - often emotional- hurdle to make a pact with yourself not to stress about the unimportant and to drop things off the list - or to delay them depending on how relevant they are to moving you towards the dreams and goals that will make you most happy.)
This wasn’t the first time I’d had this conversation (with a coach or with myself). It seemed to be a chronic condition even though I knew better and had evidence that when I a) focus on what’s really important, b) focus my time on the activities that will move me towards my goals and c) maintain perspective and avoid going into autopilot then I tend to feel that I’m ‘on track’ and feel a sense of accomplishment.
I am very productive and get through a LOT on any given week. But, why was I still feeling frustrated and down about the ‘lack of time’ that I was facing?
I have over the years (and many times in any one week!) tried:
- Read every book written by productivity expert David Allen (highly recommended)
- Engaged tools such as my iCal tasks function, Omnifocus, Checklists, Word Docs, Paper Diaries.
- Done the most important tasks first thing each day
- Prioritised and reprioritised
- Not checked email every 5 mins
- Leveraged jobs to staff
All that works (for a time). It does. But I kept falling back into the feeling of too much to do and not enough time mind-spin.
Change of Strategy - Be the ‘Source’ of my day
My task for myself this last weekend was to revisit my prime dream and goals and to look at what I can do today, tomorrow, this week that aligns to that prime dream.
What that means to me is that each day I start by designing the day, each day, being sure that I’m not working for my to-do list, but that rather that day’s to-do list reflects what I want to do that day that will move me closer to my goals.
How I free myself from my todo list
I’ll use me as an example to demonstrate how I freed myself from my to-do list (at least, temporarily):
My prime dream includes the areas of:
- Gaining and sharing knowledge with my community
- Connecting with my community and helping them connect with each other
- Creating environments and opportunities for people to learn and grow
(Notice this isn’t three to-do items, it’s a way of being and an intention/focus. There is no end date and this is not something that I’m going to finish any time soon. But, is big enough and exciting enough that it inspires me to keep this intention in mind and to be reminded of it when I get ‘off track’.)
So, as I look at my upcoming day/week, I’ve put in activities and blocks of time where I am doing tasks (a task could be reflecting, journaling - not just busy work) that aligns to that way of being. Then (because I need to reminder) I have put alarms in my diary daily to ask me each day:
“What did I do today that supports my vision?How did I connect with others? Did I gain and share knowledge? Did I create something I’ve wanted to create?”
I’m giving this a try: Take the energy that is attached to my very extensive current list of incomplete items and put it to better use - so that I’m inspired (not daunted by what lays ahead).
Wish me luck!
Suzi
Members share answers to: What is your most effective goal achievement strategy?
February 20, 2009
What are the most effective strategies to reach your goals? What do you do about goals that have been set but not achieved? Is it even worth setting goals? And if so, what makes the difference to realising them?
That’s what we look at this month at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and in this issue of the Women in Business e-Newsletter.
We asked some of our community: What is your most effective goal achievement strategy?
Add a comment to share your own strategies with our community of women in business.
This article appeared in the February Women in Business eNewsletter: Great ways to achieve your business goals faster.
Don’t let lack of systems kill your productivity
January 30, 2009
What causes me more stress than anything is feeling like I’m wasting time. I’m busy… I’ve got lists upon lists and my desk often has piles or paper. You could say, I’m not really organised.
I AM however a big fan of systems for my business. I found that even when we were a two-person organisation having systems in place made life a whole lot easier and the business run far more smoothly.
I don’t know a successful business that runs without system. And I don’t mean technical systems. I don’t mean rules that prevent creativity. What I mean is the ‘This is how we do it here’ that can make up an induction program, training and keep sanity within the organisation (especially when the team leader’s style is not one that is systematic and predictable).
So, If you answer your own email, listen to your own phone calls, issue your own refunds, handle your own customer service - you could be killing the growth of your business!
You don’t need ONE MORE tip to get started.
January 28, 2009
If you’re at all like me you gather facts like a squirrel gathering nuts. I have been collecting books, blogs to read, friends in social networks that know more than me about how to be good at social networking, create viral campaigns, be great marketers etc.
But when will I have enough information? This video clip by the founder of Seismic (a video micro blogging web application) made me a laugh.
Here he tells you why YOU don’t need one more tip before taking action. Oh, and don’t ask him to do anything either! (You’ll see what I mean.)
Would love your feedback. Let me know what you thought!
One solution for an out-of-control to-do list
January 16, 2009
Today’s Sydney Morning Herald included this comic strip from the always-hectic Cathy and how she manages her to-do list.
I had to giggle because despite both online and offline systems, great programs I still feel totally out of control on some days when it comes to ‘Now, I know I put that to-do somewhere!’.
Now, if I just had a livescribe pen… maybe THEN I’d be totally organised.
