Organizing Your Day for Brainpower

Have you ever found yourself losing the train of thought, shortly after it left the station? Do you happen to have a hard time remembering a task once you have begun it? For many people this is something that happens so often, that there are even television commercials that make fun of the fact. There are things that you can do to help prevent this from happening, or continuing to happen though. The simplest answer is to begin organizing your day for brainpower. By doing a few simple things each day, you can give your brain a bit of a boost, and begin to get just a little bit more out of each and every day.

• Change your alarm. Periodically, you should take the time to change the alarm on your clock. If you constantly wake up to the same sound, radio station, or buzzer, then your mind begins to get a little bit complacent. In fact, you may notice this by how difficult it is to wake up in the morning.
• Get dressed in the dark. Take the time to lay out the clothes you will be wearing the night before, and when you get up in the morning get dressed in the dark. You can do this by either leaving the lights off, or by simply keeping your eyes closed. By getting dressed in the dark, you will make your brain work a little harder, and therefore wake up a little sooner.
• Trade lunches. Don't have the same type of food every day for lunch. Try to have something different every time that you have lunch. If that isn't possible, then you can always try to have a coworker trade their lunch with yours. By having different foods each day you will stimulate not only your taste buds but your brain as well.
• Do your shopping by memory. In stead of writing down your shopping list, and taking it with you to the store, go from memory. While it will take a while to be able to memorize everything, the mental exercise will help to stimulate your brain, and get it moving a little bit better.
• Eat silently. Once or twice a week, have a silent meal with your family. Insist that while everyone is eating, that there can be absolutely no verbal talking. This will make everyone try to talk non-verbally, which can be both quite entertaining and mentally stimulating.
• Try using a different hand. Unless it is for an important task, try to do as much of your daily tasks with your non-dominant hand as you can. This will make you concentrate a little more closely on what you are doing, and thus think more.