If you want to focus on anything, get your butt moving. Literally. Shake it, bounce it, move it till you’re panting like Tom Cruise in Minority Report— before he gets the new eyes.†
E is for Energize
In the SMART & SEXY goal checklist, the E is for Energize. The idea is simple: When you set a goal, do your best to include movement, the kind that gets your heart and lungs working.
Put blood in your brain.
There’s lots of evidence out there and there and there that exercise makes you smarter. It turns out that chronic exercise, like cycling vigorously and regularly over the course of 5 weeks or more, will get your brain in shape, for sure.
The great news is that you don’t have to wait. You can be smarter in just a few minutes. No kidding!
These science dudes in Ireland conducted a memory test with sedentary men, and right after, they had half of them get on an exercise bike and pedal like crazy until they were really pooped. The other guys just sat around.
Then, they did the memory test again, and the bikers totally kicked ass.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? When do you get your best ideas, sitting at your desk or during a brisk walk?
As it turns out, it’s not just blood flow that makes you smarter. What strenuous exercise does is raise your brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that promotes the health of your nerve cells. That raised level has an immediate effect on your memory and even skilled task performance.
No steroids required!
This week, as you get ready to take a test, give a presentation, meet a new client, or exercise your wit at a dinner party, find a way to move your butt, too.
For any goal in fact, make it SMART & SEXY, and remember, E is for Energize. (Or remember, put blood in your brain. Or remember, stimulate your brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Whatever is easiest.)
†Anyone else notice that it seems every movie with Tom Cruise has at least one scene where he is running at top speed?
Great article, David. I think this is most of the reason we A) started our own businesses and B) started a book. We were on brisk walks, and all we did is talk, talk, talk. The ideas just “came,” and we couldn’t wait to get home to start planning. It’s interesting you mentioned biking. We gave ours away years ago and have recently started The Bike Talks. I want quadriceps and glutes like the bikers that race by me every Saturday morning!
Good Stuff David. Very True.
When I’m writing, I alternate between typing and then getting up walking around doing other things, I even have an exercise bike right next to my desk. The ideas that I’m stuck on make sense as soon as I move, so I’m sure everything you’re saying is true! I didn’t think about it before though. Great post!
I think the hardest part of this advice for me is not believing it, but doing it. Some people are more natural movers or have habits that keep blood in the brain. Triggering exercise routines until they becomes habitual is hard for a lot of people, including me.