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?