Be Awesome at a Moment

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Be Awesome at a Moments Notice: A Guide to

Powering Up Your Brain

lifehacker.com View Profile August 27th, 2012 view original

You're already awesome, but sometimes you're tired, busy, or for some other reason

can't be at your best 100% of the time. When you need to be, however, you can

manipulate your brain and body to rise to the challenge. Here's how to fool yourself into

living up to your full potential in a moment's notice.

Wouldn't it be great if you could absorb apower staror some sort of video-game-style

power-up when you needed to overcome an obstacle that you just don't have the energy

for? It's an alluring idea, and in ways, it's more possible than you might think.

Look at it this way: your reasons for avoiding everything from work to exercise to social

activity are all self-inflicted. We're subconsciously playing tricks on our brains to avoid
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doing work. In this post, we're going to look at how reverse the behaviors that cause

common problems to solve them instead.

Work When You Want to Procrastinate

Because we'reso bad at predicting the futureand, therefore, almost unaware of the

ramifications of our current actions, we're greatat procrastinating. Even though you

know you'll regret it later, you do it anyway because you can't (yet) feel the inevitable

pain that's a direct result of your procrastinationpoor work, unfinished work, and

compounded stress.Several methods help you beat procrastination, but nothing fools

your mind into wanting to work like using procrastination's greatest weapon against

itself: emotion.

You procrastinate because you want immediate gratification. When pitted against a

murky future that has no associated emotion, you're inclined to choose the happiness

you can achieve right now. On top of that,delaying gratification just increased your

desire. In order to make work a priority, it needs tofeelmore gratifying than hopping on

Facebook or watching television. You accomplish this by explaining why you want to do

something rather than simply knowing what needs to be done.

For example, tell yourself you want to do your laundry right now because your favorite

shirt is dirty and you want to look your best tomorrow. Looking good matters to you

because you have an important meeting and want to feel confident. When you consider
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the reasons behind an action you want to take, you inevitably unleash the emotions

you've associated with it. This is often enough to convince you to get started, andgetting

started is everything.

What keeps you working is curiosity. (If you need proof,visit this pageand see if you can

win.) While laundry isn't going to inspire your sense of wonder, you can fool your brain

when it comes to grander, less-tedious tasks. They key is providing your brain with

cliffhangers or, more specifically, just don't stop working when you're done with a task

stop in the middle. Doing sokeeps you thinking about where you'll go next. This not only

elicits and eagerness to pick up your work where you left off, but will allow your mind to

solve problems when you're not working. By turning procrastination's greatest asset

against itself and remaining endlessly curious, you'll have little trouble working despite

any distractions.

Socialize More Effectively

Nobody's born with a magnetic personality and impeccable social skills. Sometimes

you're capable of charming the room, but sometimes you're tired and don't want to put

in the effort. When those times come, just use a couple of simple tasks to push your

brain and body to a more social place.

First, exercise is your best friend. It helps get you in the mood for a social situation

because of the cognitive benefits it provides, such asam effect similar to
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antidepressantsandlower levels of anxiety. This makes it easier to feel happy and less-

inhibited when socializing. In fact,a lack of physical activity makes it harder to think, so

you're not only gaining a greater social capacity but countering negative effects as well.

The good news is that these basic benefits require very little work. Just 20 pushups or a

brisk walk can do the trick (although a full routine is ideal).

But socializing is easier when you feel good, and exercise boosts your happiness through

the production of chemicals calledendorphins. While we don't know everything there is

to know about endorphins, we do understand that they play a large role in inciting a

pleasure response and blocking the transmission of pain signals.HowStuffWorks

explainshow physical activity causes this wonderful chemical reaction in your brain:

Exercise stimulates endorphin production as well, but for a different reason. You're

probably familiar with the term "runner's high," which refers to the euphoric feeling

one sometimes gets when exercising. Researchers have found that light-to-moderate

weight training or cardiovascular exercise doesn't produce endorphins, only heavy

weights or training that incorporates sprinting or other anaerobic exertion.

The obvious downside is that a tiny bit of exercise isn't going to give you many happy

chemicals, so you'll need to work hard to gain that benefit. Nonetheless, exercise is good

for you so you'll be improving your health while tricking your brain into feeling like a

social butterfly.

In addition to exercise, priming your brain usingneuro-linguistic programming(NLP)

can put you in the right mindset. This involves reciting a given set of words that are

designed to alter the way you're thinking. If this sounds dubious and like something

you'd find in a fantasy novel, you're not the first person to think that. NLP isbacked by

Yale studiesand found its way into one of Malcolm Gladwell's books, The Tipping Point.

There's no clear proof that this technique works, but I use it sparingly when I need to

convince myself to do something. Perhaps it's the placebo effect taking root in my brain,

but either way I'm able to motivate myself by attempting to shift my perspective with

words. It doesn't take very much time to try, so give it a shot if you want or just stick to

exercise if you don't like it.

So how does it work? You just read a bunch of words (out loud) that are reminiscent of

the way you want to feel. While the individual words have no specific value, together

they have an associative value that can change your current perspective. In our case, we
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want a list of words you can recite to prime your brain for social activity. Here's an

example:

smile, enjoy, see, together, go, good, free, shine

This list provides positive associations, but is generic. You'll want to expand it to include

other words that have the same effect for you, personally. Priming your brain with your

expanded list will help to put you in a better mindset for social activity. It's no magic

trick, and a little recitation isn't going to instantly turn you into the life of a party, but it

might alter the way you approach social situations for the better. Personally, I prefer to

just talk myself into a social activity I don't feel up tosort of like a self-pep talk. NLC

isn't really that much different, but just fragmented and less-specific. Any type of talking

to yourself may help or may feel like a waste of time. Either way, it only takes a few

minutes to find out.

Make Exercise Easier

Many people are blessed with aspirations of great health and fitness, but few with the

desire to actually exercise. It's exhausting, hard work that requires a shower afterwards,

making it a prime target for excuses. But just as your brain can figure out plenty of ways

to keep you off of the treadmill, you can take measures to trick your brain into ignoring

them.


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As with everything, the key is to take an action to get you started because that will alert

your brain that you are actually going to exercise. One of the simplest starting points is

to consume a little caffeine. While the substancehas numerous effects on your brain and

body, in small amounts (i.e. ~30-70mg) it canhelp you ignore muscle fatigue. On top of

that, being slightly more alert can help you muster the energy you need to get through

that seemingly torturous workout. Tea is an ideal option as it also contains theobromine

and theophylline, which canrelax your muscles. Taking this small action gives you first

step towards exercise and a slight edge when you do.

While getting started is the hardest part, staying motivated can be a challenge at times

as well. A study conducted at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at

Liverpool John Moores University found thatyou'll work harder when listening to

uptempo music, meaning you need to get a good playlist in order. All the music you

choose should have have a tempo in the range of 120 to 140 beats per minute (BPM).

There areseveral ways to calculat the BPM of your songs, but you can save yourself the

trouble by usingJog.fm. It's a clever tool that helps you discover uptempo, energizing

music that will help keep you moving. A fast-paced playlist won't necessarily make your

exercise feel easier, but it will trick your brain into pushing your body hard enough to

complete your routine.

Use These Tricks Sparingly, or They'll Stop Working
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Here's the unfortunate catch to this whole idea: If you use these tricks too frequently,

they'll start to fail you. Initially, you allow yourself to be fooled because you're hopeful

andlured in by potential, but if these techniques become too familiar, you run the risk of

reducing their efficacy. Moderation is key. You can help yourself out by using these

tricks when you need them, but you'll waste a good thing if you use them too frequently.

Think of these methods as a secret weapon, and not as an everyday solution.

This post was illustrated by Dominick Rabrun. You can find his illustrations on

hispersonal web site, or works in progresson his blog.
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