Bootstrapping your brain.
We have become accustomed to bootstrapping our business resources in order to stretch them as far as we can.
However, when we think about bootstrapping in order to optimise what is available to us, we often neglect to apply these practices to the most powerful resource we possess; our brains.
In order to get the most from mine, here are some things I am doing to bootstrap it:
Routinising
Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are all known as being advocates of routinising your day to day.
‘I eat essentially the same thing for breakfast each morning: a bowl of cold cereal and a banana. For lunch, I eat a chicken salad sandwich with a diet soda. Each morning, I dress in one of a small number of suits, each of which goes with particular shirts and ties.’
The reason President Obama does this is in order to limit the amount of decisions his brain has to make on a day to day basis. By eliminating the mundane decisions, his brain has more power and resource to act more effectively on the important ones.
As human beings, we have a limited daily mental capacity in terms of decisions and although I have yet to go as far as wearing a “uniform” à la Zuckerberg and Jobs, I have started to get my clothes for the next day ready the night before, as well as standardising what I eat for breakfast and the order in which I get ready.
Ideas
Every now and then I get a killer idea, the idea that will change the world, an Einstein moment.
At least that is what I think at the time.
I am now keeping an idea journal to capture my ideas on paper and then reviewing it on a weekly basis. If I feel they are still worth exploring after a week then I will invest the time into exploring them further.
Tasks
We all have to-do lists and Trello boards with an unenviable amount of tasks that we must complete, today, this week, this month.
Even if we have a list of ten things we need to get done in a day, the reality is we will not get round to all of them, and if we have it is because we have cut the corners on some of the tasks.
I now limit myself to the three most important tasks in a day.
If I get those three done then I consider it a success.
By limiting myself in this way, I find it easier to concentrate, and to execute on the tasks that actually matter.
Optimising the tools and resources available to us are essential in terms of bootstrapping our businesses and in turn our lives, it is vital that we remember to maximise the most important one at our disposal.
What about you? How do you bootstrap your brain?
Let me know on Twitter @neilswmurray or over on my site www.neilswmurray.com
Alternatively you can join my mailing list here where I write about customer acquisition, productivity and startup life.
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