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Are You Easily Distracted and Full of Brain Fog? · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at WalkWest.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening, when you've chosen to tune in here, I want to say thank you.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend with me.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you, how often do you feel distracted by irrelevant information or unable to focus and think clearly because you keep getting sidetracked by unimportant details?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is it sometimes difficult to put things together or you do you have trouble remembering what you were doing?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel like maybe you're stuck in a rut or you're dwelling on past mistakes and things just simply can't change?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Or how often do you find yourself resenting the world for giving you so much stress and making you feel this constant state of ambiguity?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone experiences brain frog from time to time.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you consistently feel like you lack the mental clarity, it can actually have a detrimental effect on your emotional health, on your productivity, on your relationships, and just your overall well-being.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just sort of start off by defining what mental clarity is.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Mental clarity represents that state of an attentive and focused mind.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so when your mind is clear, you can focus on a task that's in front of you, and you're able to put aside or ignore external distractions or things that are not related to the item that you're focusing on.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Your perception and your reasoning, as well as your memory, are clear when you have mental clarity, and you feel like you're you're totally involved and you are cognitively present.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you're in this moment right here and right now.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Mental clarity does allow us to concentrate on the tasks and to remember things, make sound judgments, and to feel productive.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: No one can really be mentally sharp at all times, though.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like as much as we would want to say, I want to have mental clarity all the time, the truth is we can't be mentally clear every minute of every day, seven days a week.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you let your worries or your negative thoughts get in the way of your brain's ability to be flexible, meaning psychological flexibility, this actually can create brain fog and can eventually start to hurt your performance as well as your overall happiness as and can have that detrimental effect on your relationships and your productivity when we're talking about maybe our workplace productivity.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Things like anxiety, depression, and burnout actually can make it really hard to think straight.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, some signs that you might be facing some lack of some mental clarity, or facing the lack of mental clarity, I should say, is if you're starting to feel chronically, mentally, and physically exhausted, or you are having difficulty focusing and concentrating on your daily tasks.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some people have talked about how they struggle to remember things, or there's a lack of interest in tasks that actually used to bring you enjoyment and fulfillment.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you find yourself having a hard time performing at work.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So, what do we do if we are noticing these things?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: How can we actually improve our mental clarity?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, keeping our brain fit is definitely a way that we can circumvent this lack of mental clarity, but also having a positive outlook on life and breaking bad habits that don't serve us, those can definitely create the room to start building that mental clarity that we're needing.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to have better attention, you might want to try to switch up your routine and paying more attention to self-care.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes, what we have found is that the routine that we might that we may used to have that worked for us no longer is serving us.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so just taking stock of that and paying attention to that.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Other things that you can do are learning to identify your distractions.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So internal and external distractions are huge obstacles to mental clarity.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So anything in the external environment could could grab your attention, and those distractions uh can keep you from having that that clarity that you need to work on something.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, even for instance, in the workplace, colleagues stopping by your desk if you're if you're actually in office, or if you're still working from home, being pinged, for instance, on one of those messaging platforms like Slack or even Teams can can keep us from having that focus on the work that's in front of us.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Internal distractions are those that come from within us, right?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So our rumination over maybe a conversation we had earlier in the day.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, for instance, if you had an argument with your with your spouse or with your partner and you then you're at work, you might find it difficult to focus on the work in front of you because you're still ruminating or thinking about that conversation that you had.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Other other internal distractions include those limiting beliefs or false beliefs about oneself or self-judgment or that internal or inner critic that wants to judge.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so figuring out what some of those internal distractions are, identifying them, becoming aware of them, and then deciding how you want to proceed could help move towards mental clarity.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh eating a balanced and brain-healthy diet is also important.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just making sure that you have um, you know, fruits and vegetables in your diet.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Eggs are an amazing source of those omega-3 fatty acids and protein, whole grain products, nuts, low-fat, and sometimes even fat-free dairy products are helpful.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Lean meats, seafoods could be helpful because they too can be rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as like salmon, mackerel, and tuna.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, lentils are great in fiber, and they also contain antioxidants, protein, potassium.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: So those can also be helpful when you're creating your balanced meal to just keep your brain healthy.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Clearing your head by taking a walk or getting some activity in is a terrific way to increase that clarity because what we what that walk or activity could provide is just a mental break, which can relieve tension and stress and allow you to honestly take a break from the worries and and thoughts that might be distracting you from being able to focus on what's at hand.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, giving yourself a break.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by this is um sometimes we think that we need to multitask or we need to be perfect, so it's letting go of perfectionism.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Those those things can also keep us from having mental clarity because we're trying to do too many things at once or we're trying to do it perfectly.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, water is huge, so this kind of leans back into the healthy diet, but keeping yourself hydrated, it's true that the if we are dehydrated, that can absolutely affect our mental clarity.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: It also does affect our mood and our energy levels, so making sure that you keep your body hydrated and also you know, ensuring that when you are hydrating, you are um maybe having some of those electrolytes as well.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Maintaining clear goals and values.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: So oftentimes people will talk about having goals.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think that they need to be worked in conjunction with your values, making sure that you have those values as your ground zero uh can really help you when you are starting to feel overwhelmed or that lack of clarity starts to seep in.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can dial back into those values and those goals that you set for yourself, and that can help bring you back towards that mental clarity that you sleep that you seek.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, I would say that sleep, you know, so often we are so overscheduled and we're trying to fit so much into our day.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we will stay up late and then we'll get up early, and and our bodies and our brains need enough sleep.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: So giving yourself permission to sleep properly, getting into a nighttime routine that allows you to fall asleep and to hopefully stay asleep.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because when we when we have that, when we have enough sleep, we're able to concentrate better, we're able to perform better during our day.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: But the truth is at the end of the day, mental clarity is absolutely the backbone of our ability to be productive.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's our it's the backbone of our well-being.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it can help us empower us to make clear decisions that really resonate and align with our our value system and who we are as individuals.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: So when we don't have that mental clarity, sometimes we will make decisions from a very disempowered place.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then unfortunately, that's where we start to feel the overwhelm and the stress.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to talk about mental clarity or anything else that you might be challenged with right now in terms of being able to move yourself forward professionally or personally, I'm happy to discuss that with you.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Through coaching, we really do create strategies for you to move forward in all spec aspects of your life that that you wish to move forward, whether it be professionally and or personally.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: You can always book a time to talk with me at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com or visit our website at www.comedywood.com.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.