Fix It with Focus


Book Description

Spring is in the air! That means great things like warmer weather, playing outside, and baseball! So, when Blake is distracted by kids in the schoolyard, it’s no wonder why he doesn’t notice his friends working on the ground and knocks over their project! And when things are slow in the outfield and Blake begins to work on a dirt clump beneath his feet, is it a surprise he doesn’t see or hear the warning before a baseball nails him in the elbow? And come on, how is he supposed to keep working on his math test when it’s taking FOREVER, and he just wants to go outside? Focus. Focus. Focus. That is the advice Blake frequently hears but fails to follow. Although he may be struggling with focus and learning to stay on task, the adults in his life are there to help teach him how to use tools like the work/brain break cycle, squishy eraser, glove tapping, and more! Fix It with Focus adds another entertaining lesson to the very popular Executive FUNction book series by award-winning author, school counselor, dad and coach Bryan Smith. Being able to focus is an important life skill and can help set children up for success. Included at the end of the story are tips for parents and educators to help teach children in grades K through 5 how to channel their energy, time-management and self-monitoring skills.




The Brain Fog Fix


Book Description

Is stress preventing you from enjoying your daily life? Do you find that you’re becoming more distracted or forgetful? Are "the blues" sapping your spirits? Or do you simply feel not quite like yourself? If you want to reclaim you focus, memory, and joy, you’re not alone. There are millions of people fighting against the epidemic of brain fog that’s sweeping the nation. The good news: It’s not an irreparable condition; rather it’s a side effect of modern-day living. Many of the foods we eat and the habits we have do not support our brains. We no longer get what we need in order to produce essential brain chemicals that keep us energized, calm, focused, optimistic, and inspired. And even worse, our choices could lead to long-term problems, like dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and anxiety. Sadly, if you look at the way most of us live, it seems almost as though we’ve chosen a lifestyle deliberately intended to undermine our brain chemistry and our health. Fortunately, there is a solution. The Brain Fog Fix is an easy-to-follow three-week program designed to help naturally restore three of your brain’s most crucial hormones: serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol. Rebalancing these chemicals will in turn enable the rest of your brain’s chemistry to reach optimal levels. Each week of the program focuses on a different element of your life: • In week 1, you’ll improve your mood by modifying your diet and using cognitive strategies to overcome pitfall thought patterns. • In week 2, you’ll increase your energy by focusing on sleep, exercise, and memory-boosting games. • In week 3, you’ll enhance your spirit through practices that help you connect to something larger than yourself and enable you to rediscover your joy in life. By the end of this simple program, you’ll be thinking more clearly, remembering more accurately, learning more quickly, and unleashing the floodgates of your creativity. And you’ll simply feel better – for now and in the long term.




Atomic Habits


Book Description

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 20 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; design your environment to make success easier; get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.




How to Fix Meetings


Book Description

'An accessible thought provoking book that offers something of interest to anyone responsible for organising (or participating in) meetings.' Jackie Weaver, Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils Zoom fatigue? Calendar full of meetings that could just be an email? Online and offline, too much valuable time is wasted in meetings. Often little advance planning takes place, resulting in productivity drains rather than productivity gains. Providing realistic and practical advice, productivity professionals Graham Allcott and Hayley Watts show how to reduce the amount of time you spend in meetings, and ensure that the ones that you do attend are genuine opportunities to collaborate and get things done. Learn how to hold and attend meetings where the focus is on the outcome; get to grips with the 40–20–40 Continuum, so that only 20 per cent of your attention for each meeting is spent in the meeting itself – the rest is in the preparation and the follow-through; and understand when it's necessary to say that you won't be attending – and how best to do so.




Deep Work


Book Description

AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2O16 PICK IN BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP WALL STREET JOURNAL BUSINESS BESTSELLER A BUSINESS BOOK OF THE WEEK AT 800-CEO-READ Master one of our economy’s most rare skills and achieve groundbreaking results with this “exciting” book (Daniel H. Pink) from an “exceptional” author (New York Times Book Review). Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep Work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way. In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill. 1. Work Deeply 2. Embrace Boredom 3. Quit Social Media 4. Drain the Shallows A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.




Hyperfocus


Book Description

A practical guide to managing your attention--the most powerful resource you have to get stuff done, become more creative, and live a meaningful life Our attention has never been as overwhelmed as it is today. Many of us recognize that our brains struggle to multitask. Despite this, we feel compelled to do so anyway while we fill each moment of our lives to the brim with mindless distraction. Hyperfocus provides profound insights into how you can best take charge of your attention to achieve a greater sense of purpose and productivity throughout the day. The most recent neuroscientific research reveals that our brain has two powerful modes that can be unlocked when we use our attention effectively: a focused mode (hyperfocus), which is the foundation for being highly productive, and a creative mode (scatterfocus), which enables us to connect ideas in novel ways. Hyperfocus helps you access each of the two mental modes so you can concentrate more deeply, think more clearly, and work and live more deliberately every day. Chris Bailey examines such topics such as: • identifying and dealing with the four key types of distraction and interruption; • establishing a clear physical and mental environment in which to work; • controlling motivation and working fewer hours to become more productive; • taking time-outs with intention; • multitasking strategically; and • learning when to pay attention and when to let your mind wander wherever it wants to. By transforming how you think about your attention, Hyperfocus reveals that the more effectively you learn to take charge of it, the better you'll be able to manage every aspect of your life.




Indistractable


Book Description

"Indistractable provides a framework that will deliver the focus you need to get results." —James Clear, author of Atomic Habits "If you value your time, your focus, or your relationships, this book is essential reading. I'm putting these ideas into practice." —Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind National Bestseller Winner of the Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award Included in the Top 5 Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible Included in the Top 20 Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon Featured in The Amazon Book Review Newsletter, January 2020 Goodreads Best Science & Technology of 2019 Finalist You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold. What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become "indistractable?" International bestselling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley's handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction's Achilles' heel in his groundbreaking new book. In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us. Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals: • Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture—and how to fix it • What really drives human behavior and why "time management is pain management" • Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable • How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention—helping you live the life you really want.




Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It


Book Description

Change the way you think about work (and life) by focusing on results—and only results Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It shows how the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) mindset can make you or your organization more entrepreneurial, more connected with the broader trends in your industry, and more willing to take smart risks. It explains how to set clear expectations and focus on the endpoint as opposed to managing the process that gets you there. With eyes set on getting rid of distractions, long meetings, and unnecessary updates, this book offers quick, everyday strategies to experience huge increases in productivity (without adding resources) and dramatic drops in turnover. Authors Ressler and Thompson began their work together at Best Buy where they are credited with revolutionizing the workplace Reframes thinking away from counting on general availability (Where's Bob?) to creating clear expectations (Does Bob know exactly what's expected of him?) Explains how to reduce the number of meetings while increasing their quality Shows how to eliminate scheduled events in order to increase critical thinking and improve communication ROWE is a bold, cultural transformation that permeates the attitudes and operating style of an entire workplace, leveling the playing field and giving people complete autonomy—to manage their measurable results using adult common sense.




Mindset


Book Description

From the renowned psychologist who introduced the world to “growth mindset” comes this updated edition of the million-copy bestseller—featuring transformative insights into redefining success, building lifelong resilience, and supercharging self-improvement. “Through clever research studies and engaging writing, Dweck illuminates how our beliefs about our capabilities exert tremendous influence on how we learn and which paths we take in life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.” After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment. In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love—to transform their lives and your own.




The Fix


Book Description

Massing confronts the failure of the "war on drugs" and documents the much greater potential for reclaiming drug addicts that can be had by treatment and support rather than criminalization, and at a lower cost than building ever more prisons and militarizing drug source countries in Latin America.