Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life by Margaret Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

to develop cognitive control, to mold mental/virtual information and to flexibly adapt to new stimuli. The organized and efficient individual synthesizes these qualities, much as the various parts of the brain are often brought together to perform tasks or help solve problems, and brings these abilities to bear on the problem or situation at hand.
    The disorganized, unfocused individual may do none of this. We all know people whose lives seem to be out of control—and at the moment, you may feel like you’re one of them. At times like these, it seems as if nothing ever gets done. You feel as if you’re in a losing race with the clock and the calendar. You seem to have no ability to influence or manage events and “things just keep happening” to you. It seems as if there is no time to accomplish the important things.
    You see where we’re going here, right? Connect the dots: Thinking…feeling…acting…living. Following a logical path, from emotional control through the different cognitive building blocks, you are ready to put it all together. Here, the organized brain orchestrates all the other functions. The end result: a cognitive harmony that allows you to function more effectively, productively and enjoyably in every aspect of life.
    One last time, let’s go back to our example of Jill and her keys. In suggesting the idea of the launch pad to this patient, I was actually addressing two of the Rules of Order.
    First, because she was emotionally distraught over what her episode with the keys had wrought in her workday, I knew that I had to calm Jill down; to help her Tame the Frenzy (Rule #1). You can’t get organized and can’t make rational decisions about how to get organized when you’re distraught. In her case, the suggestion of the launch pad began a new process of thinking, not only reacting to the problem at hand.
    Next, finding the little box that she eventually used for her launch pad and clearing out the space for it at home and in the office helped her to Sustain Attention (Rule #2) on the tasks at hand:
    1) putting her keys down and later
    2) finding her keys—by removing physical/cognitive distractions
    This small success helped Jill become more confident. You can imagine her now starting her morning on a more positive note, heading out the door on time and ready to face the day, as opposed to already demoralized, frustrated and down on herself because of a moment’s inattentiveness.
    In the pages ahead we will examine more closely each of the Rules of Order, one at a time, and give you the tools and solutions that canhelp you to better sustain attention, stay on task and, above all, create a greater sense of order and efficiency in a world that often seems anything but.
    Coach Meg and I will provide you with your own launch pad—and then some.

CHAPTER 2
A Change Will Do You Good/ Coach Meg
    M Y COAUTHOR, DR. PAUL HAMMERNESS, does in this book what doctors do wonderfully well at their best—share their expert knowledge and wisdom in a compelling fashion so that you can make the best possible decisions and choices about your health and life. But of course knowledge and insight are only a start. Knowing what to do is one thing; knowing how you’re going to do it is quite another. Doing something means that you need to make some changes, develop some new habits and unlearn some old ones. That’s where I come in.
    As a professional coach, change is my business. My kind of coaching has a few things in common with those who coach football or basketball teams. Like the men and women who exemplify the best of that profession, we know how to help people accomplish their best. But our goals are not to win games and the people we coach are not always young or athletic. Today the most established domains for coaching are in the executive suites of some of America’s largest corporations. In the United States, more than five thousand executive