12 Most Powerful Techniques To Stay Brilliant All Day Long.

These can help you maintain your well-being and performance in highly demanding work environments.

Work places are our modern savanna. Work overload, deadlines, overflow of communication and up and downs of financial markets have replaced wild animals and exposure to the elements. Yet, our brains are still wired with the same stress response as in Stone Age times to keep us save.

Stress factors and challenges (looming deadlines, work load) are luring all too ready in the working environment to strike any time. Up-and Downs of financial markets and extremely negative events from lost funding to business failure are traumatic events.

 Often the lifestyle of executives weakens their stress resilience: They work too many hours without taking a break. They neglect their sleep. They do not regulate their eating. They suppress their feelings and emotions.

I asked members in my network to share their most powerful tools to stay brilliant all day long. Whether you are an executive or you have your own company these tools are worth trying.

In my first article I shared the "Top 10 Stress Resilience Habits" from over 250 replies. A big thanks to all the contributors and their brilliant ideas. In this article I share unique lessons and habits some members practice to maintain their physical and mental health.

1. The Unexpected Power Of Routines And Rituals

Routines can function as a bridge between our strategy or dreams and action. In following a routine you constrain your choices to the ones that work best and add meaningful actions to your day. Routines offer stability and positivity in stressful an unpredictable times.

"I start my day with a routine: Gratitude journal, bible reading, ‘creating my day’ in my mind, meditation for ten minutes, journaling for 15 minutes, exercise and reading something regarding personal growth or listening to a podcast,” Darlene A. Mayo MD Fanns, CEO, Florida, describes her morning ritual.

Closing your day on a high note is essential to give your brain positive information to process and ideas to work on. Darlene suggests to “write down the wins of the day – what you have accomplished that moves you closer to your goal. For things you wish happened differently, imagine it the way you want it.”

 “Whatever routine works for you to keep you centered, focused, achieving and fulfilled - do it and do it consistently,” recommends Louise Reid, Chief Empowerment Officer, Ottawa, Canada Area.

2. Get Energized Before Important Meeting

The energy you send out you will receive. To serve your clients, employees etc. the best, a two-minute ritual can help. “I identify the most critical interactions of my role. For example, to show up for client coaching sessions, I pull up their photo, dance to the greatest showman, and imagine them in their highest power,” Lisa Earle Mcleod, Founder, Greater Atlanta Area, tells.

3. Give Your Full Attention To Be Present

Giving something or someone your full attention or energy not only empathically connects you to others but also brings you to the present moment.

“Everyday I choose 1 thing (or person) to give 100% of my time/focus/energy/passion to that is meaningful in my life and I expect 0 (zero) back from it or them,” describes Linda Waller, Owner/L.M.T., Howe, Texas, her 100/0 law.

James Lakes, Chief Transformation Officer, Greater Nashville Area, TN, calls his tool value hour. “I dedicate an hour a day to focus on proactively bringing value to the world, my loved ones, my peers, mentees, mentors, etc. every day.” The activities can span from meditating to research on topics and planning. “It gives me some sense of accomplishment and control as most of the day we are responding, reacting to the stimulus and requirements that the world brings or puts in front of us.”

“Sending short positive emails to my team describing tasks that were done well, gives me sustained energy” says Karen Guggenheim, CEO, Miami, Florida.

4. Varidesk For An Ergonomic Work Place

We often overlook that the work place itself can support our productivity.

Mark Tully, Founder, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area recently invested in a varidesk. “This is proving to be a great investment. I am mentally more alert throughout the day, I no longer have any fatigue or effects of lunch.”

5. Teach Yourself Self-Awareness To Get The Outcome You Want

The ability to monitor your inner world, your thoughts and feelings in a gentle and accepting way is important to control your actions and perform the best possible way.

 “This ability is often not taught to us and we have to develop it through practice,” tells Sandro Heitor, Co Founder Director, London, United Kingdom. His daily Body, Mind and Spirit Program helps him to adjust to any circumstance and to perform at his best.

“For a positive mind I use positive podcasts, motivation speakers and my own positive thinking. For the body I work out to release excess energy and open my soul and clear it from any negative energy I’ve picked up. I choose good nutrition to keep my body well nourished. For my spirit I use meditation, adding value to people and connecting to peers on a spiritual level”.

 “I don't think anyone is on top of their game all of the time. The key is to know yourself,” argues Sean Manion, CEO, Greater New York City Area. “Track your mood, productivity, focus areas, etc. across different variables (times of day, diet, sleep, stress, etc.). Then match the right task to the right current state for optimal productivity.”

“Ask yourself what is going on for you right now. What does love want me to do right now,” says Marie Quigley, Co founder, Director, Qatar. “I use an app called mind jogger that I programme to ask me questions throughout the day to bring awareness to what I'm feeling.”

6. Do The Hardest Work First

“Successful people do the hardest work first, so everything along the day becomes easier,” says Giuseppe Arca, CEO, Frankfurt Am Main Area, Germany. “Schedule time for reading emails and responding to them.” This will keep you on track and leaves time for powerful actions.

7. Prioritize with Essentialism To Get Things Done

“Most people understand prioritization, but the problem with this is that it doesn’t remove things from your list. They can stay there forever, which can be stressful,” tells Craig Wills, CEO and General Manager, Newcastle, Australia

He advocates for essentialism, “where you break your list of tasks into Mandatory (must do), Essential (will help me achieve my goals) and Optional (ignore them).” With this you end up with a more manageable/doable list.

As an example he shares the practice on a CEO he once worked with. ”The CEO would allocate week 1 to work on strategy, week 2 to work on operational improvement, week 3 to work on board activities etc.”

8. Create a Mindmap And Connect For Clarity And Refocus

Sometimes a complex tasks can be overwhelming and intimidating. “I create a mind map of my tasks, activities, and ideas. I make it as visual as I can, including using color pencils,” tells Davida Ginter, Founder & CEO, Israel”. The purpose is to create clarity and prioritization to help my mind feel more relaxed with everything I want to accomplish.”

Though it may sound distracting from tasks, Davida regularly stops what she’s doing and invites a friend over to chat. ”It gives me proportions and it grounds me, and then I go back to work more aligned and with better focus.”

9. Start With 10 Minutes Of Focus To Take The Right Step

“Many people spend a lot of time multi-tasking and staying busy. But do they really get things done,” asks Abbas Abdullah, President & Founder, Dallas/Fort Worth Area.

He recommends using a system to achieve immediate results. “I check in by spending 10 minutes focusing on one thing and only that one thing. Looking at it from different perspectives to see what I need to hear so I can get a good feeling on the next steps to take right now. I place each activity in its own time bucket.”

10. Stress Less Laugh More

In a recent study published in the journal of neuroscience identified that social laughter leads to endorphin release resulting in a calming and pleasurable effect. This might signal safety and togetherness.

Anthony Ackroyd, Chief Executive Officer, Sydney, Australia, tells his experience with humor. “Humor and laughter reduce stress, stimulate creative thinking and enable optimal emotional regulation. Those who have humor skills are also better at building rapport and affiliation, and they are able to skillfully influence others.”

11. Fly An Airplane

Stepping out of work entanglements and routines into a Meta perspective is a common tool used in coaching.

Whitney Hammond Cfp, President & CEO, Toronto, Canada Area, takes this on a new high level. “I fly my airplane. The peace in the air is surreal. I studied and studied and still study flying. It takes my mind from work. I run HARD in between trips working 16 hour days and then I jump in the plane and have amazing adventures and meet super neat people.”

12. Get Into An Optimal Mindset

During turbulent times remaining resourceful is a necessity but not always easy to achieve. Keep your awareness on your body and simultaneously on the space around you in which you can hold all the resources, strengt, intelligence and wisdom available to you was well as disturbing energies like fear, anger sadness etc.," says Robert Delt, co-developer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

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What is your favorite tool? And, if you like to be GUIDED INTO A TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS and experience the power of hypnosis, consider signing up for my free audio session titled "Transform Your Inner Tension Into Power".

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And, one more thing, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Do these techniques resonate with you? Is there anything you have questions on? 

I’m a coach to many, but I’m also a student and am constantly seeking feedback to learn and improve! So, don’t hesitate to connect with me and share your thoughts!