Focus: Oh sugar...

3 weeks ago my wife and I cut out all refined sugar and wheat from our diets.

Now I know what you are thinking:

Oh yeah, I bet you are all over the Courgetti, Sweet Potato and Lacto free trends as well, in fact you are probably wearing a beanie hat inside and sporting a victorian beard too.

Well in a word, yes, minus the beard though, I couldn't carry that one off. We made the diet change for a month for good reasons as well I think, my wife for health reasons thought it would be a good idea and being the wonderful supportive husband that I am *cough... I thought I would do the same.

In all seriousness, I thought it was a great idea, both of us are active people and lucky enough to live in an area where we can make the most of the countryside but like most of us, you can always do more. I travel a lot in cars and on trains, I sit at a desk and meetings generally are sat down too. As the years fall away you start to notice shall we say the:

'Seat physique'.

So, week one minus the sugar & bread was horrendous, brain fogginess, lethargic and also when you go for lunch or meetings that involve food you become the

' Oh no thanks, I'm on an diet'

guy and no-one wants to be him really. What was interesting once you find a routine and start getting on top of healthy snacks etc worryingly you see how dependent you are on something, in this case Sugar, whether you knew you were eating it or not and how you rely on it for productivity to boot. Which got me wondering:

What are my habits?

Good or bad our brain is programmed to create habits, and as busy people we are clearly all guilty of just 'doing', have ever driven anywhere and wondered how you got there? I know I have. I also know that I might just pick up a biscuit whilst having a coffee or picking up the first 'healthy' yogurt I see just for a snack or quick lunch. So after approaching my eating habits it then made me wonder...

what was I doing constantly in my working day that could be fine tuned?

Here's what I found:

1) Day re-structuring

We all have a multitude of things to fit in both at work and personally every day, it's easy to just 'do' and not even think about it.

I started to structure my day out differently just to evaluate the effectiveness, I tried a short social media sprint in the morning to catch up on what my connections were saying and then being in a reactive environment I would then set objectives for the day after that. I set short sprints for each objective and break quickly after each main one is complete giving my brain a short rest 2/3 minutes and used that time to catch up with the team or check back in with clients. I set my lunchtime and being a working Dad there is always a billion things to fit in whilst eating my (sugar free) lunch so I prioritise those as well.

The afternoon is then the same and as I know I want to get back to do the children's bath and bed. Leaving me an overspill in the evening if I want to catch up on anything additional.

Sounds obvious but honestly if you don't already do this please do. The business and field I work in is constantly adapting and you are never really 'off' especially if it's your passion and working this way makes my work / life balance so much better. I am not glued to my desk for the sake of it and I am not sacrificing any office time with keeping up with my network either. I was just as productive before but now I am measured in everything I do, making each day increasingly more effective and align with business strategy better which develops daily to cater for our industry.

That's even in my social media engagement, for example I've created this blog piece over a series of sittings to work with my daily schedule and that adapts to where I am.

2) Social media distancing

I love social media, it's a huge part of our industry but making sure you are prioritising your channels makes you personally more efficient.

On that note, I recommend you listen to ex NBA star John Amaechi, I went to a talk of his once where the topic was focus, he recommended turning all app notifications off on your phone. I can't recommend that enough, that way I know if my phone goes off it's really important.

Additionally, you never want to be a jack of all trades and master of none. Knowledge and activity are two different things and no-one (controversially) unless you are a global business like Coca-Cola or Jay Z needs to be 'Live' on all channels all the time. With a huge amount of contacts to interact and engage with maybe stick to a few, measure it and ask yourself what they are doing for you personally.

3) Energy

Obviously...

Better fitness = more energy, more energy = more productivity.

But no-one says how you apply that energy, with all the will in the world you can't be everywhere at once as you will burn out.

Like everyone I can't recommend getting fitter physically enough but making sure that you work fitness into your day efficiently so that you don't get disheartened. I joined a gym as close as I can to my house so that I minimise my travel time and maximise my evenings.

That increased level of energy from better fitness gives me what I need to keep my structure effective and constant, I don't overdo it, I take the Pirlo approach, on the spectrum of 'headless chicken' he's the polar opposite of scattered and knows that every pass he plays is as specific and measured as possible.

In Summary

The lack of sugar has not only made me healthier but sparked some really interesting thoughts, in the same way that I check packets for sugar content I have an in-depth strategy that specifies a very individual mould for leads and opportunities. Genuinely, I can't recommend this route of state of mind any more. I can see why Carly Jones calls it brainfood.