If you want to grow stronger you have to work your muscles: break them down and rebuild them.  We spend billions on diets, workouts, gym memberships, and even chemicals to grow our muscles, but do we spend end 1/4 of the time building the most complex muscle that we have, our brain?  I have come to believe that you must train your brain in a similar way to training your muscles.  So here are 5 ways to workout and train your brain.

1. Meditation

Structured meditation, spending 15-20 minutes of quiet, focused relaxation and breathing, can not only help build up your brain, it can reduce stress! A recent study showed an increased concentration of gray matter in the brain, especially in the regions involved emotion regulation. Another study revealed that patients who practiced mindful meditation, defined as a focus on the present, experienced decreased stress symptoms for up to a year later. And not just that, they experienced a decrease in blood pressure and heart rate.

Application: Sit quietly and try to concentrate only on your breathing for 10-20 minutes with no distractions or outside stimulation.

2. Read

Reading is not only fundamental, it’s essential for brain health.  Studies have show that reading a variety of books and periodicals challenges the brain to think in new directions and absorb new concepts and information.  Reading not only activates and stimulates, it increases the volume of white matter in the language area of the brain.  And reading has also been shown to reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Application: Always carry a book/magazine with you.  It’s amazing how much time you have waiting in line at the store or at the doctor’s office.  You can also carve out 20 minutes of that lunch hour you have.

3. Exercise

Of course, exercise is great for your body, but did you know exercise also helps your brain?  Christin Anderson, MS, wellness and fitness coordinator of the University of San Francisco, explains that exercise affects many sites within the nervous system and sets off pleasure chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine that make us feel calm, happy, and euphoric. Exercise has also shown to lessen the affects of adult ADHD and depression!

Application: Go for a 20-30 minute walk/run/swim/bike ride..or anything.  GET OFF THE COUCH AND DO SOMETHING!!!  Just 8-12 minutes of mildly moderate exercise can return massive dividends.

4. Solve Puzzles

According to Dr. Gary Small, UCLA researcher and author of The Longevity Bible, mental exercise can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and increase your brain’s efficiency.  Solving mind puzzles and brain teasers not only helps with reasoning ability and cognitive deductions, but they can also build language skills and mental stability.

Application: download a free Sudoku or cross-word app on your smart phone or iPad and complete one puzzle a day.  Or spend a couple bucks at the checkout stand in your local grocery store and buy a book of puzzles.  And make sure you carry it with you…everywhere!

5. Spend QUALITY Time Thinking

I know this sounds oxymoronic, but we spend a lot of our days thinking about everything, and nothing at all.  Every day we are flooded with information and statistics.  Before lunch we’re made dozens of phone calls, returned tons of emails, had several meetings, and made countless decisions.  But do we really spend any of that time strategically thinking?

Application: Set aside 1 hour a day to think about a single issue.  Start with something like a goal or perhaps your next vacation.  Where do you want to be in the next year? What is the next goal you want to set, work for, and accomplish.  Figure THAT out and work backwards from there, to where you are today.

These are not just some simple suggestions, this is what I do on  a daily basis and I have found work for me.  You’re results may not be the same as mine, but I would love to hear of any progress you make in training your brain!

What are your ideas and thoughts on how to train your brain?

Goals and goal setting is not just for the workplace.  We should all have personal, professional, relationship, and even recreational goals.  Goals are benchmarks to work towards.  They are tangible evidence of our hard work and dedication.  We spend our lives achieving, and often failing to achieve, our goals, whether we know it, or not.

Walt Disney said, “A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.”  And he was absolutely correct.

Without setting some measurable point to work towards, we spend our days, and our lives, meandering from one circumstance to another, not knowing whether we are progressing or retreating.

Without proper goal setting:

• Our work weeks would be a chaotic jumble of deadlines, meetings, phone calls, emails, and conversations.
• Our personal lives would be void of exercise, nutrition, proper rest, or habits, and we would be at the very whim of every text, email, or phone call.
• Our relationships would be stagnant, not moving forward in the appropriate steps of progression.
• Our lives would be a complete mess, and our leadership wouldn’t be as effective as it could be.

How do you set goals?

Goal setting isn’t rocket science, it can be as easy as writing a simple list of 5 things to do during your work day.  It can be a list of books to read through out the year.  It can be signing up for a 5K race and having to train to properly prepare.

But let’s look as some simple, practical ways to set some basic goals for our lives.

The night before your work week begins…

• List out all the appointments you have in your calendar for the coming week. This lets you visually see what your week looks like and you can get an idea of where you need to focus your time to work between the appointment.
• Write out the TOP 10 actions you need to take that week.  You have limited amounts of time, you have certain tasks, phone calls, emails, or projects that need to be completed.  Make you list and complete each task as soon as possible.

Each night before you go to sleep…

• Look at your appoints for the day. You need to know what you coming day looks like, and get an idea where your time needs to be allotted.
• List out the TOP 3 THINGS that MUST be done. You can only truly focus on accomplishing 3-4 projects a day (assuming that you are working a normal 8-10 hour day), so you need to figure out the most important projects for that day to complete.
• List out the Phone Calls, Emails, Conversations you need to have. Knowing who you need to connect with helps you focus your time and energy.  If you need to talk to your I.T. Guy before end of day, you can structure your day to connect with him and not forget it.

Use Task Management Tools

There are great online resources like RememberTheMilk.com, Toodledo.com, and tadalist.com you can use, many for free.  These will help you manage your “to do” lists to help you accomplish your daily, weekly, or monthly goals.  Managing these smaller lists will help you attain your overall goals like time management, project achievement, and they can help you sleep better at night.

Write Out Your Goals

Download this PDF and fill it out.  It’s a very simple, yet profound tool to help you list out your goals for the next weeks, months, years.

There are 6 categories, Personal, Health, Professional, Financial, Relationships, and Community.  There are 10 spots to fill in under each heading.  Take 1 minute per spot and fill it out with a specific goal you want to attain.

There are 6 heading, 10 spots per heading, at a minute per spot, this simple exercise should take about an hour.  You can fill this out by yourself or as a couple.  You can use all 10 spots, or only 3 to 5…it’s up to you, but SET SOME GOALS!

Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on goals and goal setting, or if these ideas helped!

Having never read an Agatha Christie book before, I can now say that I am a fan of her writing.  What made me a fan? The Man in the Brown Suit.  It’s a great book, full of mystery and intrigue, with a VERY surprising twist ending.

In The Man in the Brown Suit, we meet Anne Beddingfeld, the daughter of Professor Beddingfeld, England’s foremost authority on Primitive man.  Anne unwittingly gets caught up in a sinister case of murder and intrigue that takes her from England, to the steamship Kilmorgan Castle to the lovely shores of South Africa.

How odd, Anne Beddingfeld thought, that the stranger caught her eye, recoiled in horror, and fell to his death on the rails of Hyde Park Underground Station. Odder still was a doctor in a brown suit who pronounced him dead and vanished into the crowd.

But what really aroused Anne’s suspicion was when she learned of the doctor’s link to the murder of a famous ballerina, a fortune in hidden diamonds, and a crime-lord embroiled in blackmail. And most frightening of all was the attempt made on Anne’s own life.

But she is unable to resist the lure of an isolated mansion that could hold the solution to the bizarre mystery–even if she becomes the next victim…

This is a great mystery book to read, or listen to in audio book form.  It is filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance.  It has also made me an Agatha Christie fan.  You would do yourself a service by reading it as well.

People ask me all the time:  How do I read so many books?  How can I afford it?  How can I fit it into my day?

I read a lot.  I’ve actually been reading more this year, than in years past.  Being unemployed for 10 months will give you all the time you need to read, but in actuality, I don’t read all day.  I read at specific times, for specific amounts of time.  In other words, I schedule my reading times.  I also have a few other tricks.

Some of my ideas are not original, I stole borrowed a couple thoughts from Bob Franquiz.  Bob is the Lead Pastor of Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes, FL and a tremendous reader.  His goal for 2009 was 200 books…WOW!  He is also an inspiration for me – and also Bill Hybels, these two guys read A LOT and are great leaders, and I want to be a great leader, so I am following their model.  Leaders are readers!

5 Simple Ways to Read More

1.  Always carry a book with you.

Bob taught me this – you have no idea how much free time you waste standing in line or waiting for a meeting.  And you can get at least 3-4 pages in while you are waiting in line.

2.  Listen as much as you Read.

I always have a book on audio in my car or iPod.  You spend a ton of time in your car driving to work or just around town, you should utilize your time by listening to a book on tape, CD, or MP3.  I would suggest that you use this option for NON-Fiction.  It’s easier to start and stop and you don’t have to track facts or figures.  It also curves your road rage and makes for a better drive.

3.  Visit your local library…often.

I can’t afford to buy all the books I read, and I don’t have a friend who posses all the books I want to read.  The answer: the local library.  They have books, books on tape, books on CD, and it’s also a great way to connect to your local community.  Plus, it’s FREE!

4. Schedule your reading times.

I read during my lunch break (when possible), for about 1 hour in the afternoon, and about 1 hour before I go to sleep.  Sometimes, I take a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and finish a book, but mostly, I HAVE to schedule my reading times.  As busy as these days are, and as important as our time is, you MUST schedule reading time.  It will pay off in the long run.

5.  Subscribe to a Book Summary Service.

If you want to spend time reading, but want ONLY the PRIMARY FACTS, I would suggest that you use a Book Summary Service.  They give you the most important information without all the stories or fluff.