Feeling overwhelmed? Remembering what “short-circuits” the brain can give you powerful ammunition to create work habits that support your well-being.

The primary reason your brain goes into overload is that it doesn’t know what to do–it gets confused.

1. Know what you are doing. If you don’t know what the goal of your work activity is, how will your brain know what to do to accomplish it? How will it know when it is complete?

Ask yourself, “What am I doing?” or “What is the purpose of this activity?”

2. Jumping between activities confuses your brain because it can’t follow a natural order of activities–it hops all around. You create more work for it by telling it to track different processes when you multi-task.

Give your mind a break!