Tips to Overcome Wandering Brain

Ever stop to consider how much time you're wasting through a wandering brain? New research shows our brains tend to wander during mundane tasks and boring lectures. In fact, psychologist Malia Mason discovered that daydreaming seems to be the default setting of the mind and brain regions related to it. What's behind this anyway?

The research team speculates that

when engaged in a mundane task, mind wandering allows people to remain properly aroused. Alternatively, they say, daydreams could be a conduit for uniting experiences from a person's past or present to their future. Or, the brain may just have evolved the ability to handle more than one function at once.

Good news is that by zeroing on a compelling task, the meandering stops immediately, according to Harvard Research.

So, what can one do to bring focus to a boring committee meeting if you discover your mind wanders?

Here're some tactics to spark more of your brain...

1. Listen carefully to jot down just one word, beside a person's name, to summarize ideas, when a committee member speaks. [Recognizing patterns - Logical-mathematical intelligence]

2. Doodle icons which summarize ideas presented, if you're more spatially oriented. [Translating ideas to images - Spatial intelligence]

3. Keep this question stirring in your head -- Where to from here? And in an appropriate moment, be ready to share your nugget for the committee to move forward. [Reflection - Intrapersonal intelligence]

4. Do quick research ahead of the meeting to discover an insight. Share at the right moment. [Reading articles - Verbal-linguistic intelligence]

And, all these strategies involve higher cognitive brain functions.

Just think, you can be the one to change the nature of a "boring committee" if you strategize ahead for a compelling focus by using more of your brain!

Thoughts?