Make your brain work : how to maximize your efficiency, productivity and effectiveness

Half-title page
Dedication
Title page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowlegements
Introduction
	How to read this book
	Meet the coach
	Meet the professionals
Part 1 YOU
01 Can a marshmallow predict your success?
	Possibilities
	Prioritization
	Picturing your goal
	Starting with the end in mind
	Prefrontal cortex
	Practical prioritization
	New information
	Multi or mono
	Your plastic brain
	Reassuringly flexible
	Enriching your potential
	Action
02 Is your hippopotamus under attack?
	Stress: the classic culprit
	Predictability and stress
	Perhaps pounding the pavements is the answer
	Negative connotations
	Checking out of stress and into normality
	Hippo attack
	Mirror neurons
	Possibilities
	Lack of control
	Stress busting
	Focus
	Action
03 Learning how to influence what feels out of your control
	States, emotions and feelings
	To know or not to know
	Controlling our feelings
	Controlling our emotions
	Practically possible
	New for Ben
	Why anchoring is vital
	About the cup
	The importance of smell
	Action
04 The challenge of being everything to everyone
	Possibilities
	Distractions
	Benefits of braking
	Getting stuck
	Strategic planning
	Getting unstuck
	Decision making
	Filtering incoming data
	Emotional area
	Action
05 Is a busy brain a clever brain?
	The brain in action
	In one ear, out the other
	Full head
	Enriching your environment
	Knowledge into practice
	A leopard can change its spots
	A lot of hard work
	Practically possible
06 Getting results easily and with less effort
	The neuroscience behind habits
	The reality of the chocolate habit
	Reprogramming a habit
	How a faulty circuit can be fixed
	What is possible
	Neuroplasticity and habits
	‘Damaged’ as a child
	Neural Darwinism
	Competitive plasticity
	How you create new habits
	Why bad habits sometimes return
	Action
Part 2 YOUR COLLEAGUES AND CLIENTS
07 Working and living in balance
	Work–life balance
	Expectations: theirs and yours
	Conflict
	Causes of tiredness
	Time versus energy
	The importance of control
	How the mind works optimally
	Action
08 Upgrading your life one step at a time
	What the brain has to do with getting stuff done
	Brain areas of goal achievement
	Getting specific
	Real or imagined
	The neuroscientist’s biggest kept secret
	Motivation
	Your state matters
	Deserving a reward
	Action
09 The minefield of motivating people
	Motivating others
	What motivates you
	Some rewards motivate
	Higher purpose
	Power of expectations
	Motivation zappers
	Power of control
	Power of certainty
	Power of confidence
	Mood and motivation
10 The resilient brain – did you receive yours?
	Explore the short easy ways resilience can be built
	Mental rehearsal
	Can you increase your mental endurance?
	Challenging perspectives
11 What to do  when everyone demands innovation
	Myth busting
	Core components of creativity
	Improvization
	Cognitive flexibility
	Mental workouts
	Brain during creativity
	Glorious sleep
	Daydreaming
	Play
12 Appearing competent to others
	Insights
	How to predispose yourself to having more insights
	Why you forget
	Real or fabricated
	Episodic versus semantic
	Brain areas
	Working memory
	Emotions and memory
	Unconscious memories
	Priming
Part 3 YOUR COMPANY
13 Leading with your brain switched on
	Leaders today
	The synaptic circle
	Confidence
	Understanding status
	Mirror neurons
	Certainty
	Celebration
	Control
	Connection
	Contribution
14 A culture of more than psychological safety
	Bold Jessie
	Creating a culture of psychological safety yields an organizational environment in which employees can explore and express their full brain potential
15 Managing people, managing brains
	Managing people – a brain perspective
	Trust
	Predictability and ambiguity
	Fairness
	Social reward
	Neuromanagement
	Feeling
	Thinking
	The evaluator
	The conflict manager
	Interpreting
	Action
	Reward
Notes
Further Reading
Index