The things your brain needs in order to thrive

Most people keep planning, visualizing and imagining their future life as if they are watching some other person live it. That person is you. If you intentionally live each day, perfecting and maximising your vision of the future, instead of killing time or just living a bread and butter, day-to-day existence, you steer your life towards the direction you want.

We need to act like the person we wish to become, as we are what we do all day.

• Nutrition: We are what we eat, and having a good nutritious diet, full of green vegetables, nuts and seeds goes a long way. Avoid processed foods at any cost.
• Oxygen: or fresh air is a primary need of the brain. Any daily exercise routine is best for brain health.
• Information: The brain needs information to process, preferably high quality and diverse. Active learning, along with continuous mental challenges that get the cylinders firing is the way to nourish the brain and form connections. True learning reframes our entire mental model and helps the brain evolve.
• Love: What keeps us happy and healthy is good, loving relationships, and the care and touch of loved ones.

"Keeping a personal journal a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them."

• Increases focus;
• Deeper level of learning, order, action, and release;
• Holding thoughts still so they can be changed and integrated;
• Releasing pent-up thoughts and emotions;
• Empowerment;
• Bridging inner thinking with outer events;
• Detaching and letting go of the past;
• Allowing you to re-experience the past with today’s adult mind.

Your work is a reflection of you. If you want something different: improve yourself.

If you're not getting the results you're looking for, stop looking for better strategies. Instead, look inside. Try to continuously improve yourself, by expanding your vision, skills, and abilities.

You need to put yourself into positions that create immense pressure. The kind of pressure that will either make or break you. 

This is how you purge out your weakness and small-mindedness. It won't be pretty. But it will change you.

Start the day with your #1 priority.

Getting up early isn’t enough. You need to put first things first. When you put your top priorities first, then you ensure they make it into the bucket of your day. After your main priorities have been completed, the rest will fill the gaps.

Who we know and what we do influence what we'll become: What we do puts us around people. And the people we surround ourselves with help set the baseline for what we think is ok, what we think is possible and what we’re exposed to.

You don't have to know personally those you admire. From influential contemporary figures to historical ones, you can still follow them afar. History, for instance, has great individuals who stand as timeless examples of what it means to be impressive.

A surprising number of us subconsciously expect life to be fair, and we believe that any unfairness that we experience will somehow be balanced out, even if we don’t do anything about it.

 If you’re stuck in that mindset, it’s time to get over it. When something “unfair” happens, don’t rely on outside forces to get you back on your feet. 

One of the most important things a person can do is stick his or her neck out and seek opportunity. 

Just because you deserve a raise, a promotion, or a company car, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. You have to make it happen. You have to put in the hard work, then go and get what’s yours. If we limit ourselves to what’s given to us, we are at the mercy of other people.

• Get Clear: process all your loose-ends.
• Get Current: make sure all your items are up to date.
• Get Creative: come up with new ideas to improve how you live and work.

• You gain an objective view of the week: a weekly review forces you to practice intention by taking time to pause and reflect as you consider what you did versus what you planned to do.
• You become proactive in planning: a weekly review isn’t only a retrospective, but a prospective too. It lets you run through the upcoming Monday to Friday proactively.

They shape your actions. If you think of yourself as lazy or weak, you act in accordance with that label.

Instead of placing labels on yourself, try making statements indicating you’re in the process of improving. Change “I am” to “I’m working on it.”

...are your most precious for maximized productivity. 

Your brain is most attuned first thing in the morning, and so are your energy levels. Consequently, the best time to do your best work is during this time.

Spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your #1 priority, nothing else. 

Zero distractions. Just get that work done.

"Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses — especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."

Polymaths have existed forever (they are often the ones who’ve advanced Western civilization more than any others )  but they’ve been called different things throughout history:

Philosopher king: Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Archimedes.

Renaissance person: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei.

Gentleman scholar: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams.

Polymath: Marie Curie, Isaac Newton, Theodore Roosevelt.

Modern polymath: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg.