BANZA February 2016 Issue | Page 77

Border zone time Big ideas don’t come from sitting behind your computer or intense concentration. Often, the best strategic insights come from the border zone between relaxation and concentration, where the brain has the freedom to connect dots from different parts of your brain. Most people benefit from incorporating some “border zone time” into their work schedule, such as walking meetings, biking to work, running or thinking-in-peace activities. You will, in turn, focus more on output, rather than input. Reduce the sweat of small decisions All decisions drain energy, even small ones. That’s the reason Steve Jobs wore the same clothes every day believing that even small decisions, such as what to wear, uses mental capacity that he could otherwise channel into productivity. You can start by reducing everything you can; your outfits, your routines, your possessions and then progress to making fixed rules for what you spend your time. Fixed rules make it easier to say no quickly to requests that would drain your time and energy and save up energy for the important things in your life.