Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long - Hardcover

Rock, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061771295 ISBN 13: 9780061771293

Publisher: Harper Business, 2009

Synopsis

In this revised edition updated with new findings, a researcher and consultant burrows deep inside the heads of one modern two-career couple to examine how each partner processes the workday―revealing how a more nuanced understanding of the brain can allow us to better organize, prioritize, recall, and sort our daily lives.

Emily and Paul are the parents of two young children, and professionals with different careers. Emily is the newly promoted vice president of marketing at a large corporation; Paul works from home or from clients' offices as an independent IT consultant. Their days are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. Just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task.

In Your Brain at Work, David Rock goes inside Emily and Paul's brains to see how they function as each attempts to sort, prioritize, organize, and act on the vast quantities of information they receive in one typical day. Rock is an expert on how the brain functions in a work setting. By analyzing what is going on in their heads, he offers solutions Emily and Paul (and all of us) can use to survive and thrive in today's hyperbusy work environment―and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.

In Your Brain at Work, Rock explores issues such as:

• why our brains feel so taxed, and how to maximize our mental resources
• why it's so hard to focus, and how to better manage distractions
• how to maximize the chance of finding insights to solve seemingly insurmountable problems
• how to keep your cool in any situation, so that you can make the best decisions possible
• how to collaborate more effectively with others
• why providing feedback is so difficult, and how to make it easier
• how to be more effective at changing other people's behavior
• and much more.

About this title

Review

“Simply put, this intriguing book offers fascinating research about the brain’s functions, limitations and capacities, and it teaches us how we can “direct” our own brain chemistry in order to achieve fulfillment and success. Well worth reading and ingesting these skills.” (Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

“This is the best, the most helpful, and the brainiest book I’ve read on how the brain affects how, why and what we do and act.” (Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business and University Professor, University of Southern California and author of On Becoming a Leader)

“This book will improve how you work―by showing you how your brain works!” (Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There)

“Rock makes the science of your mind accessible and relevant.” (Daniel Akst, Fortune Small Business)

“Rock deserves an ovation for his writing and direction.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

“Rock makes the science of your mind accessible and relevant.” (Fortune Small Business)

"A highly informative look at the way our minds work at work." (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

From the Back Cover

Meet Emily and Paul: The parents of two young children, Emily is the newly promoted VP of marketing at a large corporation while Paul works from home or from clients' offices as an independent IT consultant. Their lives, like all of ours, are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, yet more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. Just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task.

In this book, we travel inside Emily and Paul's brains as they attempt to sort the vast quantities of information they're presented with, figure out how to prioritize it, organize it and act on it. Fortunately for Emily and Paul, they're in good hands: David Rock knows how the brain works-and more specifically, how it works in a work setting. Rock shows how it's possible for Emily and Paul, and thus the reader, not only to survive in today's overwhelming work environment but succeed in it-and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.

YOUR BRAIN AT WORK explores issues such as:

- why our brains feel so taxed, and how to maximize our mental resources

- why it's so hard to focus, and how to better manage distractions

- how to maximize your chance of finding insights that can solve seemingly insurmountable problems

- how to keep your cool in any situation, so that you can make the best decisions possible

- how to collaborate more effectively with others

- why providing feedback is so difficult, and how to make it easier

- how to be more effective at changing other people's behavior

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Business
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061771295
• ISBN 13: 9780061771293
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304