20-Min Brain Fog Reset Walk: Close Your Open (Mental) Tabs | 42

Ever feel like your brain has 50... no, a thousand, browser tabs open at once? It's that cluttered, brain-fog feeling where you're so overwhelmed, you just... freeze (like your computer?)

And then you try to talk into the cat food bowl instead of your phone. (Yep. I did that. Full story in the podcast).

I feel you. My concentration is a mess some days. 

During this a 20-minute walk I share a super simple 3-step hack I use to shut down distraction and find some actual focus.

Here’s what we chat about:

• The "Just One Thing Rule" I use to figure out what really matters in the middle of the chaos.
• My "tangled knot of yarn" trick for tackling huge projects.
• A sprinkle of brain science about why a simple walk primes your brain so you can stay on task.
• The 5-minute “hide-under-your-desk” reset I stole from a TV show (you’ll love it).

If your brain feels like a closet you are afraid to open, this one’s for you.

P.S. You'll hear a bell halfway through the walk. If you’re walking outside, that’s your “turn around” cue. And tap Follow or Subscribe so next week’s walk is waiting for you.

Instagram/Facebook: @yourwalkingpodcast

Transcript

Helen Ryan: 0:05

If you've ever felt like you have 50 browser tabs open in your brain, or even a thousand tabs open in your brain like I do, then today's walk is for you. It's a little longer, and it'll give us a chance to get fresh oxygen into our brains and then clear out all that brain fog. Then I'm going to share with you my super simple three step pack that I use to shut down all that excess noise. Going to take a deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. We're going to start out at a warmup pace, nice and easy. It's a conversational pace. I'm going to remind you to breathe. I'm going to remind myself to breathe, and I'm going to remind you to check for any tense spots in your body as we go along. If you're walking outside, there is a bell at the halfway point so that then you can turn around if you want and head back. Now, if you're working out inside, whether you're marching in place or on a treadmill or a walking pad, then you can just work out harder or go faster or add some incline. So we're doing a few intervals today, but not too many. Just going to really focus on clearing that mind and figuring out how to focus on one thing at a time, which for me is nearly impossible. And as we're walking along now, just kind of check in with your body, feel for any tense spots, and then we're going to try to release those tense spots. If your shoulders are tense, relax those down, pull them away from your ears. If your hands are tense, shake 'em out. Shake it off, shake it off. Uh, uhuh and today we're not going to try to solve anything as we're walking. We're just going to first take a little bit of a mental inventory just to see what is making it so difficult to focus and accomplish things, and what is cluttering up our minds. So keep your breathing going. I kind of think about it like a messy closet, that we can't organize anything in that closet until we pull everything out. You can't really see what's there until you get everything in front of you, and then you can figure out what's important and what's not important or what's the most important thing. Now we're going to add some purpose to our steps. So we're going to go a little bit faster, still comfortable, just a little shift, a little lift in that heart rate, and take a moment now we're just going to think about everything that is cluttering up your brain as we're walking. You don't have to worry about your body, your body's doing its thing as long as you're breathing. We're going to check in occasionally to see how we're doing physically. And then we're going to think about how many of those tabs are for your someday self, the you that has more time and energy than you have now. The you who's going to do the things that all those open tabs represent. And we're not going to think about those tabs right now. And if you have ADHD like me, we tend to multitask and then we get distracted. Another deep breath through your nose now and exhale through your mouth. You're holding onto that warmup pace. And with our too many tabs open, it really causes brain fog and causes overwhelm. And then you're not paying attention to where you're at the moment. So here's a little story because you know me and my stories. A couple of weeks ago, I was at my cousin's house and I was cat sitting for her and I was putting out food for her cat. And then my son called me and so I put the phone on speaker and I put on the counter. And then he told me that I left the gas on in the house when I left. And I, I couldn't understand really what he was saying because my brain couldn't process it. So I picked up what I thought was the phone to put it to my ear so that I could understand better what he was saying. And I picked up the cat food bowl instead. So I tried to talk to the cat food bowl because my brain was in a thousand places. I had so many tabs open and I just couldn't focus on what was right in front of me and be in the moment. That's what happens, right, when you have too many things going on. You're going to hold onto that pace. We're going to roll our shoulders backwards. Big rolls. We're going to roll our shoulders forwards. Big rolls. We're really just going to focus on eliminating some of those extra tabs today and then try to figure out what is important and what isn't so we can be more present and get more things done without all that frustration. We're going to go a little bit faster, go from a stroll to a more brisk pace and as I always say, maybe too much, right? Feel how good it feels to move your body. You're going to keep breathing, strong arms, purposeful steps. And we're going to go just a little bit faster. We're going to feel like we have quick steps, lighter on our feet. Here's one of the tricks or hacks that I use. It's called the just one thing rule. And it's not really called the just one thing rule, but that's what I call it. And the idea is to just focus on the one task that if we do it, it will make everything else easier, or we realize that all those other tasks or some of those other tasks don't even need to be done anymore. You're going to take another deep breath in now. Going to hold that pace. You want it to be a little bit more challenging, but we're going to go longer during the sections, so we're not going to be completely out of breath. Just really get that oxygen flowing through your body, because moving can be magic. Walking sends more oxygen to your brain. And what's really cool is that that really helps you to create brand new brain cells. And I need some brand new brain cells. When you think about the one thing that you have to do, almost think about it like a tangled knot of yarn, but not like the tangled ponytail because I don't know if you've ever done this, but I get those ponytail holder things stuck in my hair and then I can't get them out, and then I panic. And so I cut a chunk of. I cut a chunk of my hair out and the hairdressers don't like that, so don't think about that because that's not a good thing. It's a ball of yarn or it's a tangled knot and you just can't untangle it all at once. So all your open tabs are like the ball of yarn and it's kind of tangled. So you have to find that one loose thread, that one loose piece of the yarn where you can start pulling. You are going to stay with your breathing. We're going to keep strong, fairly quick walking steps, strong arms to help us hold our pace. Make sure your feet are relaxed in your shoes and that they're not gripping your shoes. And a question to ask yourself is what is the one thing that would give me the biggest feeling of relief when it's done? For me, sometimes I do my best thinking when I'm moving. It doesn't have to be walking, but it's when I'm spinning or when I'm vacuuming, or when I'm mopping the floor or when I'm in the shower. I do some great thinking too. Anything that's repetitive helps us think and be more creative. Hold onto that pace. You're not going to be super comfortable here. You're starting to feel it a little bit, just enough to bump that heart rate up and all the things that you need to do and all the things, all the tabs that are open right now in your brain, don't let them stress you out. Just think about one thing that you can do that you've been putting off when you get back from your walk today. What happens a lot to me is I get overwhelmed with all the things I have to do and then I don't know where to start. I'll be looking at a blank piece of paper or looking at a blank screen, or I'll have just so many things and I can't focus on where to start. And that is that whole single thread theory. Another thing that really helps me is to do a brain dump at night. I don't know if this has happened to you, but I'll be laying there almost asleep, and then suddenly I get this surge of adrenaline because I forgot something important. And I'll sometimes, I'll almost sit up. You are like, oh no, I forgot that. I forgot that. And so if you do the brain dump you can make sure that everything's done. Then you can clear your mind and those things aren't just floating around in your brain because now they're on a sheet of paper. And then you can go to sleep without having to worry about if you missed anything. Now we're going to pick up a little bit of pace. You're going to be more uncomfortable, but only for about a minute. You're going to let your thoughts flow, going to let your mind relax, going to let your mind clear, and you're going to feel like what it feels like to be in the moment in your body. Feel the way your body's moving. Everything's in sync. Everything's pushing and you're breathing. Shoulders are not tight. Your hands are not tight. Your jaw's not tight. Still breathing, still moving, and now slow it back down to our pre-burst speed. Deep breath in. And exhale. Give yourself a posture check. Are you still walking tall? Are your shoulders down and back? Are you glutes squeezed? Pump those arms. We're not going slow like the warmup pace. We're still moving semi briskly, but we're not doing a burst. And if you want to take a little quicker steps, you can do that, or you can take longer strides. It depends what's comfortable for your body. If you're on some equipment inside, you can add more resistance. Keep those shoulders down so they don't become earrings. Going to relax it. If you like the show, the biggest thing you can do to support it is to follow the podcast no matter where you're listening If you can give me a review, I'd really appreciate that. Because like everything else, it's all about an algorithm. So if you interact with a podcast somehow, then that helps bring my podcast up, which hopefully will help other people too. What also helps to clear some of those tabs is almost like when you turn something on and off to reset it. Turn your phone off or put on do not disturb and have certain times of day where you don't check social media. A couple years ago I did an episode where I said I was going to stop looking at my phone first thing in the morning, and did I do that? Um, yep. For one day. So I am going to try to get back to that again , and I read an article recently where the first hour of your day is the most important to not be besieged by news, interruptions, noise, social media, and if you need to get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier and maybe do some mobility exercises or some stretching, or just sit there with some tea and coffee, close your eyes. By the time your day really starts, you're not already tired from everything that you've read about or heard about, or any of those distractions. You're going to slow it down just a little. Going to bring it out of that brisk pace. Back to more of a conversational stroll. So you're not out of breath. Speaking of taking a few moments, pockets to yourself throughout the day Man on the Inside, season one, I was watching that with Ted Danson and the person who runs a retirement home or the convalescent home, I'm not sure which one it is, she has so many things coming at her all the time, and everybody wants something. Things have to be fixed, things have to be ordered, and so she reaches that point where she puts earphones on, and then she pulls at her chair and she lays under her desk, and she just lays there when no one can find her and just takes a moment to clear her mind. And I thought that was so brilliant. We need that. And sometimes you just have to hide away and find that moment.. So you can listen to white noise, pink noise, brown noise, or the sounds of the ocean. And even if it's just five minutes. Instead of scrolling on your phone, just take that moment to clear your mind and find a sound that really agrees with your body and helps you just relax and focus. This will also help you close some of those other tabs and try to focus on the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your day and the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life. Now we're going to go a little bit faster again. Just going to play with our heart rate. We have to enjoy what we're doing. We have to have some fun. All of that noise, people expect us to answer our texts right away, answer our phone calls right away, answer emails right away, answer Facebook messages right away. And I actually don't tell anyone I took Facebook Messenger off my phone. There's just too many distractions. Now we're going to do one more little burst. Get ready. We're going to go for another minute, and I really want you to push this and as you're pushing it, you're going to think about the fact that walking and exercise helps keep your brain from shrinking. Now we're going to walk all day.'cause my poor brain feels like it's shrinking all the time. We do cardiovascular exercise because it helps us keep more of our gray matter. Or is it pink matter? I don't know. And it really just helps clear our mind and makes you less cranky. Push it. Keep moving. Exercise also helps your brain's ability to rewire itself and adapt, and that's really the key to sharpening our focus and shaking off that feeling of confusion and forgetfulness. Push it now. Okay, we've got 10 more seconds. Push it. Push it, push it. Slow it down for real this time. I know I like to trick people. I used to do that in spin class. I would say, okay, we're almost done with this effort. And of course, you know, we weren't almost done with the effort. But sometimes you gotta trick people because it's easier to think that the hard part's almost over, right? Like Guns n Roses Sympathy for the Devil. It goes on and on and on. So I have to lie and tell them, it's almost done. I was kind of mean, but also kind of nice at the same time. Deep breath in again, through your nose, exhale through your mouth. And as we slow it down a little bit more, think about what your first thread you're going to pull will be. What is that first tiny action? How do you start untangling that thread? And what is the most important thread or tab that you have open? Sometimes we want to do the smaller, quicker things so we can get more of them out of the way. And sometimes we want to do the bigger, more complicated projects. So it depends if you're the kind of person who likes to see more little quick progress. Or if you're the kind of person who gets more satisfaction from completing some of the bigger projects first, so they're not weighing on you. Another deep breath in through your nose and exhale. We can use this tiny thread analogy for almost any type of project or anything that we have to plan. Like let's say you want to plan a trip. You don't know where to start, so you start somewhere smaller. Okay, I'm not going to book my entire trip right now, but the first little thread is I want to find a flight or I want to find a hotel. And that can be that first little thread. And then when you're ready, you can move on to the next thread. But you don't have to look at the entire trip like it's a gigantic one big picture thing, just break it up into little pieces. So one little thread at a time. And then you go on to the next, pull the next thread, and just slowly start to untangle these bigger projects into smaller pieces and smaller threads. Keep breathing now. The hard work is done, not lying this time. We're going to start bringing it home, bringing it down, bringing that heart rate back down. Feel for any tense spots in your body. Now really fill up those lungs and exhale. Find a way that works for you to get organized to close some of those tabs, because it works for me, may not work for you, but it may work for you. Sometimes there's things I haven't thought of and then I try it and I'm like, oh, wow, that was awesome. That is perfect for me. Or you just need to retrofit it so it works better for you. That way we can get some of that clutter out of our brains. We are going to cool it down some more, a little bit slower, and back to the walking again. Remember, if you're stuck on something, if you're stuck on the next step, you can't find that next thread, just head out for that five minute walk. Put on some rocking music, some inspiring music, some fun music. And then when you come back, you can tackle that thing you didn't really want to do. Science has shown that a 10 minute walk, a 15 minute walk, just three to five times a week is really enough to help actually measurably improve your brain. Even if you just go out for, let's just say five minutes and put on some fun music, you're not only helping yourself focus, but you're helping improve your brain over time. The important thing when you're walking or thinking about everything you have to do is to not feel stressed about it. Keep breathing now. Deep breath in and exhale. We're almost there. And when you're done from any kind of walk, if you can do just a little bit of stretching, you can do standing, stretching, stretch your calves, stretch your hips, stretch the front of your thighs, which are your quads, just get any of that tension out. And also foot rolls are great to kind of loosen up those ankles. And it's amazing how tight we are in unexpected areas. Shouldn't that be a name of something like tight in unexpected areas. Like when I get my calves massaged and I almost jump off the table because I had no idea my calves hurt that much. Another deep breath in through your nose now. And exhale. Roll out those shoulders. Find that one thing, the first thread. And I'll see you next time.