For the life of me, I could never remember if creative types or analytical types were left or right brained.

Then one day years ago I found a cartoon that showed two people at a party, a woman and a man. The woman is facing the viewer and asks the man: “I can’t remember. Are accountants left-brained or right-brained?” The man has his back to the viewer. And his head above his ears turns sharply to the left.

I am a bit of both, analytical and creative. I can practically open or close one at will, as if I were turning on a faucet. Sometimes though, I need to get into the “other mode” faster than usual and need a few tricks to get there. For me, this usually happens when I need to get creative quickly.

I have a colleague who is mostly creative, but is often asked at work to think more analytically. She also has a few tricks to help her get there.

A few years ago, I read a great story that highlighted how our brain works and how putting it through certain types of “exercise” will help us produce more work output. A woman wrote an article about her job as a marketer. She had to come up with many creative ideas one after another. But just like the writers get writer’s block, she has creative block at work

I worked from home a few days a week. One day, after her children left for school, she noticed that her daughter had left art supplies on the kitchen table. She found paper, markers, crayons, glitter, and glue. Without thinking twice, she started playing with paper, glue and glitter, creating all kinds of creative images and shapes. After doing this for about 30 minutes, she went to her office to work.

Can you guess what happened? She was ultra productive that day! I could hardly believe the amount of work she put in and how well it turned out. remembering her creative session Earlier that morning, he decided to do something creative at the start of each work day for about 30 minutes. Over time, he discovered that this was the key to his success and to driving many good ideas and productive projects.

I was so intrigued by this story that I now keep art supplies near my writing projects at home. Before I start writing for whatever book or project I’m working on, I draw with colored pencils on a sketch pad. It gets my creative juices flowing.

My creative colleague who needs to tap into her analytical side will count chips. (Different, yes, but it works for her.) When we discussed this in a group, I suggested doing sudoku puzzles to exercise the left brain.

As you can guess, I’m No of the managerial mentality that says that doing this type of activity during the working day is a waste of time or nonsense. On the contrary, I believe that creative or analytical exercises that jump-start our brains and lead us to produce more high-quality work are well worth the effort. Therefore, I am challenging managers around the world to change their thinking on this topic to encourage left and right brain exercises during the beginning of the workday or at the beginning of working on a project.

In addition, I also belong to the “camp” that believes that every business person should spend 30 minutes before work reading business newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal or Investor’s Business Daily, and/or the business section of their newspaper. metropolitan. . On this subject, the difference between me and most people is that most people believe this should be done “in a person’s spare time” while I believe it should be done during the day of work But, well, that’s another topic for another time!