Brain Retraining

Posts from the notebook

Three pieces that came out of my own practice this season. One is a drill I run before hard conversations, one is a six-week paper log that surprised me, and one is about knowing when a journal is no longer the right tool.

Reframing drills Focus tracking When to get help
Person writing notes in a small notebook before a meeting

Reframing

The Two-Minute Reframe Before a Difficult Meeting

Most people rehearse the worst version of a hard conversation on the way to it, then wonder why their shoulders are up around their ears. This post breaks down a two-minute drill: name the automatic thought, test it against what you actually know, and pick one sentence you want to carry into the room. It includes the exact prompts I use, what happened when I ran it before three real meetings, and the cases where it did nothing useful.

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Desk with an open notebook, pen and a cup of tea in afternoon light

Experiment

Six Weeks of Tracking My Afternoon Focus

I kept a paper log of my afternoon focus for six weeks, scoring each block from one to five and noting sleep, meals and meeting load. The clearest pattern was not caffeine or willpower but how many context switches happened before 2pm. This post shows the log format, the three patterns that held up, and the two I thought I saw until I looked at the data properly.

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Quiet room with a chair, soft light and a closed journal on a side table

Practice notes

When Journaling Stops Helping and You Should Talk to Someone

Journaling and daily exercises are useful, but they are not a substitute for professional care, and it is worth being honest about where the line sits. This post describes the signs I watch for in my own practice: thoughts that loop no matter how many times you write them down, sleep that does not recover, and routines that start to feel like punishment. It also covers how to find a psychologist or counsellor in South Africa.

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Pick one post and give it a real week

Reading about attention training is easy. Running a two-minute reframe before a tense meeting, or keeping a paper log of your afternoons for six weeks, is where the actual work sits. Choose the piece that matches the week you are having, not the one that sounds most impressive.

If you are new here, the beginner series is the sensible entry point. If you already have a rough routine and it keeps falling apart, the habit library is a better fit.

Start with the two-minute reframe Or read the six-week focus log
How the routines fit together Send a note for the mailbag Back to the front page
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