Legal Mind Squared - Cognitive Fitness for Lawyers

Demo Episode of High Performance Cognitive Fitness Training for Lawyers. Based on Brain Science.

Transcript

Welcome to Legal Mind Squared,

6-step high-performance training for lawyers.

My name is Tomek from Synergy Lab,

Sydney.

With over a decade of experience in research,

I offer my scientific expertise from the fields of biochemistry,

Neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate how the brain works and to show how practicing cognitive fitness can improve every aspect of your professional and personal life.

This six-part program aims to enhance your performance at work and improve that general sense of well-being.

The program is based on the brain science and utilizes their latest research so you can feel confident that you receive the most up-to-date knowledge for your benefit.

In less than 20 minutes a day,

You will learn how to use your skills more efficiently with less stress and more clarity.

You will learn how to bring balance to challenging situations that arise in your work and in your life.

At the end of every episode,

You will receive a practical tool that will allow you to test the validity of the knowledge presented here.

Albert Einstein once said,

You cannot solve the problem with the same mind that created it.

We live in times of fast pace and high demands.

Chronic stress and anxiety cost Australian businesses over $10 billion every year.

Chronic stress decreases performance and may prevent you from achieving your full potential.

In stressful situations,

It is easy to lose connection to ourselves and to what matters the most.

It doesn't seem that the pace of change will decrease anytime soon.

If anything,

Changes occur even faster and we are in desperate need for an upgrade of our way of thinking.

You may ask what can be done to avoid burnout,

Depression and related health issues.

If you are listening to this episode,

You are up for a good start.

Cognitive science provides new strategies to cope more efficiently with stressful situations at work and in daily life.

The latest research demonstrates that the first step in achieving those goals is by practicing self-awareness.

Self-awareness is a simple and powerful tool that may dramatically improve the way you act and the way you feel in any given situation.

This self-awareness brings you to the present moment and has many benefits.

Perhaps you want to enhance your mental clarity and performance.

Maybe you look for a way to feel more relaxed and balanced.

Perhaps you feel trapped in habits that are no longer serving your purpose.

Advancing to changes requires shift in thinking and the way you relate to the challenging situations.

Harvard research demonstrated using a simple phone app that for most of the time our mind wanders having thoughts unrelated to the task at hand.

The same research discovered that we are most efficient and happiest when we are fully present and focused on exactly what we are doing.

The extreme version of such intense focus is called by professional athletes the zone.

Exercising self-awareness may help dramatically improve your performance and the sense of well-being.

This is particularly important in challenging situations when difficult emotions arise and stop us from thinking clearly.

Bringing awareness to the challenging situations may allow change our instinctual reaction and give time to respond appropriately.

Intelligence shows that most instinctual reactions,

However fast,

Involve the use of the lower,

More primitive part of the brain.

This may be beneficial in the life-threatening situations like avoiding being hit by a car.

However fight or flight response associated with such instinctual reactions is likely to be counterproductive in most of the situations at work or at home.

On the contrary,

By taking a mental pause and exercising self-awareness before taking an action you engage the higher functions of your brain and the response that follows is more likely to involve your unique skills.

The exercise I invite you to today is called Reality Check.

Every time you find yourself in a difficult situation or you feel emotionally compromised perform a reality check.

Reality check is an act of pausing and recognizing what is happening inside and outside of you.

This mental pause gives your brain time to process the information and respond in the most appropriate way.

Reality check consists of four simple steps.

Number one,

Stop any mental and physical action.

Number two,

Take a deep breath.

Number three,

Check for any tension in your body.

It may be a discomfort in your belly,

Chest or throat,

Dryness in your mouth,

Tightness of your shoulders.

Keep your attention in that area for just a moment.

After that,

Step four,

Move on to whatever you are doing.

In order to memorize these four steps you may remember this simple formula.

Stop,

Breathe,

Check,

Move on.

Stop,

Breathe,

Check,

Move on.

At first the reality check may take up to 30 seconds but with practice this time will become significantly shorter.

Every time you perform the reality check your brain stores this information and creates new neural pathways that reinforce the new habit.

Now to the action.

I will lead you through an exercise,

An extended version of the reality check if you will,

That will give you the first taste how it may feel when you practice self-awareness.

Let us start this exercise by taking a comfortable position in your chair.

Your feet resting comfortably on the floor.

Your hands open,

Either resting on your knees or on your lap.

Your back in upright position,

Straight but not rigid,

Allowing the unrestricted flow of your breath.

Now take three deep breaths.

Breathing in through your nose,

Holding your breath for a moment and breathing out through your mouth,

Letting go of all the tension,

All the discomfort.

Breathing in through your nose,

Holding your breath and exhaling through your mouth.

And one more time,

In through your nose,

Hold and out through your mouth,

Letting go of everything that may get in the way of this exercise.

This simple breathing technique allows the initial relaxation of the physical body.

And now start paying attention to the area of your shoulders.

Shoulders frequently hold a lot of tension coming from the emotional stress that you gather throughout the day.

Simply acknowledge there is tension,

There is discomfort,

There is tightness in your shoulders.

Without judging,

Without trying to change anything or adjust your position.

Simply paying attention and being aware of some sensations in the area of your shoulders.

Now move your awareness to the area of your heart and your chest.

Perhaps you can feel your heartbeat.

Stay with it for a moment.

And now move your awareness towards the area of your belly and solar plexus.

Particularly in stressful situations belly may get tense.

It's a natural response to any emotional stress.

And once again simply pay attention to this area of your body.

Without judging,

Without trying to change it in any way.

And now start paying attention to your body as a whole.

Can you feel difference between the time we started this practice and now?

Perhaps the rhythm of your breath changed and slowed down a bit.

It is possible that during this exercise your mind wanders and you drift away for a moment or two.

This is absolutely natural and normal.

In each case you simply acknowledge the fact that you drifted away distracted by your thoughts or external sounds.

And return where you started.

In this exercise it is important that you pay a kind attention to any sensation that you find discomforting.

It is not important how long you can keep your attention on an object.

What is much more important is the way you are returning to the area of your body after you are being distracted by your thoughts or sensations or sounds.

Notice the simple fact that you may return to the present moment at any given time.

Even if you are distracted hundred times.

It is simply a hundred opportunities to practice your brain function of gentle returning to the present moment.

Through this practice of constant returning you exercise your cognitive fitness and build necessary capacity of your brain to deal with any situation that arise in your daily life.

Now to conclude this exercise bring your attention to the space around you.

Notice any external sounds,

Anything that may draw your attention.

And now you may slowly open your eyes.

This is the end of this exercise.

You may perform the reality check before entering the office in the morning,

Before making an important call or every time you are about to meet a client and you feel agitated.

Bringing self-awareness to the situations that may arouse strong emotional response can be particularly beneficial.

Thank you for listening to the first episode of Legal Mind Squared,

High Performance Training for Lawyers.

The aim of the program is to provide you with scientific knowledge and tools that will allow you to perform better in high pressure and high stress environment.

Also to maintain balance in all daily situations and help you to face challenges with strength and emotional integrity.

Reviews

I so respect attorneys who are able to work and be in this mindset. Impressive and hope to find one, who can help me soon. 🙏

I really enjoy all of your sessions! Calming voice with wonderful insight.

I'm not an attorney but my corporate position is very stressful and demanding. Things move fast and some days feel like they're not going very well. I love when I have the presence if mind to remember to stop, breathe and do the reality check especially before I'm about to blow. I also love this Tomaz's meditations. I've moved away from guided meditations over the last any years as my practice has improved but his meditations I find work well with an experienced meditator as well as someone who is learning to sit. Thank you for such thoughtful and useful everyday meditations.

Great tool for daily life. I think I will give it a conscious go this coming week. Thanks!

Great tips. Thank you Tomek 🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thank you for this practice! Very clear and useful. Have you already published other steps of this mental training?

That was amazing! I am not a lawyer but tried it anyway and loved it! I believe if you changed the name of this course it would be a run away success. Please consider finishing the series. It would benefit everyone who listened. Thank you!

Not just lawyers, but everyone can benefit from this practice. I’m not an attorney but I completed this meditation because Tomek does a great job of providing research-based, practical skills into his meditations. This practice does just that. It’s easy to see why this meditation is effective for reducing stress and improving focus during your workday at a law firm or anywhere else.

This was very effective thank you. You mentioned this was part of a 6 part series. When will the others be released? Thanks Jamie

So interesting Tomek. So good for anyone in pressured jobs, and or anyone. Loved listening to this one, because it reenforced the things I’ve already learned from you. Thank you.

Such a useful session (it's not just for lawyers!). Will you have the rest of the sessions available, here or elsewhere? This would be perfect for the paid courses Insight Timer is rolling out. Hope to see more of this!

Will be sharing with my non meditating friends. 😬🙏🏼

Hi Tomek. It says series. Is there a place I can listen or purchase the rest of the series? I'm not a lawyer but I agree with the rest. This is beneficial for all types of work. Thank you.

Even if I am not a lawyer, I found it interesting and helpful for my job and my life. Thank you.

When Tomek speaks, I listen. Love his work!! 💙💚💛💜

Very good scientific method of calming. This is not just for Lawyers, but for any one experiencing stress. Thank you 🕉️

Love it! Beneficial for anybody that works in a stressful environment- not just lawyers.