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You with equally strong right and left brain preference- how do you manage your time?

Ghost of the dead horse

filling some space
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
3,553
MBTI Type
ENTJ
I read a book about increasing one's creativity and performance in everyday tasks, and I found a condition that applies to me: I have equally strong right and left brain activity in the cortical area, and I have problems deciding. I procastrinate, but in a way that differs from real laziness.

So, if YOU have balanced brain use as well, how do YOU manage your time? Decisions need to be made, and both sides of your brains are giving you messages about what to do. Often they are conflicting.

Meanwhile, what I'll do today is an exercise. In a moment of doubt, I'll try to listen what each side of the brain is telling me, and I'll examine it. When I have it acknowledged, perhaps written down, perhaps taken in with a bit of feeling, I can decide.

So, the question again.. balanced-brained people, how do you manage your time?
 

Lux

Kraken down on piracy
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
1,458
I have to make lists. I used to think that everything was necessary to get done 'right away' and that stressed me out and made me procrastinate in making a decision. A lose / lose situation. My lists go from most urgent to least. If I don't make lists I procrastinate as well. Typically 90% of my tasks (work and life) can fall into the 'not entirely urgent' category and that allows me the flexibility to take both pulling sides and examine the issue the way I prefer. The 5% that fall into 'utterly urgent' I do those in a streamlined manner. Efficiency and correctness being my main goals. The other 5% is stuff that needs to be finished soon, but not right away. I can take a bit more time to do what I feel like with them and since they're written in my planner they get accomplished. It is really with the 'utterly urgent' that I go into 'work mode' with. The trick for me is to not let something not so urgent become urgent and thus have to execute a decision I feel is not thought out all the way through (through both sides.) Hence, my lists that roll over from day to day. Plus when I stand back and realize that 90% of my tasks can be given a bit more time, I am not stressed about them. It works for me. In my mind it is a matter of perspective.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
27,230
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I prioritize and sequence: what needs to be done by the end of today? by the end of tomorrow? by the end of the week? How long will it take to do each task? Do I have the necessary resources to do each task? Can some tasks only be done, or be done most efficiently, in a certain order? Are any tasks tied to specific points in time, e.g. appointments/meetings? Etc. etc. I can waste time not so much procrastinating but rather being distracted by other activities if nothing is immediately pressing, but in general I am sometimes surprised how much I can get accomplished using this method.
 

funkadelik

good hair
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
1,614
MBTI Type
lmao
The whole left-brain person vs. right-brain person stuff is nonsense at best.

Pretty much everyone's use of their brain hemispheres are "balanced" (barring those with mental illnesses and brain damage, of course). Our entire world view is a construction of what our whole brain is piecing together from the information our senses are sending us. All of our mental faculties are shared, rather than divided, across our entire brain and both sides contribute to one another in a complimentary, rather than exclusionary way.

Furthermore, it's a misconception that the "right side is creativity and intuition" and the "left side is logic and analysis." Yeah both sides may have things that they're more "expert" at, but to isolate the two and their functions is meaningless. They differ more in how they process things, not what they process. For example, with language, the left side deals with choosing the words and grammar while the right deals with context, meaning and intonation. Kind of inseparable when it comes to language, if you ask me!

Or is this thread mostly asking "how do Js avoid procrastination and rationalize that procrastination by blaming it on a clash of their two brain hemispheres?" :devil:
 

FDG

pathwise dependent
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
5,903
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
7w8
Either I plan extensively and accurately, or I throw myself in a given activity with no forethought.
 

Ghost of the dead horse

filling some space
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
3,553
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Of course people use their brains as a whole and blah blah all the disclaimers, but there are patterns in behavior that somewhat correspond to test results in brain side preference tests. Just because one doesn't usually use one side of the brain exclusively for something doesn't mean that there isn't any patterns.

Here's a thread that handles brain usage nicely:
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/mbti-tm-other-personality-matrices/37216-your-brain-type.html

and here's some source material for the subject.
http://www.keys2cognition.com/papers/EEGandSocialCognition.pdf

ENTJ and ESTJ have brain use patterns that most exclusively focus to some specific areas in different tasks, and they rarely do tasks that fully engage their whole brain. Other types fire their synapses more all ever, whatever the task. Perhaps it's your experience that you use your brains in a holistic manner all the time. I surely don't think it's everyone's experience though.
 

Rail Tracer

Freaking Ratchet
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
3,031
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Priorities. If there isn't something that need to be done immediately, I'll just stick with what I wouldn't mind doing first (i.e. something I like to do.)
 

Antimony

You're fired. Lol.
Joined
Jun 11, 2009
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3,428
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ESTP
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sx/sp
How can someone know if they are 'balanced brained' or not.

Also, something that has bothered me since my small years: if I am truly 'right brained,' why am I right handed (and occasionally left legged)?
 

Rail Tracer

Freaking Ratchet
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
3,031
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
How can someone know if they are 'balanced brained' or not.

Also, something that has bothered me since my small years: if I am truly 'right brained,' why am I right handed (and occasionally left legged)?

I don't think I'm really that balanced at all. Even if someone is balanced, there is always a preference.

I was left-handed as a kid.
Been using my right hand ever since (growing up and all.)
 
T

ThatGirl

Guest
I am a multi tasker, this is what keeps me focused.

I chunk tasks together, something important or needing organized is paired with a creative task as an undertone. Less priority.

Routine tasks get paired with brain storming. Like creating mental check lists or important problem solving while cleaning the house. Since routine tasks don't take too much thought.

Things that demand my fullest attention, I try to set a due date in my mind that is ahead of time, and forget the actual due date, until I am already done with the task and figuring out what to do with the finished product. Suddenly it dons on me, it didn't need to be completed till next week. If by some chance I haven't gotten around to it by its due date, I still have time to finish it. Since I am reminded I don't want to be late on it, it gets set to top priority.

I like having things done, and I like having free time to do whatever. So I try to finish everything for say, the next month, then let myself relax and just contemplate about the next month for about a week or so.
 
T

ThatGirl

Guest
I want to add, but can't edit from phone, that this method looks completely erratic to the observer.

Some days its like, bam! done, done, done, done, done. Other days it appears I am not doing shit. People don't realize a lot of planing goes into those bam days.
 
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