Navigating side effects like brain fog or "chemo brain" can be a challenge for someone working after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Tasks that were once second nature may be challenging to remember all the steps. Critical thinking may be more challenging than it once was. It can present itself in a number of different way that create challenges. According to a recent Fast Company article, one helpful way of reframing challenges comes from a problem-solving approach called inversion, or thinking backwards.
In everyday work planning, it’s common to ask, “How do I get everything done?” But inversion flips the question to something like, “What could make today a really hard day at work for me?” You then use that perspective to protect your energy and focus by removing or minimizing those pitfalls. This might feel counterintuitive, but slowing down to identify potential obstacles helps you make better choices about how you spend your time and energy.
You can start by asking yourself: What makes my focus worse? The answers could include multitasking/switching between tasks, not taking a break, not eating foods that give me energy, etc. Once you identify these obstacles, think about how to cut them out. Maybe set a timer for noon so you remember to eat a good lunch that will fuel you for the second half of your work day. Or maybe you start your day with a plan of how you will spend your time and stick to it focusing on just he one task at hand.
Another tool you can use is breaking down tasks into smaller steps. However maybe your brain fog makes it difficult to remember all the steps in a task. In that case, try working backwards. If your ultimate end goal is to deliver a sales report by the end of day to your boss, write down the steps starting with sending an email to your boss with the completed report. What comes before that? You want to do a final proof read, and adjust the formatting. And how do you get to that point? You have to make charts comparing Q4 to Q3. How are those charts made? You need to pull the data from your sales database. And keep going backwards in the process. This mental inversion will slow down the way you think and help bring clarity to something that might have been hazy, or help your mind focus when it's feeling distracted.
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