Despite the efforts to leverage the network performance through the use of Directional Communications, most protocols still rely on the basic mechanisms employed by the IEEE802.11 standards. While this might be desirable to facilitate compatibility, nodes empowered with directional antennas should be able to explore the benefits of directional communications whenever possible. With that in mind, we propose two mechanisms, termed Adaptive Carrier Sensing and Adaptive Packet Sending, aiming to allow nodes equipped with directional antennas to exploit the advantages of such systems to improve network performance.