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Is there anything more boring than endless efforts to make every waking moment more productive? “If you can save 10 seconds on a process that occurs 10 times a day, you'll save 1 minute and 40 seconds per day,” a productivity guru recently advised. time Magazines, for example. “That's 10 hours saved over the course of a year.”
If that sounds exhausting, the good news is that there are plenty of reasons to avoid exposing yourself to this kind of unrelenting pressure. Especially with the latest neuroscience on how the brain regulates focus, as we explore in How to Shift Your Brain's Internal Gearstick. Optimize your thinking. ”
It involves a small bundle of blue-colored neurons in the brainstem called the locus coeruleus. According to new research, this structure acts like a gear lever that sets the pace of brain processing. In Gear 1, your mind is free to wander. In Gear 2, we work very hard and pay attention. And in Gear 3, you become hyper-vigilant and respond quickly to crises.
Various experiments currently show that moderate locus coeruleus activity (gear 2) is an optimal condition for many types of cognitive activity. It improves our ability to concentrate and at the same time allows for the thinking needed to solve problems. Gear 3 may be helpful when faced with an emergency, but it reduces your ability to think analytically or creatively.
In fact, it may be foolish to insist on driving the engine of thought ever faster.
Importantly, it turns out that whenever we're under pressure, the locus coeruleus can easily tip into gear three. Constantly pushing yourself to accomplish more in a limited amount of time can lead to this overwhelming and exhausting brain state, which will only reduce the quality of your output in the long run. is.
With this in mind, it may actually be foolish to insist on always running the engine of thought at high speed. What is too often overlooked is that you need to give your brain ample opportunity to switch back into a lower gear. In quality thinking, contrary to a lot of productivity advice, downtime can be just as productive as uptime.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
