ASSUMPTIONS MAKE AN *** OUT OF YOU AND ME

So goes the phrase but we do it anyway. Assumptions are scripts rehearsed in our brain that fill in the blanks between imperfect facts. The problem is, to our brains they then become the facts and we act upon them accordingly.

Even back in the 1980s medical students were being taught the human brain reached its point of growth maturity at around age 23. With the advent of MRI scanners, it’s now accepted wisdom that the human brain never stops growing neural pathways. Yet centuries of medical practice became built on a single belief and not just that – centuries of business practice became wedded to the same concept – that only young people entering a workforce can learn and grow

Ten minutes is not enough for these and most of these tasks are both cognitive load heavy and in any case will create new thought patterns of things you’ll now be aware of, unable to resolve and o into your next meeting unable to concentrate on the matter in hand because you know in an hour’s time you have boss’s voicemail to respond to that you just picked up. Don’t do it.

Bad energy is restorative in the short-term but lacks sustainability. Over the medium and long term, bad energy sources borrow heavily from external stimulants, they cannot naturally be replenished and create artificial boosts than eventually need to be repaid at another point in time. Everyone has plentiful access to sources of bad energy.

Lots of research on human attention spans and ability to focus supports the notion that our brains are well geared to working in sprint intervals. In today’s roles that tend to be knowledge based and intensive this is ever more true. Our brains perform best for us when they are asked to focus for a relatively short period and then given a break.

work’s normal cycle of brain intensive activity shifted a gear. Normally within your typical office day your commute, much though you may detest it creates a period of decompression for your brain – whether you listen to music, a podcast or just zone out, your brain is less taxed and working at a different pace to being at work.

every hour we’re awake there are micro-decisions and most of the time we’re not even aware we’re making them. Yet the consequences of these micro-decisions are what affects our energy. If you find yourself feeling a little exhausted part way through the working day, it’s quite likely this is down to the micro-decisions you’ve been making.

Who doesn’t like chocolate? Imagine what it must have been liked in 1997 when Ray Baumeister and his fellow researchers at Case Western Reserve University must have thought when they were invited to spend time in a room that just smelled of freshly baked chocolate cookies.

And then the same research subjects were shown the cookies and other chocolatey confections right before their very eyes. Half of the lucky souls were invited to eat the warm doughy chocolate cookies. The other half were offered a plate of radishes to much on.

We are biological rather than mechanical or electronic beings. In a production line setting, we accept that whilst robots may perform tasks 24x7, human labour needs rest and cannot continue assembling parts continuously without a break. Yet research by Workthere shows the average worker in Britain now takes less than 34 minutes for lunch and well over half of workers skip their lunch break altogether

When we are distracted by these messages, the impact is not just in switching to read the email. A study by Gloria Mark at University of California looked at how our brains cope when we are distracted between tasks. Her study found that although typically we’re able to return back to our original task and complete it without an impact on quality this creates a cognitive load on our brains.

We collect activities, engagements, commitments, obligations and concerns often without even realising it. Some of these things drain energy but others add great joy and excitement and kinetically create energy.

One of the things we’ve become used to is toughing things out when life gets hectic at work. Working hard can be deeply motivating and satisfying but overworking can be dangerous. In this episode I’ll be taking a look at how over-work creeps up on us and leads us towards burnout and then one simple truth that everyone needs to recognise.

Look at the bookshelf for productivity books and there are thousands, each imploring us to make every moment count, to drive more action into the available time. And there’s great stuff in there but we also know the downside to productivity tools is a slide to the side of everything that’s important to us that isn’t demanding our accountability to others. Physical exercise, diet, family, relationships, friendships and even at work our investment in those we look after all slide to the side in the name of “productivity”.

Look at any bookshelf and you’ll find lots of titles pleasing with you to be better at managing time. But burnout is endemic. Eventually we need to realise that we cannot manage time, but we can manage our energy