Give your brain a boost
In my last article we looked at the 50 minute meeting, how to organise yourself so that your day runs by design rather than default. By not falling into the default of hour long meetings, by focussing people’s attention to give it their all but over shorter time intervals we create these micro breaks through the day. Valuable ten minutes of golden time but the question is what should we do with that time.
Because our work lives are now so full of things we have to do and then things we could do, we have a to do list that is infinite and there is never enough time to do it all.
The ten minute window becomes a tempting place where we can tick a few things off that to do list. But from the perspective of brain power, what we do is make the executive function part of our brain run at full speed within the preceding meeting. Then we switch into emails that actually require quite complex problem solving as well as emotional control. Then we jump straight back into the next meeting.
As the day progresses although we are physically present, we know that we’re running a little slower, not quite as sharp as we were. Coffee can only get us so far and it’s the point where we reach for chocolate, snacks and sugar treats to give us a quick jolt of energy that often just results in a deeper slump just when we need that energy boost.
My challenge to you is to choose your ten minutes wisely, deliberately choose activities that are designed to allow your brain to rest and recharge for the next challenge ahead. This means generally avoiding regarding the ten minute break as;
· A buffer for when the meeting runs over so you’re not late for the next one
· Time to move around the building to get to your next meeting
· A chance to have the meeting after the meeting with someone
· A space to read up on the notes just before you walk into the next meeting
· A place to peek into your inbox to see if anything urgent has come up or a few things you can tick off
· A space to return a few phone calls building on your voicemail
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.
Some early adopters of the 50 minute meeting advocate that you should have a clean break from your work. I agree. But some early adopters make the mistake of just swapping one high cognitive task for another. Here are some examples.
· Catching up on your social media. It sounds like fun but social media is designed to capture and retain your attention and it’s also designed to invoke an emotional reaction. Rarely in ten minutes are you going to get anything like the recharge you need by delving into Facebook or LinkedIn
· Catching up on personal emails. Need I say more as this has the same impact if not worse than delving into your work emails. You are guaranteed to walk into your next meeting with some thoughts in your head around organising your kids school schedule or a bill to be paid.
· Catching up on the news. Like social media, news websites are designed to attract and retain your attention. It is highly likely you’ll be pulled into a story that will invoke an emotional reaction that you then have to spend energy calming down before going into your next meeting
These are all self-inflicted wounds. Don’t do it.
The goal – what we’re after here, is for your brain to be in optimal performance for the next meeting ahead. Why would we want anything else. How might we feel if we developed an ability to see thought bubbles above the heads of people joining our meeting and we realised whilst we were speaking, those attending were thinking about daughters ballet schedule, that voicemail from boss who sounded a bit angry, that job offer that had been pushed at them on LinkedIn. There in body but not in mind or soul.
Let’s look then at some positive things you can do with the golden ten minutes between your meetings.
· Block out the noise. Easier if you’re working from home but if you are in the office then invest in some noise cancelling headphones. This will help you avoid tuning into the conversations around you which will pull your brain back into working hard.
· Take yourself away if you can to a space away from your desk, the physical movement of relocating has restorative powers in itself
· If you have a mindfulness app then rehearse your own four or five minute centering technique and if you don’t have an app there are lots of these on youtube you can save as a favourite or try some here from Alfred James https://www.pocketmindfulness.com/6-mindfulness-exercises-you-can-try-today/
· If you are not yet taken by mindfulness just simply sit still and regulate your breathing to 4:2 in:out. Many corporate offices are kitted out with carpet tiles so one easy way to do this is use the tiles as a visual in your mind to create a rectangle. Imagine a little ball tracking its way around the rectangle. On the long side breath in over counts of four and then on the short side breath out on counts of two. Use the long side of the rectangle to really fill your belly and diaphragm with air. Deep breathing and nothing else.
This is also a good time before you return back into your meeting to remind yourself of one thing you are thankful for within the context you’re in. You can be thankful for your co-workers, that you have a nice office, that you have the skills to chair meetings well, that your project is going to make an amazing difference. One thankful thought before you walk into the next meeting.
And there you have it – the most powerful ten minutes of the hour is the one that gives you the energy to run the next race and make it a winning one for you.
