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The Wake-Up Call

In our always on dimension of digital distraction, working at speed is often perceived as a badge of honor. Proceeding at all times with a sense of urgency has become coded into our operating systems. The driven Do More, Faster. We instantly respond to demands (usually delivered by email) that are not actually urgent, and often not important.

A couple of decades ago this mindset was something I aspired to and lived by, as a high-flying attorney. Until one morning in 2004 when my doctor called to inform me that blood tests indicated I had a month to live.

The Consequences

Most people don’t have such an extreme wake up call. But the consequences of operating at breakneck speed, whilst rarely pausing to take a breath, are many and significant. They include:

  • Poor quality work
  • Stress, exhaustion and burnout
  • Missed ideas and opportunities
  • Shallow meaningless engagement with colleagues
  • Compromised creativity
  • Ineffectiveness

The irony is that the intention behind moving fast is often enhanced productivity, but the research unequivocally demonstrates that our effectiveness and the quality of our work suffers – as do we.

Power Pause

If we choose to pause, take a breath, stand back from our tasks, ignore our devices and allow or minds to wander freely, we give our brain the recharge and reset it so desperately needs.

Good leaders know the value of a power pause and utilize it on daily basis. By way of example, Jack Welch, legendary GE CEO, was known for spending an hour of his working day engaged in what he called “looking out of the window time”. The Navy SEALs typically operate in situations where the stakes are highest yet live by the maxim ‘Slow is smooth, smooth is fast’.

Studies and experience show that pausing, even for a minute (but 5 is better) has many benefits including:

  • The avoidance of cognitive fatigue
  • Better problem-solving capabilities. Standing back, reflecting, and altering perspective works wonders.
  • Improved focus and attention.
  • Enhanced creativity.
  • Greater work satisfaction.

In short, better work and better you.

A further significant benefit from deliberate pausing is enhanced presence. Good leaders have good presence;
otherwise referred to as executive or leadership presence. Pausing facilitates calmness, a sense of being present and the ability to engage and connect with the audience.

So whether you schedule your pauses or take them when the moment feels right, raise your game and enhance your well-being by embracing the power of the pause.

90 Minutes to Mastery and Optimum Performance

 The Myth of Marathons

When the pressure is on, tight deadlines to meet, a report to draft or stack of paperwork to get through, people have a tendency to work flat out for several hours without stopping for a break. This was a mistake I was repeatedly guilty of a couple of decades ago when I was a busy attorney.

Sprint for Success

For over one hundred years researchers have known optimum performance and productivity is achieved when people work in cycles of 90 minutes. Nathaniel Kleitman, Professor Emeritus in Physiology at the University of Chicago and regarded as the father of modern sleep research, discovered the basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC) and concluded that 90 minutes of activity followed by a short period of rest enabled people to achieve more.

This is because most peoples’ brains can only focus intensely for 90 to 120 minutes. This is the Ultradian Rhythm that regulates our sleeping and waking lives.

And if You Want to Master Something

Research also indicates that mastery is best achieved by practicing in blocks of 90 minutes. Psychologist, Anders Ericsson, a leading expert on expertise, conducted a study involving the best young violinists in the world and found that the top performers all had the same practice characteristics:

  • They practiced in the morning
  • They practiced for 3 sessions
  • Each session lasted 90 minutes
  • There was a short rest between each session

For many people, a break of 10-15 minutes is sufficient to fully recharge. To maximize recovery, get up and go for a short brisk walk and make sure you hydrate with water. If you have nature nearby then either look at it or even better go to it. Numerous studies have demonstrated that nature and green boost creativity and productivity.

It’s important to think of these 90 minute blocks as sprints rather than casual strolls. Although, forcing yourself to take a short break may seem counterintuitive, by working in sync with your natural cycle you’ll soon find your performance and productivity noticeably improve.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to improve their performance and resilience.

 

A New Dawn in Human Performance and Productivity

The New Competitive Edge

 

We’re currently experiencing an unprecedented focus on pushing the boundaries of human performance and productivity.

This has come about, partly as a response to economic challenges and the increase in communication and information channels, but it’s also driven by the human desire to progress.

These are exciting times where the previously perceived limitations on what we are capable of are frequently smashed. Barely a day goes by without research emerging from the fields of Neuroscience, Performance Psychology, Technology or Bio-hacking (to name a few) educating and empowering us with new techniques, tools, apps or supplements that can significantly increase our performance, productivity and resilience. Some of them are extremely effective and are proven to enable us to increase our performance at work by 500% or more. Others are just like the latest new diet. Shiny and exciting for a bit but long term they consistently fail.

The most promising developments and discoveries (and sometimes re-discoveries) include brain entrainment, mental conditioning processes previously only used by Special Forces operators and world class athletes, technologies that rapidly facilitate recovery and enhance focus, mindfulness and meditation, next generation Smart Drugs (Nootropics), seemingly endless productivity apps and much more. These advances are only the tip of the superhuman iceberg.

While individuals have for millennia been interested in personal development in its various forms, for the first time, we’re experiencing a deep and growing interest by organizations in the latest research in human performance. This growing focus is entirely consistent with the pursuit of profit and success. Happy, healthy, high performing individuals are able to work longer hours, be more effective and creative, have less sickness and manage stress.

 

Zen and Productivity

Increasing our performance and productivity can, however, no longer be about doing more, faster. Our increasingly fast, always connected world undermines focus and effectiveness , primarily through an endless stream of notifications and interruptions.  As a consequence we become more stressed and unable to think with clarity and creativity. We need some peace.  So while the search for new ways to do more faster continues, companies and individuals seek out ways of slowing things, looking to both old (e.g. Yoga, Mindfulness) and new solutions (e.g. Brain entrainment and HRV) to slow things down and reduce stress.

Thousand year old practices such as meditation, yoga and mindfulness are now widely accepted as powerful tools for increasing  resilience, productivity, creativity and clarity of thought. According to research, approximately one quarter of all major American employers now deliver some form of stress management training and support. These companies include Apple, Nike, Google, McKinsey and Yahoo. Special Forces operators and athletes have long used various relaxation techniques to improve performance and resilience.

 

Flow and the 5x Factor

By way of example, let’s focus for one moment, on one of the most exciting performance advantages – flow. First coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is the state of complete immersion in an activity. Individuals in flow experience intense focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

A person experiencing a state of flow is able to achieve far more than they could when out of flow; sometimes more than believed humanely possible. Flow it is the ultimate state of peak performance. The significance of flow is such that business leaders and scientific researchers are taking serious note of the state and its profound implications.

A McKinsey study that found that top executives in “flow” are five times more productive, than out of it.  Achieved by a combination of old practices and new technologies,  flow is quite possibly the ‘ultimate state of peak performance .

 

The ‘Limitless’ Executive and Entrepreneur

It remains to be seen how far our quest for advancing human performance will take us.  What is clear, however,  is that for those seeking to get ahead, the time management strategies of yesteryear are no longer sufficient or relevant. We need to increase and manage our focus and energy.  So if you’re aiming for success at the highest levels, give careful consideration to purchasing a yoga mat instead, getting into a state of flow and using brain entrainment technology, instead of a game of squash or round of golf.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance, Productivity and Resilience.

4 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Brain’s Performance

 

There has never been a time in the history of the human race that our brains have needed to perform as optimally as they need to today. A combination of the increase in perceived stressors, rapid acceleration of technology and our ‘always on, always connected’ world means our brains feel fried with stress and exhausted on a regular basis.

Advances in Neuroscience have given us a deeper understanding of how our brains work and we now know that key practices, strategies, routines and technologies e.g. flow, brain entrainment and Neurofeedback to name a few, can increase our mental performance and productivity by anything up to 500%.

If, however, you’re simply looking for a moderate boost in your brain’s performance and resilience, here are 4 easy to implement strategies that will rapidly make a noticeable difference.

 

Disengage

 Many people make the mistake of focusing for too long on solving a particular problem. Invariably they become exhausted and frustrated as the solution seems to evade them.

Stepping back and disengaging enables your brain to calm down and recover. Research shows that staring out of the window at nature or doing something physical like walking round the block or washing the dishes, not only restores your cognitive function but will often enable your sub conscious mind to achieve the break through that your focused mind failed to.

 

Get Physical

 The same principle that applies to our muscles applies to our brain – use it or lose it. Exercise benefits the brain in numerous ways. It increases our heart rate consequently pumping more oxygen to the brain. It stimulates the release of hormones which are essential for the for the healthy growth of brain cells.

Furthermore, exercise increases brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells. Studies have also show than exercise reduces stress and has an antidepressant effect.

And it doesn’t take much exercise to produce noticeable benefits. Even a few minutes a day of moderate exercise can lead to an immediate increase in your performance and productivity for several hours afterwards. We are more alert and more able to focus.

 

Connect

 While there is a significant cognitive downside to being continually digitally connected, research overwhelmingly demonstrates that for the vast majority of us our social connections are critical for good mental health. Social connections are at the core of primate life.

People with poor social networks are more prone to mental illness (McGuire & Raleigh, 1986). In 2008 research by Ybarra demonstrated that showing that socializing had equivalent benefits for brain function as mental exercises. Ideally maintain those social connections by meeting your friends and family, but even a short call gives your brain a boost.

 

Sleep

 A consistent lack of good sleep wreaks havoc on our physical and mental health. Sleep has important restorative functions and clears out harmful toxins from the brain.

Insufficient sleep undermines our ability to reason, problem-solve, focus and maintain attention for long periods of time. Sleep is the opportunity for the brain to store new information into long-term memory, which is critical to learning.

The amount of sleep that is necessary varies from individual to individual, however, there is a broad consensus amongst sleep experts that most people need a minimum of 7 hours daily. Factors such as timing, blue light and caffeine and other forms stimulation can greatly undermine the quality of sleep and must be taken into account.

Martin Soorjoo is the founder of 3XP Performance Coaching. 

Beyond Time Management – Getting Things Done in 2015

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” -Steve Jobs

 

Continual Connection – Information Overload

Time management strategies were developed at a time when people had few communication channels, received information and documentation by post. The underlying assumption was that once people knew how to more effectively manage their time, their performance and productivity would improve.

 

To-do or not To-Do: That is the Question

Now we are subjected to a barrage of constant calls, texts, emails and social media notifications. Many of these are time and energy draining request and demands. Most of us have a rapidly growing to-do list, which typically gets added to rather than addressed. These factors contribute to a massively distorted sense of time.

When I work with clients to increase their productivity, with the aid of technology I help them audit how they really spend their time. They frequently find that their perception of how much time they invest in their most important tasks is double what the amount of time they actually invested.

 

Upgraded Time Life Management

While time management still has a part to play in contributing to better performance, productivity and quality of life, it should only ever be a single component of a holistic strategy.

The following 5 steps will help you get more out of your days and weeks:

 

  1. Increase your focus and attention. When you increase your focus, you’ll get far more done in the same amount of time. Research indicates that every time a person’s focus on a task is distracted it takes approximately 25 minutes to get back to the same point they were at before the interruption. In addition to employing daily practices to increase and maintain your focus, consider taking advantage of focus enhancing technologies.
  1. Increase and preserve your energy. Obvious but so often overlooked. The higher your energy levels the more you will accomplish in a shorter space of time. When you have more energy you are more likely to tackle the most important tasks that you keep putting off. The contribution that sleep, nutrition and exercise make to increasing performance and productivity cannot be overstated.
  1. Accept you will not complete your to-do list. While to-do lists serve the function of helping you keep track of the things you need to do, they should not dictate how you structure your day and spend your time. Prioritize those tasks that will help you make the biggest leaps forward. The 20% that will give you the 80% return. Allow yourself to be ok with the fact that you will never complete your to-do list. After a while you will find that many of your to do’s were not that important in the first place.
  1. Say No. Productivity warriors are master of saying ‘No!’ to the many time and energy vampires that are ever present. The demands of others can usually wait and often be dealt by someone else. Time is the most precious resource we have and we must guard it fiercely.
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  2. Use Technology. There are hundreds if not thousands of productivity apps. But there only a few that are truly awesome. Apps can be incredibly useful in freeing up your brain so that it can focus on getting the important things done. These include apps to plan, track, remind you, increase your focus and store your thoughts. Always remember that these apps exist to support, not replace, your system.