AVOIDING INFORMATION OVERLOAD
I used to believe that I only used about 10% of my brain. I believed this because about 4 decades ago I read this and was told this was a fact for about 95% of the people in the world. I remember hearing the same statistic in college and even at leadership conferences. It seemed like so many people believed this interesting statistic. So, a few years ago, I looked into this interesting “fact” and found out it was completely false.
The claim that we only use 10% of our brain is a myth and is completely untrue. We use all of our brain for most activities, and brain imaging techniques show that large areas of the brain are active even for simple tasks. The origin of the myth is unclear, but it may have been based on a misunderstanding of brain mapping or the distinction between conscious and subconscious mind. There is no evidence that we can tap into a deep well of potential by using more of our brain. [1]. Well, that settles it. I am thankful I only believed that lie for about 40 years.
It is no longer a secret that the human brain is amazing and has an unmatchable power that continues to keep scientists, Christians, and neurologists interested. But with the constant flow of information in today’s world, the brain can get too much overstimulation, and this is where the concept of information overload comes into play.
In fact, recent research suggests that the human brain is capable of storing as much information as the entire Internet, or more precisely, a petabyte of information. [2] But while this ability makes us feel as if we have superpowers, researchers believe that too much information puts our brain’s health in danger, resulting in, once again, an information overload.
In Your Brain at Work, David Rock argues that by understanding the neuroscience behind how the brain functions, you can increase your productivity at work and optimize your efficiency and performance by working with your brain’s natural rhythms. Rock uses an extended metaphor of the theater to illustrate his ideas: The brain is the stage, your thoughts are the audience, and actors perform his methods in hypothetical work scenarios. This book is for anyone that wants to reduce stress, improve productivity, and collaborate more effectively with others. The ability to focus and do creative work is more valuable than ever. And yet today we face more distractions than in the past. Your Brain At Work explains how to be more focused, stay cool under pressure, and increase creative insights by understanding how the brain operates. Six key takeaways for me are:
1. Make The Most Of Your Mental Energy
Some mental processes take up a lot more energy than others. Conscious thinking is a precious and limited resource. Schedule your most important mental processes, such as prioritizing tasks, for when you have a fresh and alert mind. Delay or avoid other high-energy conscious activities such as dealing with email.
2. Focus On One Conscious Task At A time
The brain can only focus on one conscious task at a time. Multitasking can only be effective if all but one of the tasks are embedded (non-conscious) routines, such as driving a familiar route or going through other mindless processes.
3. Remove As Many Distractions As Possible
We have to deal with external and internal distractions. Studies determined that distractions eat up an average of 2.1 hours a day, employees spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before being distracted, and it takes 25 minutes to return to a task after an interruption (if we return at all). [3].
4. Find Ways To Surpass Your Expectations
Expectations are central in the creation of upward and downward spirals in the brain. Maintaining the right expectations in life may be central to maintaining a general feeling of happiness and well-being.
Met expectations generate a slight increase in dopamine and a slight reward response. Exceeded expectations generate a strong increase in dopamine and a strong reward response. And unmet expectations generate a large drop in dopamine level and a strong threat response.
5. Understand The Impact Of Social Status
Your brain maintains complex maps for the “pecking order” of the people surrounding you. People will go to great lengths to protect or increase their status in a group. A sense of increasing status can be more rewarding than money, and a sense of decreasing status can feel like your life is in danger.
6. Help People Come Up With Insights
Catch yourself when you aim to provide feedback or suggest solutions to others. These situations often create an intense threat response that doesn’t help improve their performance. Instead help people come up with their own insights by focusing them on their own internal thoughts.
Direct attention towards the desired outcome rather than immediate problems. When you follow a thread down to the root of a problem it’s easy to conclude there is “too much work,” “not enough money,” or “no time.” But focusing on solutions can significantly increase the likelihood of them having an insight.
When your brain is fully energized, sorting through your neural network is fast and easy, but if you’re running low on energy, your brain struggles to focus on what’s important and can get distracted or overwhelmed with tangential information within that network. For example, as I was preparing the agenda for my board meeting, I noticed I was not energized while typing and my brain’s attention started to slip into a connected memory of how the whiteboard was so clean for last month’s meeting and how soft the chairs were that we all sat on. Then, I started thinking about if we should buy those soft chairs for our new building and what it will cost. After that I started thinking about what type of bookshelves I should buy and how many. Next, I thought about what new books I should buy for my shelves. Due to being tired I was wasting my time. Thanks to Rock I realized extracting information from my brain requires considerable amounts of oxygen and glucose, and as these chemical levels move up and down throughout the day, the energy I have to be productive also fluctuates. I decided to stop working on the agenda and saved it for the next morning. With so much energy the next day, I was able to breeze through it.
[1] Mark Meadowcraft. Professor Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from www.metafact.io April 15, 2023.
[2] Catherine Pittman, “Rewire Your Anxious Brain” (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2015), 67.
[3] David Rock, “Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long” (New York, NY: Harper Business, 2009), 47.
About the Author
Todd E Henley
Todd is an avid cyclist who loves playing frisbee golf, watching NASCAR, making videos, photography, playing Madden football, and watching sport. He is addicted to reading, eating fruits and vegetables, and drinking H2O. His passion is talking about trauma, epigenetics, chromosomes, and the brain. He has been blessed with a sensationally sweet wife and four fun creative children (one of which resides in heaven). In his free time he teaches at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary and is the Founder/Executive Director of Restore Counseling Center.2 responses to “AVOIDING INFORMATION OVERLOAD”
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Your list is fantastic and I really like how you took a through the field of distraction for you as you planned a meeting because the last meeting came up. Something I noticed about what you remembered was that it had to do with sensory connection, the clean white board, and the soft chairs, etc. Do you think senses can help with focus as well? And when do you find your brain most productive? I’m still trying to figure out mine.
Todd~ I like the list of the takeaways you created . I am especially curious about #4:
Find Ways To Surpass Your Expectations
Expectations are central in the creation of upward and downward spirals in the brain. Maintaining the right expectations in life may be central to maintaining a general feeling of happiness and well-being.
Met expectations generate a slight increase in dopamine and a slight reward response. Exceeded expectations generate a strong increase in dopamine and a strong reward response. And unmet expectations generate a large drop in dopamine level and a strong threat response.
I am curious what you would consider “exceeded expectations” for you? I am thinking about this, too!
Thanks for the post.