{"id":32099,"date":"2023-04-03T10:17:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T17:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32099"},"modified":"2023-04-01T18:49:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T01:49:27","slug":"self-differentiation-helps-your-brain-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/self-differentiation-helps-your-brain-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Differentiation Helps Your Brain At Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s after 2pm and I’m just sitting down to write this blog post. I know better than to try to write cohesively after 2pm. The afternoon is not a good time for me to try to think creatively or even to try to organize my simple thoughts into a readable blog post. By 2pm I’ve already been up for many hours and even if it hasn’t been an incredibly mind tasking day during which I’ve had to make a huge decision by the afternoon I’ve already made a thousand simpler decisions taxing my mental capacity to dig deep and think creatively. In his book, “Your Brain At Work, Revised and Updated: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus and Working Smarter All Day Long” author David Rock writes, “It’s helpful to become aware of your own mental energy needs and schedule accordingly. For example, if you have to do some creative writing in several different projects, which requires a clear, fresh mind, you might do all your creative writing on a Monday”[1]<\/a> or in my case, I should do my creative writing first thing in the morning as I am drinking my quad-latte.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

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In today’s fast-paced world, distractions and information overload have become the norm. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to focus and work smarter all day long. To overcome these challenges, many authors have written books on various strategies for improving focus and productivity.<\/p>\n

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One of the first things Rock emphasizes is the importance of managing your mental energy. He writes, “The pre-frontal cortex has much in common with other energy hungry parts such as muscles. It tires from use, and can do a lot more after a good rest.\u201d[3]<\/a> This means that I shouldn\u2019t be starting to write this blog post at 2pm when my brain is already tired. Perhaps I would have better insights[4]<\/a> and even be more productive if I took a break, went for a walk, did something entirely different, instead of trying to power through.<\/p>\n

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But here I am, caffeine long gone from my system, afternoon lull setting in, my phone right next to me alerting me to every text and news story and phone call.<\/p>\n

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Which is another thing I have working against me: this stupid phone sitting here buzzing me to complete distraction. Our phones have become somewhat of an appendage these days. Never far from our sides, they are always calling our names, trying to get us to pick them up, to look away from anything other than their colorful screens. I was talking with a colleague this morning about how we are \u201calways on,\u201d \u201calways available.\u201d How, if we don\u2019t return a church member\u2019s email right away we are apt to get another email asking if we saw the first email! To be able to prioritize work, to choose to NOT answer an email takes what Friedman calls \u201cself-differentiation\u201d because you are choosing to not give in to the chaos and anxiety of others around you but instead to focus on the goal you have set.<\/p>\n

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This is something I really want to consider. How much of my distraction and inability to focus and to be productive is a result of not being self-differentiated? Friedman says a self-differentiated leader can remain a \u201cnon-anxious, well-principled presence\u201d[5]<\/a> in the face of stressors swirling outside and within the group she is leading. Rather than getting caught up in the same dysfunctional behaviors which plague the group, she stands apart from and above the dysfunction. In this case, the dysfunction would be co-dependency with our phones.<\/p>\n

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Is it that I am too worried about pleasing others that I feel that I need to immediately respond to their needs or is this a learned behavior based on what I\u2019ve see seen my \u201cmasters\u201d do?<\/p>\n

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In Eve Poole\u2019s book, \u201cLeadersmithing\u201d she talks about the importance of apprenticeship. Poole writes, \u201cIf you can do something beautiful in miniature it convinces you and your masters you are ready for bigger things.\u201d[6]<\/a> She then discusses how as an \u201capprentice\u201d we learn how to do the \u201cbig\u201d things, such as our job, from doing the work under and learning from our \u201cmaster.\u201d Most \u201cmasters\u201d under which I have \u201capprenticed\u201d have been tied to their phones, checking them regularly, responding when a text or email arrives. When I have been the one to beckon the master he\/she usually comes quickly, answering my question or my email or my text even within a few minutes. What I\u2019ve learned from this is that to be a \u201cgood\u201d master or leader, I too must respond almost immediately.<\/p>\n

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And yet, as we\u2019ve read in Rock\u2019s book, this kind of constant distraction leads to less productivity, less ability to think clearly and efficiently, less creativity and no room for insights or problem solving. As we step into leadership or into the role of \u201cmaster\u201d as Poole writes, how might it benefit the workplace as well as our \u201capprentices\u201d if we modeled putting our phones away, turning them to airplane mode, taking a day or two to answer questions and emails? How might productivity increase if we modeled taking a mid-day walk with our phones left on our desk, or going to the gym, reading a fiction novel, or finding time to paint or dance as part of the work day?<\/p>\n

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To be able to do this will require us as leaders to be self-differentiated. I can already imagine the chaos and anxiety it might produce in those who are \u201cnose to the grindstone\u201d types, those who think work should be just that: work, not rest or creativity or fun. But as a leader perhaps it is vital to our apprentices as well as to ourselves and to our work to learn to take breaks, put down the phone, let our minds rest and recuperate so that we can think clearly and creatively.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Rock, David. Your Brain At Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. Revised and Updated edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2016, 32.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> IBID, 93. Caffeine is like a bigger computer screen, a proven technique for increasing mental performance.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> IBID, 31.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> IBID, 109.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Friedman, Edwin H., and Peter Steinke.\u00a0A Failure of Nerve, Revised Edition: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. 10th Anniversary edition. New York: Church Publishing, 2017.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/u>, n.d. Accessed February 15, 2023. https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/book\/338727696\/Leadersmithing-Revealing-the-Trade-Secrets-of-Leadership, <\/a>86.<\/p>\n

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It’s after 2pm and I’m just sitting down to write this blog post. I know better than to try to write cohesively after 2pm. The afternoon is not a good time for me to try to think creatively or even to try to organize my simple thoughts into a readable blog post. By 2pm I’ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2535,2681,2729],"class_list":["post-32099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlpg02","tag-rock","tag-yourbrainatwork","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32136,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32099\/revisions\/32136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}