Just as you shouldn’t overload your luggage, it’s a mistake to pack your head with too many things at once.
Our brains are amazing, but they aren’t infinite or unlimited, particularly when we are ‘in the moment’ – doing things.
When you are going to a new place in the car, have you ever turned down the radio when you get near, just so you don’t miss the turning?
When someone asks you something and you are walking, do you stop or slow down?
If a family member asks you a question, do you stop stirring your tea?
These are funny little experiences, but really helpful when it comes to understanding our brains.
We were having a lot of building work done at our house a few years back. I was working at home most days, unless I was at an event, and so was around when the builders were there. After a few weeks, I noticed that I was becoming much more indecisive. I thought – what is going on? So I asked a psychologist friend and he told me I had ‘decision fatigue’. And the penny dropped, I had been answering small and insignificant questions for weeks several times a day.
“How many sockets do you want on this wall?”
“How many shelfs brackets do you want to use?”
“What shade of off-white do you want this wall?”
“Do you want USBs on these sockets, Lee?”
After a few weeks I had no opinion on, or interest in socket placement! It was relentless. I realised that my brain – or mental bandwidth – was full. To be honest, I went to work to do a speaking event just for a break. I remember feeling something similar when my twins were toddlers.
Sometimes our brain is fresh and alive – other times, particularly at times of stress or pressure, it feels kind of full. So, can we make our brain bandwidth bigger? Can we train it? In a word, no. But we can do some practical things to help recover some bandwidth.
Getting enough sleep is the big one, but also we can delegate more, say no to things. We can write to-do lists and notes to clear your brain until a later date. Get into nature or focus on something else, maybe by writing about your day. Or just never have any builders in your house. That might work too.
Find the ways that work for you to free up your brain’s bandwidth, as sometimes we need to be ready to make bigger decisions with enough cognitive processing power to make the right choice.
Lee Jackson’s new book Get Good at Life is available now from Amazon or https://leejackson.org/shop/
Brain bandwidth
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Just as you shouldn’t overload your luggage, it’s a mistake to pack your head with too many things at once.
Our brains are amazing, but they aren’t infinite or unlimited, particularly when we are ‘in the moment’ – doing things.
When you are going to a new place in the car, have you ever turned down the radio when you get near, just so you don’t miss the turning?
When someone asks you something and you are walking, do you stop or slow down?
If a family member asks you a question, do you stop stirring your tea?
These are funny little experiences, but really helpful when it comes to understanding our brains.
We were having a lot of building work done at our house a few years back. I was working at home most days, unless I was at an event, and so was around when the builders were there. After a few weeks, I noticed that I was becoming much more indecisive. I thought – what is going on? So I asked a psychologist friend and he told me I had ‘decision fatigue’. And the penny dropped, I had been answering small and insignificant questions for weeks several times a day.
“How many sockets do you want on this wall?”
“How many shelfs brackets do you want to use?”
“What shade of off-white do you want this wall?”
“Do you want USBs on these sockets, Lee?”
After a few weeks I had no opinion on, or interest in socket placement! It was relentless. I realised that my brain – or mental bandwidth – was full. To be honest, I went to work to do a speaking event just for a break. I remember feeling something similar when my twins were toddlers.
Sometimes our brain is fresh and alive – other times, particularly at times of stress or pressure, it feels kind of full. So, can we make our brain bandwidth bigger? Can we train it? In a word, no. But we can do some practical things to help recover some bandwidth.
Getting enough sleep is the big one, but also we can delegate more, say no to things. We can write to-do lists and notes to clear your brain until a later date. Get into nature or focus on something else, maybe by writing about your day. Or just never have any builders in your house. That might work too.
Find the ways that work for you to free up your brain’s bandwidth, as sometimes we need to be ready to make bigger decisions with enough cognitive processing power to make the right choice.
Lee Jackson’s new book Get Good at Life is available now from Amazon or https://leejackson.org/shop/
Lee Jackson
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