Productivity an Issue? Be Good To Your Brain
June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and it’s especially important for business owners to keep their brains healthy. After all, we entrepreneurs do a lot of “thinky” (or cognitively demanding) work!
Unfortunately, we’re not supported in productivity. Maybe that seems like a bold statement, given all the apps and tools that are supposed to increase productivity. But that’s just window dressing.
For example, while I’m excited to be a part of the USA Women’s Entrepreneurship Cooperative, we’re using Whatsapp as our communication tool.
SIGH. First of all, you can’t even use it without downloading it onto your phone, which is just objectively ridiculous to begin with. Other messaging apps like Slack allow you to keep it all on your laptop. More apps on your phone make you more distracted, not effective in your work.
I also think being owned by Meta (formerly Facebook) specifically is a problem for the app as well. The company is actively keeping tabs on its users. Facebook is one of the big reasons that people are distracted to begin with.
On top of that, Meta is trying to push users into virtual spaces, instead of spending time with people in the physical world. Because Meta can’t get paid when people spend too much time there.
The issue for productivity is that virtual space does not provide the necessary social connections and activities that human brains crave. Say it with me now: what’s good for the brain is good for productivity!
So even though USA WEC is an organization dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs, they’re (unknowingly) undermining their very mission with the tools they’re using.
Productivity starts in the brain
What the tech gurus don’t understand is how the human brain actually works. Incidentally, neither do capitalists. Because for years we’ve been taught (at least here in the US) to keep hustling, keep grinding, 12-14 hours a day.
Get up at 4:30 am so you can start your day and make it last longer. Load your phone with apps that beep, buzz, flash, and vibrate so you can manage your day. But that’s not the way it works.
When you ask neuroscientists, you’ll find out that is all wrong. At least if you actually want to be productive and get things done, instead of just “being busy”. The human brain has a limited capacity for thinky work because it didn’t develop in front of computers and screens. These are all very recent developments in the lifespan of the human species.
So if you do a lot of thinky work and you want and need to be productive instead of busy, you have limited space in the day to maximize your capacity. To be most effective, arrange your day so that your cognitively demanding work is done during the right time of day when your brain is firing on all cylinders.
Keeping your brain healthy is important for entrepreneurs, (and everyone else)
If your brain isn’t healthy and you’re not refilling your productivity tank, you’re not going to get the results you want. If you’re grinding away, you’re probably going to either a) burn out completely or b) end up in a health crisis, either mental or physical, or c) both.
Our American culture demands a quick fix for everything. Even though most of us know (or at least suspect) that that’s not the way it works. Adding another app to your phone is not going to make you productive or healthy. (Though you can use some apps to help you achieve your goals.)
The way to stay healthy and productive is pretty boring. No hacks, no apps, no One Weird Trick. Just the way your parents (or grandparents) taught you to take care of yourself:
Movement
Nutrition
Enough sleep
Hobbies and activities you enjoy
Social time
The connection between physical and mental health for business owners
Although there does seem to be a genetic component to Alzheimer’s disease for some, others develop it even with no family history. In short, proteins stop getting folded the right way inside the brain and start tangling together in plaques. These are thought to cause the brain damage that leads to Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
Here’s the good news: all the things that you need to do for productivity also keep you mentally healthy and your brain physically healthy. There’s no guarantee that if you do this stuff you won’t get Alzheimer’s, but you’re more likely to prevent it from happening.
Movement - Some people don’t like the word exercise, plus you need to move around a lot more than in just a half-hour or even hour-long session at the gym. Your brain needs oxygenated blood, and this is how you get it.
Nutrition - Bodies need fuel, and your brain is an organ in your body. Giving yourself the right fuel helps your physical and mental health, preventing inflammation.
Enough sleep - There’s an actual reason humans need sleep, and it’s not because your mom (or the productivity expert) told you so. A lot, a LOT of work takes place during this time.
Habits are wired more firmly because the brain strengthens existing neural pathways and prunes back the ones that aren’t used. Muscle rebuilding after a hard weight session occurs. Memories and learning are installed.
And cells use this time to flush out waste products - which have been linked to dementia and other issues.
Hobbies and activities you enjoy - Life is more than just business. If you think these are same two things, then maybe take a vacation and get some perspective. You can love your business and love what you do and still have a life outside it.
Social time - We survived as a species because we banded together to get food and avoid or kill predators. The human need for social connection is deeply hardwired. Even for introverts. We just need fewer friends, but not none.
And no, spending time on so-called social media doesn’t count. The human brain doesn’t count liking a friend’s post the same way it does talking to the friend, over the phone or video, or in person.
Recap
Pay attention to your brain. Feed and nourish it, and work the way it’s designed to work - you’ll be amazed how much more productive you can be.