How is science helping us improve our days?
2016-03-17 Laura Vargas
I have been truly blessed to work with inspiring colleagues. One of these inspiring colleagues, the late Mauri Metsäranta, planted in me the interest in the application of neuroscience research to practical development actions in leadership. Our conversation started in 2009 and while Mauri left us much too soon, the fascination and his inspiration on the topic is still with me. It is in the application of this field where I have seen the most concrete development in my own leadership and working methods and in that of my own clients.
My continuous learning on the topic took me to London in 2013 where I met two more inspiring thought leaders on the topic: Josh Davis and Caroline Webb. Both Josh and Caroline are passionate about this topic and have translated their passion and wisdom into recently published books. Using these two valuable resources, we can learn practical scientifically based ways to help us get the most out of our day. In order of publication date, I will start with Josh’s Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done. In his book, he presents five concrete ways to be “awesomely effective”. His deeply researched strategies, based on solid neuroscience and psychology, are simple, practical and achievable. Caroline’s book, How To Have A Good Day Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life brings together combined insights from psychology, behavioural economics and neuroscience. In her book, she translates the findings from these three fields into every day practical wisdom. She identifies seven building blocks to having a good day and gives us insight into how to put together each of those blocks.
I have been working on implementing these strategies and building blocks myself and also with my clients. The results are very powerful. One of my clients told me last week “I get so much more done. I am happier and I even lost weight!” While I have, unfortunately, not lost any weight while implementing these ideas into my daily routine, I can see the power in the application of these strategies. Mainly, it has translated into increased productivity. Very simply, these is what I am aiming for:
- Sleep: finding the optimal amount of sleep and protecting the quality of that sleep sets the foundation for the next actions to be successful. Sleep depravation undermines our efforts to be productive and inspiring.
- From hardest to easiest: When I am not working with a client, I start my “office day” with the most demanding task. With a fresh brain and a full energy tank, I find that those first hours of work are my most productive. If I need to have a creative session with a client, I try to schedule it in the morning.
- No multitasking: All alarms and indications of new mail, new messages, new anything are turned off from all my devices. While doing the intense brainwork, my phone is on silent (not on vibration mode but on silent). I give the task at hand my single focus. The result is that I finish my task sooner and with better quality.
- Email as a discreet activity: Due to the nature of my work, I am out of office several days a week so I need to find concentrated time to tackle the inbox. And on “office days”, I close my inbox after spending the planned time on it. Email is not an all you can eat buffet available all the time.
- Choose thoughts: Just like choosing what I am going to eat for breakfast, I am trying to choose my thoughts, being mindful of keeping a positive bias in my thinking. While I cannot control other people’s behaviour, I can certainly choose how I react to it and what I think. If I think positive, I can do my work much better and also enjoy it.
How is science helping you improve your day?
I have been truly blessed to work with inspiring colleagues. One of these inspiring colleagues, the late Mauri Metsäranta, planted in me the interest in the application of neuroscience research to practical development actions in leadership. Our conversation started in 2009 and while Mauri left us much too soon, the fascination and his inspiration on the topic is still with me. It is in the application of this field where I have seen the most concrete development in my own leadership and working methods and in that of my own clients.
My continuous learning on the topic took me to London in 2013 where I met two more inspiring thought leaders on the topic: Josh Davis and Caroline Webb. Both Josh and Caroline are passionate about this topic and have translated their passion and wisdom into recently published books. Using these two valuable resources, we can learn practical scientifically based ways to help us get the most out of our day. In order of publication date, I will start with Josh’s Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done. In his book, he presents five concrete ways to be “awesomely effective”. His deeply researched strategies, based on solid neuroscience and psychology, are simple, practical and achievable. Caroline’s book, How To Have A Good Day Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life brings together combined insights from psychology, behavioural economics and neuroscience. In her book, she translates the findings from these three fields into every day practical wisdom. She identifies seven building blocks to having a good day and gives us insight into how to put together each of those blocks.
I have been working on implementing these strategies and building blocks myself and also with my clients. The results are very powerful. One of my clients told me last week “I get so much more done. I am happier and I even lost weight!” While I have, unfortunately, not lost any weight while implementing these ideas into my daily routine, I can see the power in the application of these strategies. Mainly, it has translated into increased productivity. Very simply, these is what I am aiming for:
- Sleep: finding the optimal amount of sleep and protecting the quality of that sleep sets the foundation for the next actions to be successful. Sleep depravation undermines our efforts to be productive and inspiring.
- From hardest to easiest: When I am not working with a client, I start my “office day” with the most demanding task. With a fresh brain and a full energy tank, I find that those first hours of work are my most productive. If I need to have a creative session with a client, I try to schedule it in the morning.
- No multitasking: All alarms and indications of new mail, new messages, new anything are turned off from all my devices. While doing the intense brainwork, my phone is on silent (not on vibration mode but on silent). I give the task at hand my single focus. The result is that I finish my task sooner and with better quality.
- Email as a discreet activity: Due to the nature of my work, I am out of office several days a week so I need to find concentrated time to tackle the inbox. And on “office days”, I close my inbox after spending the planned time on it. Email is not an all you can eat buffet available all the time.
- Choose thoughts: Just like choosing what I am going to eat for breakfast, I am trying to choose my thoughts, being mindful of keeping a positive bias in my thinking. While I cannot control other people’s behaviour, I can certainly choose how I react to it and what I think. If I think positive, I can do my work much better and also enjoy it.
How is science helping you improve your day?