The Neuroscience of Slowing Down to Accomplish More
By: Sarah K Brandis
Tags: Productivity, Careers, Wisdom, Entrepreneurship, Neuroscience

The Neuroscience of Slowing Down to Accomplish More

Rushing is a false economy

Photo by Chinmay Singh from Pexels

When I was little, my grandmother always told me, “Less haste, more speed.”

I really didn’t get what she was trying to tell me. On first hearing it, I thought it was a contradiction to state that less going fast actually meant more going fast — I couldn’t wrap my head around the difference between haste and speed.

But then I was the kind of kid that did everything at 100 miles per hour, and that was something I took into adulthood with me.

In my first career in the hospitality industry, I was always rushing, and I was always super stressed. I had a team of staff underneath me, but I hated delegating, stuck in my belief that if you wanted something done right then you needed to do it yourself.

I left that industry aged 29, exhausted and desperate for change in my life.

I learned better

When I decided on a career change and went to University, I studied Cognitive Neuroscience. I began to learn so much that explained who I was as a person, and why I had been so stressed and depleted in my first career.

Knowing what I had been doing to my brain, I had to change my approach.

Executive function is what separates us from the animals

Our ‘executive functions’ are those more complex thought processes, like planning for the future and thinking in an abstract way. These executive functions separate us from the other mammals.

When I was organizing the catering for big events, I was using a lot of planning and logistical thinking, and this was really quite tiring. Our working memory is a part of our executive functions, which are all associated with the prefrontal cortex.

Working memory capacity

As far as studies can tell, our working memory has a very finite capacity. It has long been understood that the average person can hold 7 items (problems or things to remember) in their working memory, with an average variation of -2 or +2.

So to put that in simple terms; if you are trying to remember a few things to do later, while considering a couple of logistical issues, and then your phone rings and somebody needs you — your working memory is now maxed out and you can’t handle anything else.

Why am I sharing this?

Put simply, when your working memory is at full capacity, the effect on your cognition is similar to having too many browser tabs open on your laptop. Things start to slow down and your system becomes less efficient — maybe even overwhelmed.

When we try to do too much at once, typically in a bid to save time, we end up depleting our reserves, slowing us down in the long run.

We can sustain only very short bursts of this intense kind of working and thinking. If you’ve ever worked in the events industry then you will know the feeling of exhaustion after working a busy event. It’s almost like an ‘energy hangover’ for the next few days.

But if you want to achieve more over a sustained period of time, then the science-backed advice is to keep things simple and not try to pack everything in at once.

And if you need to be warned about the pitfalls of multi tasking, then check out this story on task switching and focus.

A simple hack to protect your working memory

With all of the above said, if you do find that you need to think about multiple problems or juggle multiple tasks at once, then there is a really simple way to help your brain conserve energy.

Write everything down. Yes, it’s that simple. When your working memory is getting near capacity, in order to shut down some of those ‘browser windows’ and retain more brain power — simply empty out whatever you were trying to remember for later.

When you write down your to-do list, or problems to solve list, and focus on one task or problem at a time, your working memory is now running at 100% efficiency again.

It sounds too simple to be true, but don’t trust me, trust the data. Studies like this one have even shown an additional boost to our working memory capacity can be achieved by writing expressively, which is perfect if you are under stress and need to decompress a little.

Breaks and brainpower

Possibly one of the worst things we do to ourselves is to not take adequate breaks during the day.

The hustle culture is so ingrained in us, that we feel guilty for taking the time that our brain needs to recharge and reset.

I used to be guilty of this. At my worst I would take my phone into the bathroom and read my emails or write social posts while I was ‘otherwise occupied’ (on the toilet).

Sure, it’s laugh-worthy now. But at the time I truly wouldn’t give myself a few minutes off.

Some studies show that more frequent short breaks, with some stretching or movement, are most favourable for people working or learning at desks all day. This certainly benefits the body and mind as a whole, and neuroscience backs this too.

I know that when you are on a mission to achieve in life, then it is tempting to rush through your tasks and cram more work into every day. But the evidence is stacked against this approach.

Pacing yourself, and respecting the fact that you are a human being with biological needs such as rest and fuel, gives you the best shot at accomplishing more in the long term.

Don’t push yourself to the point of burnout, there has been enough of that in the world lately. It is time to be smart about how we treat our brains and our bodies, and to start thriving in our work.