Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience since the 1990s are helping us understand more about energy levels, attention, motivation, and team dynamics. There are significant applications for life and business. My learning is fairly recent and I’m still working to gather more information, but here’s how I’ve applied it in my life so far.
Let’s start with the basics habits of eating, rest, work, learning and exercise.
At sea, the meal timings are fixed- breakfast by 0800, lunch at 1300, and dinner starts at 1800- with lots of snacks in between. I followed a similar schedule ashore. Since I started intermittent fasting a few months ago, my energy levels have gone through the roof. What I practice is a 16:8 cycle where I don’t eat anything for 16 hours and plan all my consumption within 8 hours, keeping most of my carbohydrate consumption before sleep time. What is important to note here is that my motivation for intermittent fasting is not weight loss but is longevity- fasting starves the weak cells in the body and lets stronger cells thrive in their place- therefore, slowing down the effects of ageing and keeping us mentally and physically alert
For deep rest, I try to work in dim light towards the end of my workday, and not look at any electronic devices for the one hour before bedtime.
Working in bright light at the start of the day helps maintain focus for longer periods. I also plan work that requires intense focus for the morning, and schedule meetings and routine work for the afternoon. Neuroscience tells us that multitasking creates fatigue every time you switch between tasks. When I do cognitively intense, high-value work such as analysis and reports, I plan it for the mornings. I switch off my inbox, Whatsapp, and browser so I’m not tempted to look for incoming messages. As such periods of focused work can last for 90 minutes – I will then allow myself timeslots for checking and responding to messages. I also inform my colleagues of my work plan, so they know that I’m reachable over the phone in case they need to contact me urgently. Speaking of work plans, writing down the to-do tasks for the day in our diary helps us anchor our focus and our drive to get things done.
For exercise, I find that focusing on the muscle while training in the gym helps development. Soon after the exercise, I take deep breaths and mindful breathing to help the muscles recover.
Whether you’re a learner, or you’re a trainer- it helps to know that it takes about six hours for memories to consolidate into a preliminary form of long-term memory. This means that it is better to present eight hours of material as four days of two-hour blocks or eight days of one-hour sessions, rather than a single day of content. In PowerPoint presentations, research shows that our eyes spend more time on the left side of the page, especially toward the top. Quizzes (and feedback) are a powerful tool for learning as the retrieval process actively enhances memory by activating the genes involved in strengthening synapses, reactivating neuronal pathways, and leading to enhanced memory. This is also one of the reasons why I write blogs, book reviews, and maintain a journal– to help me remember what I learn.
Rewards trigger the release of dopamine, which reinforces learning. Similarly, a certain amount of stress and anxiety triggers the release of noradrenaline, which enhances encoding. You can introduce these emotional stimuli into e-learning programs with built-in reward features or use subtle changes that evoke a feeling of urgency, such as using a countdown timer when learners must perform a task in a short period of time.
Neuroscience also has implications for leadership. This includes being self-aware (like I spoke above about being mindful of our habits), awareness of others, communication, and decision-making. In a simple thing such as having a work conversation, I keep away my handphone and switch off my desktop when speaking to a colleague. Neuroscience research has shown that the mere presence of a phone, even if not being used, diminishes the quality of conversations.
Take another example regarding change - we’ve known for a while that no one likes change, and that’s always tough for a leader to effect change throughout the organisation or with their clients. Neuroscience has shown that change actually provokes sensations of physiological discomfort. The explanation is that we go through routine activity by the functioning of the basal ganglia but the moment we are confronted with unfamiliar activity, we have to engage the more energy consuming prefrontal cortex. The second reason for disliking change is that it appears as ‘errors’ in our amygdala – which induces an emotional and impulsive response from us and drains metabolic energy away from the intellectual part of the brain. That is why it takes time to rationalise change and convince ourselves that it is safe for us.
The carrot and stick motivation to effect change rarely succeed in the long run, neither does trying to persuade others. The more you push change down the organisation, the more pushback you will get. Leaders wanting to change the way people think or behave should learn to recognize, encourage, and deepen their team’s insights through a learning culture. For insights to be useful, they need to be generated from within, not given to individuals as conclusions.
Start by leaving problem behaviours in the past; focus on identifying and creating new behaviours. Let your team come to their own answers (rather than advice-giving) and keep them focused on their insights. Over time, these may shape the dominant pathways in the brain. The shipping industry had adopted the idea through initiatives such as Shell Reflective Learning. This is also why coaching and mentoring are so important at sea and in any workplace. Also, new habits take up to eight weeks of continuous practice to form part of a desired behaviour- so be patient!
Pay attention to the learning culture in your organisation – research has shown that a training program alone increased productivity by 28 per cent, but the addition of follow-up coaching to the training increased productivity by 88 per cent. Encourage weekly workplace sessions where people systematically talk about the means for making things better, training their brains to make new connections. In the end, employees need to understand the benefits for them, and “own” any kind of change initiative for it to be successful. Once employees have ‘bought in’ to the insight, repeated, focused attention can indeed bring about the desired change.
PS: I would like to remind readers to please consult with their physician or dietician before they undertake any of the strategies that I use.
References:
Intermittent fasting and longevity: Harvard article
Article by Olivero et.al. regarding learning and neuroscience
Huberman Lab: My go-to podcast on neuroscience
