{"id":47225,"date":"2020-01-08T09:45:40","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T14:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prodweb.trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=magazine&#038;p=47225"},"modified":"2020-01-15T09:45:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T14:45:54","slug":"the-agile-brain-how-you-can-learn-to-do-less-to-adapt-at-the-speed-of-change","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/magazine\/jan-feb-2020\/the-agile-brain-how-you-can-learn-to-do-less-to-adapt-at-the-speed-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The Agile Brain: How You Can Learn to Do Less to Adapt at The Speed of Change"},"author":7,"featured_media":45359,"template":"","tags":[4234,4232,2586,223],"class_list":["post-47225","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agile-brain","tag-agile-learning","tag-brain-science","tag-change-management","global_topic_tax-performance-management","magazine_issue_tax-jan-feb-2020","magazine_article_type_tax-science-of-learning"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Srini Pillay, M.D.","author_image":"","author_bio":"<em>Dr. Srini Pillay is the CEO of\u00a0NeuroBusiness\u00a0Group. He is also assistant professor (part-time) at Harvard Medical School and teaches in the executive education programs at Harvard Business School and Duke CE.\u00a0<\/em>","excerpt":"you have to make adjustments to the way you use your brain in order to work smarter \u2013 not harder. So, how do you optimize your brain to learn and adapt at the speed of change?","main_content":"When people have to develop \u201clearning agility,\u201d they imagine that they somehow have to acquire superhuman multitasking skills or an unusual knack for adapting without skipping a beat. Just the thought of that can be exhausting. Instead, you have to make adjustments to the way you use your brain in order to work smarter \u2013 not harder. So, how do you optimize your brain to learn and adapt at the speed of change?\r\n\r\n<strong>Developing perspective: <\/strong>A little strategy time never hurt anyone. Many people spring out of bed and rush off to work, getting their to-do lists together as fast as they can. While this may sound efficient, it often isn\u2019t. When there are too many things in your brain, you develop a brain traffic bottleneck. All of a sudden, everything slows down. That initial rush leads to diminishing returns.","full_width":false,"content_band":[{"acf_fc_layout":"social_callout","blockquote":"Adjust the way you use your brain in order to work smarter \u2013 not harder."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"It helps to sit down at the beginning of the day to see if you can arrange your tasks efficiently. Can you combine two meetings into one? Can you turn an hour-long meeting into a 30-minute meeting? Can you schedule the more challenging tasks of the day to a time when you have the greatest energy? Small strategic efficiency changes can help you become more agile and develop a supertasking brain.\r\n\r\n<strong>Conserving brain energy<\/strong>: With the demands you face to adapt to constant change, you might think that focus is the order of the day. However, as I point out in my book \u201cTinker Dabble Doodle Try,\u201d you must build unfocus times into your day to refuel your brain and gain the energy to adapt.\r\n\r\nDid you know that our minds wander 47% of the time during the day? We need to learn to mind-wander <em>strategically<\/em>. For instance, a five- to 15-minute nap can give you up to three hours of clarity. Doodling during a conference call may improve your memory by up to 29%.\r\n\r\nOne way to do this is to practice positive constructive daydreaming \u2014 scheduling 15 to 20 minutes in your day when your brain would be naturally depleted. However, you can\u2019t just sit at your desk. Take a walk, do some gardening or try knitting. Then, imagine something positive like going apple-picking or cozying up to a good movie. Then, let your mind wander. This will boost your creativity and refresh your brain. The brain\u2019s default mode network comes on when you stop focusing and puts puzzle pieces together, allowing you to discover new ways of becoming agile.\r\n\r\n<strong>Connecting to your psychological center of gravity (COG)<\/strong>:\u00a0 Your psychological COG is your north star. It is your guiding light when you feel lost or rushed. When you are overwhelmed by the changes you have to make, reset to your psychological COG. It\u2019s like training your abdominal muscles.\r\n\r\nOne key way to do this is to reconnect with your sense of purpose. This is not some external goal, but the activities that make you feel you are flourishing. When you do, you activate your brain\u2019s reward system, and you get the energy edge you need to hold steady.\r\n\r\nThink of a possibility that is not yet a reality, and commit to believing that you are sufficient to deliver on promises that you have not yet delivered on. This does not require you to be sure or right every time. It\u2019s a choice that you make to let possibility be your guide.\r\n\r\nAsk yourself, \u201cWhat two things can I say \u2018no\u2019 to?\u201d Offload things that drain you \u2013 the barely satisfying friendship, the task that you hate to do, the compromise you\u2019re being asked to make that you don\u2019t actually have to make. When you do, you gain the ability to do more satisfying and motivating things.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to learning agility and optimizing your brain, less is more."}],"tice_sponsors":"","custom_dfp_keywords":"","featured_article":false,"feature_type":"","theme":"","remove_gradient":false,"title_in_image":false,"featured_text_image":null,"magazine_link":"https:\/\/www.nxtbook.com\/nxtbooks\/trainingindustry\/tiq_20200102\/index.php?startid=11"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Agile Brain: How You Can Learn to Do Less to Adapt at The Speed of Change - Training Industry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Training Industry - by Michelle Eggleston. Training Industry Magazine articles, back issues, and advertising information can be found at TrainingIndustry.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/magazine\/jan-feb-2020\/the-agile-brain-how-you-can-learn-to-do-less-to-adapt-at-the-speed-of-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Agile Brain: How You Can Learn to Do Less to Adapt at The Speed of Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Training Industry - by Michelle Eggleston. 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