Powered Down
You’re operating in the
Powered Down Zone most days.
You’re always on and your behaviours are likely to be leaving you powered down and possibly burnt out. Living like this is incongruent with your Human Operating System ( hOS).
The good news is, below are some additional micro-habits that you may want to consider that will further power-up your performance in the digitally-demanding world we now live and work in.
Air navigation experts use a rule of thumb called the ‘1 in 60 rule’. It suggests that for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its planned destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles that you fly.
What I think this rule also shows is that even small adjustments (1-degree turns are miniscule) can yield big differences further down the track. The same is true with your digital habits: making small, seemingly insignificant changes can have huge implications over time.
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Three Micro-Habits to Power-Up Your Performance
Physiological sighs and staring
When you’re facing a constant barrage of emails or Teams chats, or your calendar is packed with back-to-back meetings, or there’s a crisis at work, your stress tolerance is often tested. When we’re in a perpetually heightened stress state, we cannot make good decisions (as our amygdala, emotional hub is in control and not our prefrontal cortex, which is the CEO of our brain). One of the most scientifically-validated tools that’s been proven to regulate our stress response is sighing- two consecutive inhalations through our nose and a longer exhalation through our mouth. Repeated 2-3 times, sighing will regulate your stress response and help activate your prefrontal cortex. The good news is that you can do this during your virtual meetings (just make sure you’re on mute).
Your eyes need regular screen breaks throughout the day. Looking at a screen for many hours depletes our occipital lobe in our brain. When you have a break, try to dilate your gaze to create divergence in your eyes. This will help your eyes and your body to relax. Perhaps go outside and look at the sky, or go for a quick walk near the beach or at the local park. Even just looking out the window can help, because a dilated gaze activates your parasympathetic nervous system and helps you to feel relaxed.
Spending hours looking at your devices creates convergent movement, which elevates your stress response. This can be traced back to our evolution: we adopt a narrow field of focus when we’re in a heightened, stressed state so we can laser in on the perceived threat. The problem is that, nowadays, we spend the preponderance of our days with a narrow field of focus as we stare at our laptops and desktops, and this elevates our stress levels.
Bundle notifications
Batch notifications so they come to you at allocated times, rather than dribbling in throughout the day. You can now nominate what time/s of the day or night you’d like to receive your various notifications. So if the constant ping of Teams Chat notifications are derailing your capacity to focus, consider nominating designated times when you’ll receive these notifications. When we’re distracted, research confirms that it takes the average person 23 minutes to reorient their attention. Distractions are really detrimental to our performance. You need to build a fortress around your focus.
Piccolo breaks
Piccolo breaks are typically two to ten minutes in duration and should occur frequently throughout your day. You should be taking four to six piccolo breaks each day while working. They should be short periods of respite. Just like a piccolo coffee, they’re small but effective.
Studies have shown that these piccolo breaks yield better results than longer breaks. For example, one study compared the effects of 30 minutes of physical activity performed as one bout in the morning (one 30-minute walk) versus as micro-bouts spread across the day (six five-minute breaks) – with the rest of the day spent sitting – and examined the impact on mood, energy levels and cognitive function. It showed that the micro-bouts and the single long bout both improved energy and vigour, but the micro-bouts also decreased levels of fatigue and food cravings. It also suggested that short bouts of activity during sedentary office workers’ days offered a promising approach to enhancing employee wellbeing.
