Future Brain. Jenny Brockis

FEEL. IT'S TIME TO PUT THE HUMANITYBACK INTO HOW WE CHOOSE TO LIVE OURLIVES AND DO OUR WORKThe 12 keys to developing a high-performance brain

      The currency of the digi-age is our mental capital and wellbeing. We have lived through a number of different eras: the agricultural age, the industrial age, the technological age – and now we sit squarely in the Age of Appquarius. It's also the age of the brain and thinking, when the human brain will differentiate itself through imagination, innovation and creativity.

      Today it's important to ask what changes you wish to see, and how you can achieve them in the context of understanding that:

      ▪ change is hard and the brain resists it

      ▪ effective change in a global economy requires all of our social, emotional and cultural intelligences to work collaboratively

      ▪ changing how we relate to and communicate with others at an interpersonal level is required to boost collaboration.

      This is why organisational health and intelligence must be managed now for organisational survival. Economic conditions are tight, the marketplace is noisy with increasing global competition, and confidence remains low. We can't imagine the speed at which our future brain will operate, or the speed of future change. But the pace of change will continue to challenge us, so we will have to adapt fast, and in the right way to keep up.

      What we do know about change is this:

      ▪ It's happening all around us. It is normal, expected and often desired.

      ▪ It's neverending. Change invariably leads to further change.

      ▪ It's tiring. Too often, change strategy takes a lot of effort and distracts from other important work on hand, which can lead to change fatigue.

      ▪ It isn't always for the good. Knowing how to differentiate the good from the bad or the ugly is sometimes hard, and it can often not be determined until tested. There will always be an element of risk involved.

      ▪ It can be hard work.

      However, change is essential as an adaptive process that leads to growth and opportunity. People sometimes talk about change management, but change isn't ‘managed’ at all. It is chaotic and ever evolving. Instead of managing it we need to lead it – and to lead it courageously.

      While change has always been with us, its trajectory and pace have reached levels never previously experienced. That's not to say we can't keep up, but we do face a big challenge. Every generation reflects fondly on ‘the good old days’, when the world was simpler and moved at a slower pace. The reality is that people in the good old days would have felt the pressures of change too.

      Just how much the pace of change has accelerated is reflected in the fact that the average person has more information at their fingertips today than the president of the United States had 20 years ago. The Ten Pound Poms took six weeks to reach Australia by boat. Today the flight between London and Perth takes around 19 hours. First-class post was deemed worth the extra cost of getting your letter to its destination a day or so sooner. Today we exchange information and news in a matter of seconds with just a few keystrokes.

That's why going back to the basics of understanding how to create a fit and healthy brain has to be the starting point of any new development. Getting the foundations right first (see figure A) means it's then far easier to evolve towards operational excellence.

Figure A : the three parts of a high-performance brain

      Part I of Future Brain (the first four chapters) is devoted to creating a high-performance brain based on the key lifestyle choices of nutrition, exercise, sleep and flexing our mental muscle.

      Part II examines how to operate a high-performance brain by addressing how we focus, how we can actively choose our mindset, how to stress ‘right’ and how to notice more.

      In part III we look at how our relationships integrate our understanding of how to be more changeable, innovative, collaborative and effective in leading others and ourselves.

The benefits of creating our own high-performance brain include regaining a sense of control, better managing our time, and gaining a greater sense of achievement and overall happiness. Being simply happy – not deliriously ecstatic, but rather experiencing a quiet contentment connecting us to a deeper sense of purpose and meaning (see figure B) – is no longer such a common experience.

Figure B : getting to a high-performance brain

      If you are aware that you are not performing at your best, or you want to increase your brain's ability to engage and innovate, this book is designed to assist you in your strategic thinking. You have been smart enough to come this far, so you are already on the right path to high-performance thinking!

My hope is that this book will open your eyes to the wonder and magic of your own brain (see figure C). While the 12 keys will be explored separately, each adds synergistically to the others. Not every key will be of equal relevance to you. Once you have established the foundations of a brain-healthy lifestyle, I suggest you focus on those elements you believe will most help you to create, operate and enjoy the benefits of a high-performance brain. It is your choice. Yours.

      Remember, like any form of evolution, your high-performance brain education should never stop. Like the age we live in, it is a constant process of innovation and discovery.

      Welcome to your Future Brain.

Figure C : the human brain

      PART I

      CREATING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE BRAIN

      KEY 1

      NUTRITION

      Refuelling smart

      ‘To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.’

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

      Think of your brain as a car and your body as a highway. Would you prefer to be driving a brand new Ferrari, or a rust bucket leaking oil and coughing smoke all over the road?

      If your brain was a car, and you knew it needed fuel, what sort of fuel would you choose? Premium high octane, economy or diesel? What sort of car would you drive? Would you look after it, washing, waxing and cleaning it on weekends, or would you be one of those people who smoked on the way to work and left lolly wrappers and food crumbs all over the seats?

      Substitute your brain for the car. How well do you fuel your brain? Are you eating clean, or is every night a frenzy of fast food and fizzy drinks? Then there's alcohol …

      Paleo, Pritikin and Pizza Hut aside, we now know from years of nutritional research that our choice of foods can influence:

      ▪ our memory

      ▪ our general cognitive skills

      ▪ our mood

      ▪ our mental health

      ▪ our ability to perform well in the workplace

      ▪ even our potential risk of brain disease.

      We eat because we are hungry, because we are bored or to be social. We eat for pleasure or because we are miserable. We sometimes even eat because we are forced to (remember those dreaded cold brussels sprouts from childhood?).

      What we are often blissfully unaware of however, is the influence that the many different physiological, psychological, social and environmental factors have on determining the how, what