Did you know that you are hard-wired to efficiently perform complex tasks with very little effort? If you could tap into this could help take your productivity to the next level!
Let me explain.
Every morning I make breakfast for my wife and I. I start by blending a smoothie, then I get out everything for eggs, heat the pan while I’m preparing the eggs, cook it, pour the smoothie, and serve!
I do it the same way, same order, every single day.
On the weekends Cameron likes to shake things up. Sometimes she likes her eggs fried, sometimes she adds salsa, just something different to switch it up.
It seems like such a small change, but inevitably it throws off my whole routine. I’ll forget to heat the pan or to microwave the sausage (fancy!). It’s always something.
My breakfast routine on autopilot, And there’s a very noticeable difference in the effort required to make breakfast when my routine is upset.
How habits affect your thinking
It’s not just perception either. There’s legitimate science behind it.
An M.I.T. neuroscientist named Ann Graybiel and her colleagues began exploring explored this by putting their wired rats into a T-shaped maze with chocolate at one end.
The first time a rat was placed in the maze, it would usually wander slowly up and down the center aisle, sniffing in corners and scratching at walls. It appeared to smell the chocolate but couldn’t ﬁgure out how to ﬁnd it. There was no discernible pattern in the rat’s meanderings and no indication it was working hard to find the treat.
The probes in the rats’ heads, however, told a different story. While each animal wandered through the maze, its brain was working furiously. Every time a rat sniffed the air or scratched a wall, the neurosensors inside the animal’s head exploded with activity.
As the scientists repeated the experiment, again and again, the rats eventually stopped snifﬁng corners and making wrong turns and began to zip through the maze with more and more speed.
And within their brains, something unexpected occurred: as each rat learned how to complete the maze more quickly, its mental activity decreased. As the path became more and more automatic — as it became a habit — the rats started thinking less and less.
Your autopilot explained
Graybiel explains that the process in which the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine is called “chunking.” Our brains automatically use chunking constantly to piece together dozens or even hundreds of tiny steps.
- brushing your teeth
- driving to work
- making breakfast
These are things you do with little to know thought because the actions have literally been programmed into you.
Why it matters
I have about an hour commute home from work each day. By the time I get home from sixty minutes of sitting in traffic each day I’m tired. I don’t know what it is about doing nothing in traffic, but it really takes it out of me!
Recently though I switched to taking the train. I still have about an hour commute, only now I can truly relax or get some work done because I don’t have to think about driving.
Taking the train is analogous to what your brain does when it “chunks” behaviors. Chunking makes things easy. It makes complex tasks automatic and nearly effortless.
Maybe you’re not too concerned with how much energy your breakfast routine is taking up, and maybe you’re not spending any time looking for chocolate in mazes either, but this can be a powerful concept put to use.
The more mundane activities you’re able to put a routine around, the more energy you’ll save for the really important stuff – and that’s what makes a difference.
Chunking at work
For example, at work I answer a lot of technical questions. Lately I’ve been working on creating some outlines and copy excerpts I can use to explain technical things.
Instead of crafting an entire client introduction meeting follow up email, I can follow a template: write an intro, combine the relevant technical snippets, and a personal conclusion.
Not only will it be a much better email, but it’ll be much easier too!
No one cares if I’m the world’s most efficient breakfast maker. It doesn’t matter that I’m relaxing on a train right now instead of sitting in traffic.
But the work I’m able to do with the extra energy I have does make a difference.
What are some ways you can put chunking to use and save some energy?
[box type=”info”]Just discovered this cool article on Life Hacker that talks about putting this to work in your business.[/box]