How to get more out of your brain's downtime

Output on Rian Doris' "Your Brain is Unproductive 64% Of The Time. Here's How To Fix It" video

When we think of productivity, we most likely will think about the physical act of sitting down, concentrating and completing some task. Our “task-positive network” (TPN), a neurological network consisting of several parts of our brain, is responsible for this type of productivity that demands attention, focus, physical action and decision-making.

What about the rest of the day when our brain is supposedly “idle”? There is another neurological system called the “default mode network” (DFN) which is active when our brain is not focused on getting specific work done; in other words, when we’re bored, thinking or ruminating. Ever have a light-bulb moment or spark of inspiration while taking a shower, walking or meditating? You can thank your default mode network for that.

The default mode network is active throughout a large percentage of the day and is responsible, but here’s an unfortunate fact - most of the time, we are thinking about trivial or useless matters, when in fact, we could “upgrade our rumination” (as Rian puts it in the video) and make our idle moments much more productive and beneficial.

The main goal here is to transform our rumination into a problem-solving tool that helps us solve problems and generate brilliant ideas.

In the video, Rian discusses three strategies you can use to transform your rumination time:

1. Focus on one goal at a time / don’t multi-task

Chasing too many goals at a single time can dramatically dilute our rumination due to a phenomenon called “dispersion.” As the word indicates, your rumination is spread too thinly across too many goals, so you’re not able to achieve the critical mass required to generate brilliant breakthroughs and ideas.

The corrective action is simple, but difficult to implement - focus on only ONE goal at a time.

2. Do a regular brain dump

Quite often, we can struggle with mental clutter and noise, which can distract and prevent our minds from proper rumination. Rian suggests regular flow-of-consciousness journaling where you sit down and write until you get everything out of your head. By journaling, you’re freeing up significant bandwidth that was being tied down by that mental chatter.

You can also try experimenting with a “dopamine detox”-like protocol, where you remove certain stimuli (like social media, Youtube, etc) from your life for a short period of time. I recently conducted such an experiment and I found it extremely helpful for quieting down my mind.

My favorite way of quieting the mind is what I call “empty days.” An “empty day” is essentially a “dopamine detox” concentrated into a single day. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I’ll eliminate certain stimuli during the day, but most importantly, I’l single task every single thing I do. When I eat, I only eat. When I commute, I only commute. No multi-tasking whatsoever.

3. Put your decisions on autopilot with SOPs

How can you continue to reduce your cognitive load and put some of your decision-making on autopilot. Rian offers two different strategies:

Decision Recycling

Based on what Rian teaches here, I’ve heard this concept in another form called the “Law of 2.” If you ever do anything more than once (recurring tasks), then document it into a SOP, make a checklist, automate it or delegate it. Make a decision on how you’re going to deal with a certain situation then repeatedly and consistently apply it in all future.

Decision Autopilot

Many of us have certain routines during the day that could be optimized to reduce cognitive load, especially our morning routines. For example, you may do the same 3-5 things every morning after you wake up, but perhaps you do them in a different order every time. Because of this inconsistency, you’re making more decisions than you have to during a routine that ideally should be completely automated.

Corrective action: Make a checklist for your morning routine, then run that checklist every morning until it’s on autopilot. Feel free to make a checklist for any other multi-step routine you have during the day.

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In conclusion, if you want to make the most of your brain’s downtime, you just need to think of three keywords:

1. Focus

2. Clear

3. Automate

Action Items

1. Focus on one goal

   1. Utilize the focusing question from Gary Keller’s and Jay Papasan’s book, “The One Thing”: What’s the one thing I can do, such by doing it, everything will be easier or unnecessary?

2. Try implementing “empty days” from time to time

   1. Eliminate all stimulating content: No social media, no Youtube, no adult entertainment

   2. Single task everything

3. Put your decision-making on autopilot

   1. Law of 2 - if you ever do something more than once, create a checklist/protocol for how you will handle it in the future

   2. Try making a checklist for your morning and pre-bedtime routines. Follow those checklists until you’ve internalized them.