Running our brains as if they were computers

It’s tempting with 24/7 access to technology and more independent remote working patterns, to not ever fully turn off. I have seen this pattern particularly acutely among those who have been recently promoted to more senior levels of leadership.

In an attempt to prove themselves, they run themselves ragged, focusing most of their waking energy on killing it in their expanded scope of responsibilities. Often, however, they hit a wall within a couple months, recognizing that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

It’s when these leaders are feeling depleted of their creative energy and exhausted that they can really see the necessity of investing in all facets of themselves physically, mentally and emotionally, and in more compartments of their life than just work. Sometimes it really does take the experience of total depletion for the lesson to take hold.

While we rarely equate the human brain or body with saws, Stephen Covey does so in his classic book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, when he wrote about the habit of “Sharpening the saw.” We grow dull with over-use. We are more efficient and powerful and sharp when we recharge our “teeth” by focusing on renewing ourselves, investing in relationships that matter, and learning and exploring beyond our organizational lives and identity.

In an age when we are tempted to run ourselves like computers, I like to point clients back to Neurologist Dan Siegel’s Healthy Mind Platter, to ensure a healthy dose of the right ingredients in any given day.

There may come a day when bio-technology will allow us to run like computers, but I am rather thankful that we benefit in our professional lives by living so fully in all dimensions.