Seven steps to achieving hyperefficiency – without burning out

Technology is forcing us to work harder and faster, but to keep our brain in its creative sweet spot we need to take it down a gear.

That’s according to Dr Mithu Storoni, a University of Cambridge-trained medical doctor and author of Hyperefficient: Optimise Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work. She has spent recent decades studying how our brains work in research that has taken her around the world.

Storoni says she first noticed the negative consequences of emerging technologies on our brains while in Hong Kong for a decade from 2012. “As technology got better over that 10-year span, things felt faster and faster and faster. Deadlines became stricter and people were forced to run ever quicker to keep up. They were literally working all the time, day and night, and heading towards burnout.”

Creating the conditions for optimum performance requires regular breaks from your desk.Credit: iStock

“But in the world of AI, humans simply cannot compete with what the technology can do; you may be able to write 100 emails an hour, but AI can send 1000,” Storoni says. “In this new era for humans to have a place, they need to be able to do something different, and that means qualitatively good work – coming up with creative solutions. AI might be able to produce a million mediocre ideas, but that is nothing compared to one world-changing idea that the human mind can produce.”

For the brain to have “a-ha” moments of hyper-efficiency, we need to recognise that it operates in different gears and nudge it into the optimum gear, Storoni says. “Essentially, the brain works in three different gears: gear one is a slow, floaty, day-dreamy state; gear two is a state in which it’s able to do complex work and analyse problems; and gear three is a superfast state where the brain can react quickly but where it’s unable to unravel complex problems. It’s gear two when you’re in the right state to interact with the world around you and where work feels really good.”

While our different personalities mean we can move up through the gears at different rates, Storoni says a number of universal rules apply to enable our minds to operate at their best.

1. Breaks and rest

Arguably, the most important thing we can do for our mind is to recognise its need to rest and recharge rather than expecting it to remain switched on for prolonged periods. “There are lots of studies that show when people are doing really intense work, taking a break keeps the brain efficient for longer,” Storoni says. “Breaks are important because they allow your brain to recalibrate and also remove the toxic chemicals that build up when they are doing sustained attention work.”

Typically, people should work within a 12-hour window in every 24-hour period to best match their body’s natural rhythms. And within the 12-hour working window, it’s also important to have ebbs and flows of intensity. “Generally, the best time frames for attention-heavy brainwork happen from 9 or 10am until 1 or 2pm, and from 3 or 4pm until around 8 to 10pm.”

The post-lunch dip is a totally normal reaction, and even a short 20-minute nap at this point can improve mental performance for up to two hours afterwards, Storoni says.

2. Find early morning light

Evolution saw humans slowly wake up as the sun rose in the sky and gradually focus as the light became stronger. This natural rhythm for embarking on the day is how the brain functions best – “the red dominant light of the early morning is really good for encouraging problem-solving and creative thinking”, Storoni says. “But instead we’ve developed the practice of jolting up with the loud buzz of an alarm clock, having five cups of coffee and then doing some pounding exercise or rushing into work.”

3. Avoid conflicting sounds

As with light, sound can also coax the brain into different states. The higher the frequency, tempo and volume of sounds, the more they will raise the brain’s gear. “This dynamic is used by morning shows on TV and radio, whose hosts speak fast, loudly and often with higher pitched voices in an attempt to rouse sleepy viewers so they pay attention. Conversely, lower, slower and softer sounds lower your gear, and this principle is used in spas, dental practices and hotel lobbies,” Storoni says.

In noisy office environments, with lots of distractions and where background noise can be distracting, wearing headphones and listening to white noise can be a helpful tool for the brain to remain in its optimal second gear.

4. Take your brain for a walk

In traditional office culture, we sit at desks in tiny cubicles or in open-plan spaces with limited space around us, in the same posture, staring at a screen for eight hours or more a day. “All the data points to the fact that, if you do that, you may be very good at anchoring on what’s in front of you, but you become very bad at solving problems and thinking about new ideas,” Storoni says. “Walking is a really powerful way of changing the way your brain works and helping it sift through its library of knowledge and come up with fresh thinking.”

Where you walk doesn’t really matter – be it a park, garden or just along a street (as long as you’re not constantly having to cross busy roads and focus on the traffic) – the simple effect of movement is all that’s needed to unglue the mind and encourage free, creative thinking.

5. Reset your body’s temperature

It’s inevitable that if you’re working in gear two for a prolonged period, at some point, the brain will flip gear due to the prolonged intensity, leading to stress and, ultimately, burnout, Storoni says. To keep the brain healthy, you need to be able to help it reset, and temperature is a useful, rapid tool to do this.

“For me, I’m a huge fan of Bikram yoga [yoga in a heated room] and find that it really resets my baseline. The heat and the movement create an environment that nudges my brain and body into a normal, healthy state,” she says. “Saunas or, conversely, cold-water bathing or cold showers can have a similar effect of regulating the mind and body and resetting them.”

6. Focus your gaze – and your mind

It’s possible to shift into a gear-two state of unwavering focus or creativity by playing with your gaze. When you’re anxious or excited, your eyes will naturally dart around, while when immersed in concentration, they will stay very still. Actively forcing your eyes to stay still by holding your gaze on a small, focal target can be a way of anchoring your mind. “It’s a technique known as quiet eye that’s used in an array of high-tension situations, from competitive archery and basketball to target practice and surgery,” Storoni says. “If you feel your self-control slipping away, the practice can help restore your concentration.”

Meanwhile, widening your gaze can have the effect of encouraging more creative thinking. By forcing yourself to pay attention to a wider area of your visual field, she says your mind is more likely to keep ideas in focus at the same time and spot connections it wasn’t able to before.

7. Beware of stimulants

Tea and coffee – and the caffeine they contain – have become popular tools to keep us alert and focused and have the effect of raising our brain’s gear, but they can compound the effect of other gear-raising events, such as stress or exercise. “If you’re already in gear two or three, caffeine will make it more difficult to concentrate – you will be alert but distracted, and you might work faster, but you will make more mistakes,” Storoni says. Caffeine does not help with encouraging creative thinking, for which your mind needs to wander, she adds.

The other potential danger of stimulants is that they block your ability to unwind at the end of the day and result in insomnia, which can take the mind into a negative spiral of exhaustion. So, drink tea and coffee in moderation, and not when you’re already wired.

The Telegraph, London

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