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These 4 'harmless' habits are sapping your brain power
2 types of comparisons
- Downward comparison (comparing ourselves to those less fortunate): It activates the brain’s “lack” network, emphasizing our insecurity and focuses on safeguarding the status quo at the expense of risk and adventure.
- Upward comparison (comparing ourselves to those we envy): it can excite feelings of envy and low self-esteem.
Both of these types of comparison can be bad for the brain
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Checking the headlines
The news can bring negativity: our impotence to do anything about most of what we hear can lead to a sense of hopelessness. It saps mental energy and focus.
Opting out of following the news won’t work for everyone, but try setting some clear boundaries around it. Consider deleting, even for a while, apps that you’re tempted to open all the time.
Toxic comparison
To break free from the temptation to compare, audit your social media feeds.
If you find yourself thinking about how your life matches up to a friend’s when you’re not on social media, try to shift your perspective. Think about their human traits, vulnerabilities, and things that you have in common. When you change your mindset, you can move from a place of jealousy to a place of empathy.
2 types of comparisons
- Downward comparison (comparing ourselves to those less fortunate): It activates the brain’s “lack” network, emphasizing our insecurity and focuses on safeguarding the status quo at the expense of risk and adventure.
- Upward comparison (comparing ourselves to those we envy): it can excite feelings of envy and low self-esteem.
Both of these types of comparison can be bad for the brain
Comfort eating
The first trick is to notice you’re doing it: Is it out of boredom? A self-soothing activity? Or some type of mechanism for coping with stress and anxiety?
Try to keep a diary for a few days. Spot the patterns. When you notice your cues and responses, you’ll learn to pause before you eat, rather than doing it automatically.
Multitasking
Each time we try and batch unrelated tasks together, we tax our brain and use up energy in the transition.
To stop making multitasking a habit, you need to set boundaries around what you will be working on when. Give yourself longer chunks of time to complete one thing at a time, and shut down other distractions such as email when you’re working on something.
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Spend Time Outdoors
Spending time outside of your apartment can lift your mood.
If you are unable to get outside, add greenery to your space, for some plant therapy.
Volunteer
People who volunteer are likely to have higher self-esteem, psychological well-being, and happiness.
Help someone else out who really needs it.
Eat Healthier
Regularly eating foods that are filled with nutrients can help you feel more positive and energetic. You will feel better mentally too.
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Shockingly Unproductive
- Studies show that employees spend more than five hours per day reading and replying to emails. While it may seem like urgent work, email is not the best kind of work.
Facilitate Deep Work
A few smart strategies that can be deployed:
- Installing pods for deep work while having common areas for collaborative work.
- Wearing headphones that are easily seen to signal that you are not to be disturbed.
- Turning your office into a library, following the same culture of quietness where everyone is hushed and respectful.
Email is not Real Work
Real work, by definition, should be rare, valuable and cognitively demanding.
Email does not check any of these boxes, and is, therefore, a pseudo work.
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Emotional weight
There are certain foods that, when we eat too much of it, will bring health consequences. Similar to how eating certain foods can affect our physical wellness, thinking in specific ways can als...
Setting unrealistic expectations
Expectations are our idea of how we think the world should look. This may involve how we should feel, what we should have achieved, and how other people should be treating us.
We could set up expectations that are too high based on arbitrary rules and then become frustrated when we can't meet it.A good rule of thumb is if we are not working diligently toward something, or there is no proof for what we expect, then it may be unrealistic.
Making unfair comparisons
There are advantages to social comparisons, like ensuring that we are reaching certain developmental milestones. But unfair comparisons can cause you to feel inadequate and incompetent.
Online social networks provide a platform for social comparisons. It is important to question the purpose of this kind of contrast. How will comparing yourself to others affect you?
To avoid undervaluing your well-being, make social comparisons that are purposeful and fair.
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