Our brains undoubtedly have a major impact on our ability to do business, but could our understanding of our brains help too? Experts in neuroscience believe that better knowledge of how brains work can give us more insights into behaviour and improve our understanding in many areas of business. In an increasingly competitive world, it’s more important than ever that business leaders understand the strengths and weaknesses of their teams.
Knowledge of neuroscience might seem niche, but it’s becoming more relevant when answering questions about human behaviour. This includes explaining why employees, managers and consumers act the way they do in certain situations. You can learn more about this subject with a neuroscience for business online short course.
How Brains Break Up Complex Tasks
Our brains are incredibly efficient at what they do, they are able to break down complex tasks into much smaller and simpler ones. Each time we perform an action, it’s the result of our brain receiving signals, processing information and sending signals to the rest of the body. There’s a lot going on at once, but all of the processes act together in harmony to produce the result and create a response to a stimulus.
On average, 11 million bits of information reach our brains every second, with most of this information processed unconsciously. It’s only when stimuli aren’t recognised as normal that our brains tend to do conscious thinking and problem-solving. In other words, our brains are able to run most processes automatically and therefore run much more efficiently.
A business could theoretically be run in a similar way, requiring little input from managers and even employees unless new stimuli are encountered. With advances in automation and analytics, it’s possible for modern businesses to be run with minimal input, although so far, none have ever been managed in the same way our brains manage us.
Rewiring Thought Patterns
To be successful in business and in life, you need to have the right mindset. The wrong mindset and thought patterns lead to worse habits and less success overall. You need to understand your brain if you want to rewire thought patterns and change your mindset effectively. Once you understand how changing your thinking and behaviours can improve your performance in both personal and professional contexts, you’ll be able to work more effectively.
The key to this is to develop tools to help analyse thought patterns and rewire habits, allowing you to become a more effective problem-solver. The first step to changing your habits is to become less focused on having control of all aspects of your business. Once you practise giving up control and open up to new ways of doing things, you can focus more on what’s important. You also need to develop your inner confidence and have more belief in yourself and your abilities.
Rewiring your thought patterns can be a long and difficult process, but the results are incredibly rewarding. Not only can understanding your brain help you be more successful in business, but it can also help you become a better person. Being more optimistic and positive will help motivate you and others around you, while you’ll also become better at finding solutions and helping others to do the same.
Resting Your Brain
Working all the time might seem like the best way to make progress, but it’s actually counterproductive. Getting enough rest is vital to your brain’s performance and will help you achieve better results in the long run. Overworking yourself leads to burnout and cognitive fatigue, where it becomes harder to think and process information properly. You need to learn to rest your brain properly and reorganise your thoughts to be able to relax and recover.
