Your Brain Is Your Biggest Productivity Tool

The Story (and the Science)

Your brain is your biggest productivity tool.

Not your diary system. Not your tech. Not your to-do list

In a knowledge economy and especially in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) the biggest resource a business has to either waste or capitalise on… is the thinking power of its people.

Because once a minute of thinking time has gone…

…it’s gone.

The Thought Loop We Don’t Notice

There is a popular science study which is attributed to the National Science Foundation you may have heard of. It was responsible for lots of headlines like:

• We have 20,000–60,000 thoughts a day
• Up to 95% are repeated
• Up to 80% are negative

Now the exact numbers are now being hotly debated in science circles. So a lot of people have chucked this particular baby out with the bathwater. But I encourage people to hold on for a moment before they do that. Firstly because most of us don’t have time for intellectual debate and secondly it is the exact stats that are being debated – the direction of travel isn’t being argued about.

And your brain would LOVE an excuse to get rid of those statistics – because it’s clear evidence you are wasting your own time and causing a lot of your own stress…

So I have a new mantra here:

👉 You can debate the stats 👉 Or you can notice the NATs

The background science is sound. Our brains are brilliant at creating patterns, which means A LOT – even the majority some days – of our thinking is:

• Rehearsed
• Repeated
• And not always that helpful

NATs: Negative Automatic Thoughts

A big chunk of those repeated thoughts are what psychologists call:

NATs — Negative Automatic Thoughts

They are:

• Automatic
• Familiar
• And feel true – even if they aren’t

And NATS are like gnats – the bloody midges that will be out soon! They just pop by to annoy you on a lovely day – uninvited.

There’s strong science behind why NATS exist

👉 The brain has a negativity bias 👉 We’re wired to spot problems faster than positives

Now as you know, I talk a lot about evolutionary biology – and this focus on negative stuff is another thing that was useful for the survival of our ancestors – scanning for danger on a perpetual basis kept you alive. But is is a lot less helpful on a Monday morning when actually you might also have a bit of ‘beer fear’ going on from the weekend to make it worse.

📚 If you want to explore that try searching for this (I have stopped putting so many links in my newsletters by the way as they seem to work one week and not the next!) :

• Search BBC Future: “negativity bias psychology”
• Search New Scientist: “why negative thoughts stick”

Why This Matters for Productivity

Here’s the uncomfortable bit:

You might not be as productive as you could be on any given day – not because you’re ‘too busy’, not because you are ‘lazy’ or any of the easy ‘lies’ we have to hand … but because you’re re-rehearsing yesterday.

Your brain loves familiar thoughts.

It also loves being right.

So your brain will happily tell you, and you might well tell someone else:

“I didn’t do that because I didn’t have time.”

When sometimes, actually, scientifically the reality is:

👉 The time was there 👉 But you were thinking about things you can’t control or influence, from the past, on repeat…

A Bit of Proper Science (Without the Fluff)

Martin Seligman’s long-term research into optimism is fabulous. It was done by following people over 20 years – so his science is absolutely not up for debate! It shows that:

• Thinking patterns shape behaviour over time
• More optimistic thinkers tend to perform better (earn more money)
• And often experience better outcomes in work and health (live longer)

Now this isn’t about forcing yourself to be shiny happy people about everything. It is simply about shaping your thinking differently. Noticing when you have a NAT in your head, pausing and doing something different instead.

It’s about recognising that:

👉 What you repeatedly think… shapes what you repeatedly do – and to some extent, who you are.

📚 Have a look for:

• “Martin Seligman optimism longitudinal study BBC”
• “learned optimism outcomes research”

Get Building! Brick One: Think About Your Thinking

And it’s really bloody simple (but a little bit harder than it sounds – practise makes perfect)

👉 Think about your thinking

Because the magic moment is this:

When you notice—

• “Oh… I’m replaying that conversation again.”
• “Oh… I’m telling myself that story again.”

That’s the moment you can CHOOSE to think something different – or DO something with the time you would have spent ruminating.

Why It Matters

Because at that point—you get a choice:

👉 Keep rehearsing yesterday

Or

👉 Think something new 👉 Something useful 👉 Something productive

One Thing to Try Today

At some point today, just catch one thought and ask:

👉 “Is this useful… or just familiar?”

That’s it.

Don’t overcomplicate it.

Just notice.

Because sometimes you are thinking something that isn’t good for you to think about – it’s something from the past, it’s something you can’t control or influence, but you have just got used to thinking about it. And because your brain likes a pattern, it keeps going back to it, for no other reason than it’s familiar. Not because it is worth your time.

Final Thought

You might not need more time to be more productive…

You can get more done in less time by using your brain differently in the time you’ve already got.

Because your brain…is your biggest productivity tool.