Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach, and it is my job here to bring to you all the best recent, cutting-edge, most important, useful and mind-blowing well, at some point, brain-body dollars so you could take better control of your emotions, so you could take better control of your thoughts and mindset, so you could take better control of your actions, so you could shape and design and create your life experience as you desire, moving closer and closer towards the vision you dream of. That's what we are all about here, and here we especially love our brain. That's why it's called Brain Coach your brain's coach. Your brain is like muscle weak unless trained.
Speaker 1Today, folks, as you already guessed from the title of this podcast, we are talking about productivity, and I'd like to start with a story, a question that my mom asked me while we were on our daily WhatsApp call. I was telling her about my great experience with this new co-working space that I started going to, and she asked me well, she asked me like how much does it cost, or is it free? I'm like well, mom, nothing is free in this life. And she said like why don't you just work at home? And then I told her about my experience, how, once I started going, I gave this co-working a trial and once I started going there, I noticed that a few things improved immediately. You know this midday slump, for example, when somewhere midday like not really in your most energetic space and your attention starts wandering and it's harder to focus and get things done. What I actually noticed I specifically love spending afternoons in the co-working, so what I noticed? That midday slump it disappeared, I think, because also I would usually do my creative work and some clients calls back at home and then when this midday slump would start approaching, I would change my location and my brain got alerted to new environment, new things to pay attention to and this dopamine, a little bit of adrenaline, anxiety, analyzing my environment all that got natural boost and I, instead of midday slump, I got an energizer. So midday slump problem disappeared completely. Another thing that got much, much better deep work got easier.
Speaker 1You know when you have those challenging tasks that you need to work on, whether that's your writing, writing a proposal for a client, figuring out new business strategy, figuring out marketing strategy, doing any sort of analysis, your creative writing, like all these very cognitively demanding tasks. And so what I noticed when I would go to co-working, all my excuses or distractions inside of my mind kind of disappeared because I had one goal or a couple of goals that I would specify in my daily planner and I would go to this co-working space to specifically work on those tasks. So I had a very clear goal and a specific place where I would just sit, glue my bottom to the chair and start working on this task. I also have a few rules around that, like not checking email or social media, et cetera. Just get to it and until you're done you don't have to do anything. But until you're done you're not getting out of this chair for a couple of hours, with some breaks and squats and push-ups in between. Yes, I do that in the co-working space as well to keep my blood flowing towards the brain. That gets the work done right.
Speaker 1So I noticed, like the second benefit of going to co-working, that my deep work done increased Every time I would go there I would get done done because I had nothing else to do and doing anything was more interesting than just sitting there and doing nothing. So I had this amazing experience of always getting through the challenging tasks. And then another one which is also very important sales boost. I noticed that when I go there and start working on reaching out to potential clients, on lead generation, on figuring out how to communicate, how to offer my services better, I noticed that engagement with my potential clients also improved and sales increased like real money going into my bank account, increase, like real money going into my bank account, and that gave me a very positive feedback and reminded me of how environment sensitive our brain actually is. So now when I go to a coworking, I get this boost of energy, this boost of focus and this good vibe because I'm successful in this place and so I'm getting a lot more done and more motivated to sit for more hours, sometimes working on this task, versus at home. I would start thinking, oh, what's for dinner? Or, oh, I need to go for a walk or two. Oh, I need to do this shopping.
Speaker 1You see, your bed, for example, or your bedroom, is a crappy office, like in general. Your apartment is where you do a lot of things. You might be doing laundry, you cook, you eat, you I don't know if you have family. You take care of your family. You might have kids and spouses and do a bunch of other things that are not related to work. And so when you are in the environment where you have all these cues about different things like work, sleep, eat, get romantic, watch, netflix, et cetera, et cetera do cleaning, your brain when you pass those places in your house will be triggered to think about the task that you usually do there, and then your thinking process, instead of going to work, will go to all of these errands that you can be doing in your house.
Speaker 1Right, the brain works like this. The brain's primary purpose is to optimize you, to perform effectively and, via doing so, save energy, which means more chances to survive and thrive and procreate. Your brain is an optimization machine and one of the ways how it does it is it reads your environment, quite literally, like all the views and sounds and other sensory experiences. So your brain reads your environments and then it activates a program, a set of behaviors, a set of actions that you usually perform in this location, and then, hopefully, you get the reward that is tied with these action steps. That's how your brain works. It analyzes the environment, activates the program, so you get into the action mode effective action mode as soon as possible.
Speaker 1And now, when all of a sudden you start working and sleeping and eating on the couch or in your bed, your brain gets all kinds of confusing signals and your thoughts, thought patterns, will go to work, to food and to sleep and to all of the other things that your house reminds you of. And that's why changing your location might be, quite literally, a game changer for your productivity. And hey, there is no ideal environment or setup that works for everyone. But just take some time and reflect on places where you tend to do your work or other important things and ask yourself if I'm not productive there, what can I improve? What can I change so the environment makes me better? There is a reason why we snack more while we're in the kitchen. There is a reason why if you, for example, don't want to work out and you still drive or go to the gym and you get into the gym and all of a sudden you start feeling like working out. You see all these people working out, moving stuff, and you all of a sudden want to do something too.
Speaker 1Or if you want to get into a romantic mood that's why we go on dates and we set up environment, the atmosphere in a certain way. You know how it works. It's very hard to get romantic. That's actually the mistake. I see a lot of couples I know do they somehow expect to just get into this mood of being romantic in their pajamas or their work clothing or, you know, running around with kids, you know you want to get romantic. Like get to a restaurant, book a hotel room, and you know running around with kids. You know you want to get romantic. Like get to a restaurant, book a hotel room, and you know the candles and the hot bath experience. Like all of that stuff cues the brain. It literally activates a program in your brain for dating and mating. That's how super helpful and crucial essential environment is.
Speaker 1So figure out where do you do your best work. Or if you don't know, but you know that your current setup isn't working, then try a bunch of things, just like I tried co-working because I always thought that it's not that great for my productivity, but I learned that it depends on the co-working. Like, if you're in Cape Town, by the way, check out Cape Town office. That's a co-working in the gardens and I don't know how it is during the busiest times, but right now it's quiet, a lot of light, they have really nice music and and there is a dedicated area to food if you need some like coffee etc. But all the working places are set up really, really well to give you the light, to give you a nice atmosphere, so you get the deep work done as well. And they also have a podcasting studio and meeting rooms and, yeah, amazing, and the hosts are great. It's comforting, it's welcoming, it's chill and hippie, with some vinyl music, but anyhow, I'm a fan. So check them out, but don't tell a lot of people or it's going to get busy. So your brain is very sensitive to cues, to triggers in your environment.
Speaker 1Doesn't make you the most productive. You you can possibly be and plus guys for different activities. You might find that different spaces work better, like I still do my writing in my bedroom slash office, where I have zonality, where I do my writing and where I sleep, etc. I still love this much better, although I would say that if I had my own separate office where I could be all by myself, that would be the best setup for writing and that kind of creative, deep or analytical work. And then, when I need to get through emails and lead generation and calls, etc. I actually work better with some other people around doing the same exact thing. So look at your options and look at different ideas and possible setups and try them out.
Speaker 1You might find out that it's not the problem of your brain that you are distracted. It's the problem of your brain that you are distracted. It's the problem of the places that you choose for your work. And I was reminded of this once again when I was listening to the interview with Carl Newport, the author of Deep Work, the author of recent Slow Productivity, among other books. So I was reminded of this brain's ability, or innate trait characteristic, to read the environment and then adjust its settings to be effective. I was reminded when I was listening to the interview on the Kevin Rose show with Cal Newport, and if you go to the mark of 48 minutes 55 seconds, that's where Cal is specifically talking about environment and why it's important and why so many writers have their specific places, locations, or several of them, for writing, compared to all the other spaces where they do other things, why it's so important and why it's such a productivity accelerator.
Speaker 1They even did this study when they tested how people learn based on the environments that they are in. Basically, they would teach people something and then they would cue them or question them, either in the same environment or in different environments. And so what they found is people remember stuff that they learn much better if they learn it in the same location and then they are tested for memory of the information in the same location. So that's how powerful it is. Even your memory works much better. I always use it like whenever I'm trying to remember something. I'm like where was I thinking about that or this podcast, this information? Where in the world I listened to this specific podcast. I'm like, ah, it was on my walk in Rio de Janeiro and it was on that specific location, but by that specific store, and I remember exactly what the podcast was about. Your brain is very geographical. It reads the location, it reads the environment and then gives you the memory, gives you the automatic response, runs the program. It's kind of cool, isn't it, when you know how to use it again. That's why this podcast is called your Brain's Coach and neuroscience psychology, brain-based episodes are my favorite, even though I might argue that everything is related to your brain.
Speaker 1Your brain is the operating machinery of your life. It's the hardware that runs, the software that makes your life work. That's where all your programs are stored, so to speak, and you know, and you need to know, how to activate the right ones in the right way. Another episode that reminded me of that yesterday I was having on the call with a client.
Speaker 1We were talking about some self-reflection that he dedicates more time to while on vacation and he said, angela, by the end of this vacation, I want to go back and I want to have a very clear vision of what I want my life to be, what I want myself to be, and then understanding of what habits I need to practice in order to make this my reality, and then what systems I need to set up to make sure I stick to the plan. I do the behaviors, I do the habits, and I was like, ah, that is so profound, such a good understanding of psychology, of behavior. I was just like, so proud at that moment. Like, exactly, you think of the systems we also talk about guardrails with this specific line how you set up the systems that make it almost impossible to do anything but what you want. It's a very profound concept in coaching, in self-coaching, in success mindset in general Set up your environment. So the thing that you want to do is basically the only thing that you can do, just like me going to a co-working space and having a very specific agenda and having a set of rules I set up for myself that this is the place to do X and nothing else. So at the end of this podcast, I want you to ask yourself this question is my environment set up to support me, to make me win, or am I struggling because of the wrong cues? My brain reads and then when you finish listening to this podcast, obviously if you are driving or it's not possible, then wait till the next possible moment schedule it put an alarm on.
Speaker 1So when you get a chance, after finishing listening to this podcast, sit down and freehand write what are you trying to achieve productivity-wise, what is the outcome, what are you struggling with and how your environment might be contributing to this struggle? And then, what's most important, what kind of environment, setups, working spaces can I test out to do better and to get the right things done in the right way, with the right quality and, instead of struggle, actually find it easy and find it that you're almost driven and obsessive about that, like I'm in this place. I'm just going to get it done, I'm going to get my sales, etc. So you're in this mood, in this fire, in this drive, instead of struggle, you get all of the talents, all of the motivations, all of the energy that you need to absolutely nail this next step on your productivity, deep work and success journey. So that's your homework for today.
Speaker 1Sit down and analyze your working setup right now and see whether it's supporting you or making you struggle more, and what can you do right now to make it better. A couple of other ideas. If you don't have the ability to go to a co-working space or dedicate an additional office like I don't have an additional office room right now then think about how you can create different zones in your current environment, in your room. You can create different zones in your current environment, in your room, where you have a desk, or even a part of the desk, or maybe a specific setup that you will only do writing. What is the place? Maybe you just moved to a different corner, that where you only going to do calls or social media. What is the place where you only will do eating? What is the place where you only will do sleeping? Make your brain, condition your brain to do the right thing in the right place and you'll find yourself in this space where, when you get into this specific environment, that specific corner, your brain will activate that program immediately and, instead of struggle, you're going to get focus, flow, state, motivation, energy and eventually, stuff, the right stuff getting done.
Speaker 1Hope, guys, this was useful, take it seriously, take your productivity seriously, because that's how you create the life you absolutely love living. Don't forget, guys, that this podcast doesn't run any ads and we want to help as many people as possible to get out their superhero and empower that superhero with the best possible practices to create the most possible impact in the world, to make the world better. Help each other, so share this podcast with at least one another person. Chat about this. Help each other implement the plan. When you teach it, you get to learn it twice. When you teach it, you create better world around you. So please do share in whichever way you can. This is the best, most amazing thing you can give me, angela, as a host of this podcast, and till next time, you have some homework to do, some design, redesign work to do, some thinking and reflecting to do, and stay tuned, stay ready and get the right stuff done. Talk to you very soon.