At CatSpring Yaupon, we encourage you to curate a moment. But things get in the way. There’s the endless to-do lists, the temptation of apps, the urgency of texts and emails, and the constant hum of information all around us.
This brings on decision fatigue. We’ve all been there. End of a long day, your head feels heavy and slow, and everything requires just a little more effort than it should. How and why does this happen?
There are two reasons.
We can’t multitask. Sorry. Our brain focuses on a single task at a time. When we “multitask”, our brain switches from one action to the other rapidly. This exhausts the brain with the continuous effort to redirect attention. Unless you’ve developed strong muscle memory for an action, like walking and chewing gum, your consciousness has to direct the action and here your brain can only handle one thing at a time.
Every time your brain switches attention, there is a cost. About 1/10th of a second. That’s nothing, right? It can’t be that big of a deal. Except that over a whole day those fractions of seconds add up. If you multitask, you could have a 40% decrease in your productivity. That’s almost half your day wasted.
What’s the solution?
Slow down. Curate a moment.
Mind the details. This can be a moment to sit back and rest on the couch in the midst of a hectic day. Or it’s a moment to dial into that project you’ve avoided all day. One of the best ways to reclaim some of that 40% of lost time is to focus on the task you’re working on. For great practice, steep a pot of yaupon. Focus on each step-- get out the kettle, fill it with water, boil the water, select your favorite preparation method, steep the yaupon, feel the warmth from the mug seep into hands. Similar to meditation, tune into each action and give it your full attention. You’ll find you feel refreshed before you even take a sip.
Fuel your brain. When you take a sip of your delicious yaupon, you help your brain reset in another way. Our brains are energy hogs. Though they only take up 2% of our body weight, they use up to 20% of the glucose we consume. That means a whopping ⅕ of anything you eat or drink fuels your brain. And when you use your brain (i.e. anything you do all day) it eats up that glucose and needs to recharge. Snacks like a cup of yaupon are just the ticket to reset and get back to your work reinvigorated.
Leave it alone. What if you don’t have five minutes to make a pot of yaupon? Take a page from your teachers. The ones who always told you not to wait until the day before your paper was due to write it. Start projects early to give yourself time to not work on the project. What? When you start early, you can leave the project alone to go for a walk, read a good book, or brew a pot of yaupon. When you return, your mind will have mulled over the problems you were stuck on and generated some possible solutions. You’ll enjoy more productivity when you have the time to leave the project alone.
Reclaim your day. Help your brain. Energize your work. Curate a moment with CatSpring Yaupon.
