Your Brain at Work

Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long

By: David Rock

Narrated by: Bob Walter

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet Emily and Paul: The parents of two young children, Emily is the newly promoted VP of marketing at a large corporation while Paul works from home or from clients' offices as an independent IT consultant. Their lives, like all of ours, are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, yet more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. Just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task.

In this book, we travel inside Emily's and Paul's brains as they attempt to sort the vast quantities of information they're presented with, figure out how to prioritize it, organize it, and act on it. Fortunately for Emily and Paul, they're in good hands: David Rock knows how the brain works - and more specifically, how it works in a work setting. Rock shows how it's possible for Emily and Paul, and thus the listener, not only to survive in today's overwhelming work environment but succeed in it - and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.

Your Brain at Work explores issues such as:

• Why our brains feel so taxed, and how to maximize our mental resources
• Why it's so hard to focus, and how to better manage distractions
• How to maximize your chance of finding insights that can solve seemingly insurmountable problems
• How to keep your cool in any situation, so that you can make the best decisions possible
• How to collaborate more effectively with others
• Why providing feedback is so difficult, and how to make it easier
• How to be more effective at changing other people's behavior

©2009 David Rock (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Good :)

I wasn't really into the stage thing but I could understand it. This book helped a lot for me to understand what my brain is doing in social situations and how I can work my way through them peacefully.

Outstanding Content

If you could sum up Your Brain at Work in three words, what would they be?

Get over how the narrator sounds and listen to what he is saying. This is an excellent book. In fact, I think the narrator's style actually makes this kind of content sink in better. Everyone should read/listen to this book.

Great Approach

The idea of using the structure of a play for this book seemed rather cheesy to me at first. However, I must say that Rock made very good use of the medium. Rather than just an explanation of neural processes we got to see/hear them in practice.
This is a book that definitely requires a hard copy to go with it. I will be digging through and rereading sections for sure.
I actually teach on areas involving relationships, not at work, just in general, and I found there to be usual illustrations and information that intersects withy what I do.
Helping people improve relational skills and problem solving capabilities is always good. You would think with the numerous books out there people would be staring to get this stuff but when you meet people in the way I do you hear all kinds of crazy stories of disfunction and complete lack of self awareness.

Mind Blowing Knowledge

I really enjoyed this book and have already been putting some into practice. The use of real life stage event and retaking with the tools in use helped for better understanding. This book was relatable and I can see the benefit of the techniques and will suggest to others to read.

Enjoyed Frame Stories, But Narration A Little Off

I very much enjoyed the concept of this book - two characters Paul & Emily moving through their normal days at work and home scene-by-scene with breaks to review their mental processes and suggestions for mechanisms to improve the outcome of the scene, followed by a "Take Two" replaying the scene with the central character having more self-awareness and utilizing the concepts just described.

At the end of the day many of the mechanisms presented by the author do boil down to having greater self-awareness and framing your situations in a less threatening fashion (don't just assume everyone is attacking you or making fun of you), but it was still a good overall audiobook that I did enjoy and would recommend.

The narration was OK, but as other reviewers have mentioned there are times when it seems words are emphasized in an unusual fashion or sentences are broken at inappropriate places.

must read, enlightnung

I found the book very informative, and the topic with provided explanations and approaches really helpful and important to integrate in ones life.

outstanding but too reductionistic is some areas

I originally rated this as a full five, but on further listening, the author's overly simplistic and reductionistic view of behaviorism then concerned me that perhaps he has done that in other areas I have less training in. Based on that concern i had to downgrade the review. nonetheless i do think it is a very good work, using somewhat simplified versions of the present state of neurobiological and neuro-psychological information to generate a more than reasonable user's brain manual. Attention, concentration, addiction etc all come under this exposition and i feel it is sufficiently well done to be quite useful to many at multiple levels of field specific information.

My red flag issues with his handling of "behaviorism": First of all Pavlov (of classical conditioning fame) is Ivan Pavlov, not Igor Pavlov. That being his first sentence I knew he did not have much knowledge about what he was about to present as fact. Far more importantly, the father of Behaviorism, is BF Skinner, and contrary to Mr. Rock's understanding, it is the study of the effects of intelligently applied, research based,consequences on past behavior as it impacts and alters future behavior (to wit... Las Vegas makes billions applying these principles, yet people can learn pro social and moral development, or the lack thereof through the same principles). For Mr. Rock to reduce behaviorism to the simplistic pairing of food powder and a bell, which is in fact what is knows as "classical conditioning" (largely physiological) is just flat out erroneous. To then say it has survived because it is stupidly simply, and people like stupid and simple, is in a word just plain stupid. Behaviorism is "operant conditioning" and the only connection to classical conditioning is simply that Pavlovian (classical) conditioning was a historical precedent (i.e., it came first therefore "classical') that led to later discoveries in the field of learning theory. My concern is that is if he made such egregious, presumptive and assumptive errors about something rather simple, has he done the same in the much more complicated fields of neurobiology and neuropsychology. This suggests faulty editorial review and undermines my faith in the ultimate accuracy of his conclusions. However, in his defense, at my level of general understanding, I did not find any other glaring errors. Perhaps someone in those fields can best address the veracity of his material. I have my doubts, though i still highly recommend the book for its functional utility.

Interesting Insights into the Brain

I wrote a post detailing my review of Your Brain at Work. I'm posting it here for reading convenience:

Rock’s main argument is that by better understanding your brain, you can align the way you work with your brain’s tendencies, patterns, and instincts to be more productive and successful.

Rock keeps your attention throughout by implementing a narrative conceit involving two people, Paul and Emily, in before-and-after scenarios. Paul and Emily make poor decisions at first, and then later, when they understand better how the brain works, they make better decisions and find more success in the mock situations.

I found Rock’s book particularly interesting, not only for the helpful productivity tips but also because of the insights into the brain.

The Stage Metaphor

To explain how the brain works, Rock compares the brain to a stage. The stage can only accommodate so many actors before the play starts to get chaotic. When we multitask, we place more actors on our stage, and if we have too many actors, we become overloaded. The actors bump into each other and can’t move about in graceful harmony. It’s chaos. This translates into stress and frustration.

Rock says our brain can’t multitask when the tasks involve the prefrontal cortex — an area of the brain that requires high attention and focus. Instead, we only task-switch between multiple activities. Only when one activity is so familiar and routine that our basal ganglia can handle it almost unconsciously can we perform multiple tasks at once.

For example, if you’re used to driving the same route to work, it’s not difficult to drive that familiar route while listening to an audio book that requires a moderate level of concentration. In this case, you can multitask because your prefrontal cortex handles the audio listening while your basal ganglia handles the driving. However, if you were driving in downtown Manhattan for the first time — an act requiring a high degree of concentration and alertness — there’s no way you could successfully perform two prefrontal cortex tasks with equal competence.

In fact, Rock cites studies showing that our IQ dramatically falls when we attempt to multi-task, such as switching between an iPhone and a meeting. Studies show that a Harvard-level educated person can be reduced to a third-grade equivalent when multi-tasking.

Constant interruptions that compel us to continue switching tasks removes our chance at productivity. Important tasks that require deep immersion in thought are compromised when we fail to focus with enough uninterrupted study to reach a “continuous flow state,” as it’s sometimes called.

When actors on our stage keep coming and going, appearing and disappearing, and when the play keeps changing scripts and scenes, the brain can’t be productive. We need an uninterrupted focus with just a few actors on stage.

The first tip for productivity, then, is to allow for longer periods of uninterrupted thought and focus as you tackle high priority problems. Turn off the distractions and allow yourself to engage for a while with a problem. Identify your priority for the day early in the morning, and carve out time to tackle it. Avoid social media, meetings, phone calls, and other distractions that take you away from a state of focus.

The Science of Insight

Beyond encouraging single tasking, Rock also touches on the neuroscience of insight. He says when you get stuck on a problem, it’s helpful to step back and look inward for a few moments. He says our brain has a unique ability to enter states of self-awareness, or mindfulness, where our “director,” as he calls it, observes itself in action.

This is the metacognitive ability we have to step outside of our thought processes and observe ourselves thinking, to see ourselves acting in the moment almost as if we were another person. Philosophers have reflected on this director in the mind for centuries, he says.

Scientists who study insight find that insights come most frequently when people look inward with a quiet contemplation. To arrive at insights, he encourages a model called ARIA: Attention, Reflection, Insight, and Action. When faced with a problem, narrow your attention by removing extraneous actors from the stage and focusing inward. Then reflect, perhaps looking at the issue from different perspectives. More often than not, insights will come.

If they don’t, Rock mentions a few other strategies for insights as well. If you’re stuck at an impasse, give yourself a break. It’s easy for the brain to get stuck continuing down the same path over and over. You need to rest and shift your attention for a while to something else, and then return to the problem with a fresh perspective later. You’ll find you’re no longer stuck in the same rut as before, and you may see the solution much more clearly and easily.

He also recommends simplifying complex problems into smaller parts. Instead of trying to wrap your mind around a problem with multiple stages, various components, workflows, and related issues, chunk the issue into simpler parts that you can tackle individually.

Finally, he recommends incorporating more visuals to tackle the problems. Visuals make it easier to process complex information. Drawing pictures of the problem, or incorporating some other visual stimuli to think and interact with the problem may lead you to insights more quickly.

SCARF Model

In the second half of the book, Rock dives into five key attributes the brain cares deeply about: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness, or SCARF for short. Our brain treats these attributes almost as intensely as survival instincts. When we interact with others, we will have more success by remembering to account for these attributes.

For example, with fairness, studies have shown that when two people are to split $10, if one person decides to take $7 and give the other $3, the person getting the smaller amount will feel such an incredible unfairness, he or she often will choose for no one to receive money at all rather than be slighted with the lesser amount. The sense of fairness is at times stronger than the desire for reward.

Autonomy is another huge trait the brain gravitates toward. In leadership roles, it’s much better to help people find solutions themselves rather than force others to accept solutions and decisions you make for them. We love to have independence in our work, and when it’s taken away and we are compelled toward specific ends, we reject it fiercely.

With status, slight another person in front of others, giving new projects to someone with little experience instead of to a senior-level team member, and this shift in status can demotivate. The same strategy works at home in managing children. The older children enjoy a higher level status, and when you take that status away, or put the older child on equal ground with the younger, it sends the older child into rebellion for the loss of status.

What does relatedness mean? People respond better when you try to relate to their frustrations, challenges, and experiences. Relating to another person can help build trusting, solid relationships, which will help you have more successful interactions.

Certainty is also a state the brain craves. Kids love to have routines, because routines encourage a world of certainty. People don’t like uncertain futures. Will you be able to meet the project deadline? Will the company go under? Uncertainty breeds fear and a sense of doubt.

Takeaways

Your Brain at Work has a lot of helpful ideas to increase productivity. Here are a few of my takeaways:

* Identify your priority at the start of your work day.

* Focus on a single task for a solid duration of time and avoid distractions.

* If you find yourself feeling overloaded, remove some of the actors on your stage.

* When you need insight to solve a problem, change your attention and heighten your reflection, looking inward with mindfulness.

* If you still need insight, take breaks to change your perspective, chunk complex problems into smaller parts, and use visuals such as drawing.

* Remember the importance of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness when interacting with people. If something goes wrong, analyze the situation based on these elements.

Great book!

I really enjoy how "Your Brain at Work" uses multiple studies of the brain in very realistic situations (I love brain studies). Each of the example situations are connected throughout the book and you actually begin to form a bond with the characters used in the situations. First you are introduced to a typical situation that in which the characters act "normally" but with a not so great outcome. Then the situation is repeated and the main characters utilize what has been discussed in the chapter to change the outcome of the situation. You actually feel yourself getting smarter as your read the book. Eventually you yourself begin to think your way out of the situations being presented. This book is a classic already!

I am on my fourth reading/listening of this life-changing book!

It’s hard to know where to start: For me, the book continues to be relevant because of the thoughtful way Rock brings together just the right level of scientific understanding in conjunction with the real-world problems we all face at work and home. Also, the narrator is very good. If you find his speaking a bit slow, speed it up a little bit and it rolls along nicely. I did this in a couple chapters. However, on multiple listenings, as I want to more fully take in and understand, I have appreciated the speaker’s clear pronunciation and care in presenting somewhat complex ideas. Looking forward to the next edition!!