If you’ve got big goals, you must pay attention to your cognitive bandwidth. Cognitive bandwidth simply refers to our mental space, our ability to use our limited brain power effectively. When we worry, ruminate, catastrophize, or engage in any kind of mental distraction, we necessarily limit our ability to harness our cognitive bandwidth.
It’s been proven that poverty is linked to reduced cognitive bandwidth. This makes sense, as if you’re worried about how you’ll afford your next meal, there’s not much space to think about other things. As it turns out, it’s not just literal poverty, but mental scarcity that limits our mental bandwidth too.
Scarcity thinking – which means focusing on what you lack and feeling like there’s not enough (money, love, whatever) – directly impedes our ability to zoom the camera lens of our minds out and engage in higher level and strategic thinking. Thus, if we want to increase our mental capacity, we need to be mindful of our mindsets!
As with most concepts that make sense in theory but only make impact if we put them into practice, the question is HOW. Here are 3 things you can start doing today to strengthen your cognitive bandwidth.
- Focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want. For example, reframe “I hate my job” to “I love working collaboratively and want a job where I can do that.” It might seem like a silly little shift, but research shows it makes a big impact on our mindsets, as what we focus on expands.
- Pay attention to what is working. It’s so easy to direct our attention the opposite way – to think about what’s not working. But our brains will do that without our help. Even spending a minute or so directing our awareness to that which is good (even if it’s just this single inhale) can pay big cognitive dividends.
- Take mental breaks. We simply cannot be “on” all of the time. Hitting the pause button and getting away from your desk and your devices does wonders for your brain.
Confession: Speaking of cognitive bandwidth, mine has been for sh*t this week. I literally sat down to write this email no less than 15 times (and I’m usually pretty quick). I’ve been highly distracted and upset ever since Hamas began its terrorist attack on Israel last weekend. It’s not just the unspeakable horrors unfolding in Israel, but the anti-semitism here in the U.S. that’s got me rattled. I’ve tried to give myself some grace this week to honor my mental and emotional limitations. We need to do that too.
P.S. if you’re looking for a way to support those most immediately impacted by the terror campaign, you can donate
HERE to Magen David Adom, the Israeli organization dedicated disaster, ambulance and blood services.
