why is it that we don’t do what’s in our
best interest like when I was chased by
a wild rhino in Nepal I was standing at
the edge of the chitwan jungle my friend
Todd next to me a random Peace Corps
volunteer next to him and next to her
was this guy who had flown across the
globe to declare his love for her only
to get shot down in front of us
our guide in front of us says if we get
chased by a wild rhino make sure you
climb a tree and in life there’s times
you should ask a follow-up question or
two or three like how often does this
happen where vine owes chase humans and
what kind of tree should you climb or
when being chased by a wild rhino what’s
the technique for climbing a tree but we
didn’t we didn’t ask these questions we
enter the jungle we’re hiking for a
couple hours we see some monkeys and
small critters but we really don’t see a
rhino feels like this rhino thing might
really be to get the American tourists
to feel a sense of adventure and then we
come across her she’s about 30 yards
away I pull out my camera because it was
film my friend had a digital camera but
who knows if that thing’s really gonna
take off so I take a step forward
I mean if it’s blurry or it doesn’t show
up are my friends and family really
gonna believe this so I take a step
forward and that Rhino charges I take
off running blatantly disregard the
trees around me that I could be climbing
I know that I can outrun Todd because I
was a sprinter in high school
whereas Todd was long distance so after
about 50 yards it’s anybody’s guess we
don’t hear the Rhino anymore we come
back our guide is up in the tree heshes
down and he yells at us why you know run
up tree
why didn’t we run up a tree because when
you’re being chased by a wild Rhino you
do what you know you don’t do what’s in
your best
interest you don’t try to run up a tree
if I tried to run up a tree
I could have slipped and fallen and been
crushed I could have awkwardly been on
one side of the tree or the other while
this rhinos over there I’m not gonna try
something new but the thing about the
brain is that we do this exact same
thing when we see an angry tweet when we
get frustrated with the news or our boss
gives us something that we’re upset
about see there’s this idea with brain
research called vigilance decrement save
vigilance decrement vigilance decrement
was a long-held belief that the amount
of energy the amount of innovation we
have in a day was limited like a glass
of water it gets poured out the idea of
this was that we had a certain amount of
innovation or a certain amount of energy
in a day that we had a certain amount of
vigilance that over time would go down
that there would be decrement now some
University of Illinois researchers
pushed back on this they did a research
study where they looked at two different
groups as research studies often are so
the first group what they gave them was
a four digit number say that number was
five one seven eight they put him in
front of a computer and for 50 minutes
they said every time your digit number
comes up hit the buzzer
now other random four-digit numbers are
gonna be showing up so for 50 minutes
they’re doing this extremely boring task
what did they experience vigilance
decrement over that 50 minutes the
amount that they could pay attention at
the end was less than how well they
could pay attention at the beginning now
they looked at a second group gave them
another four digit number and gave them
all of the other four digit numbers
coming in except at the one-third mark
what they did is they gave them a one
minute break so what did they do during
this one minute break they said you know
go sit in the lobby for a few minutes
you know shake it off this is tough and
then at the two-thirds mark they did the
same thing they give him a 1-minute
micro break now what was happening here
it’s something interesting in the brain
where they found that there wasn’t any
decrement in their vigilance they worked
just as well at the end as at the
beginning because they were deactivating
and then reactivating deactivating than
reactivating
see they found that it’s not actually
just whether we have a certain amount of
innovation in the day it’s how we use
our brains now this isn’t a new concept
some of the greatest thinkers of our
time did this Winston Churchill had a
non-negotiable afternoon nap Steve Jobs
when he had an important meeting would
do it as a walking meeting so people
would have lower blood pressure and have
more oxygen in their brain or Timothy
Ferriss author of the 4-hour workweek in
his new book tribe of mentors surveyed
hundreds of top executives CEOs and
leaders and what’s the one thing that
they all had in common
well they had daily meditation as a way
to stay grounded see I wonder if when
we’re experiencing a blockade when we’re
pushing back and feeling like we just
can’t break through maybe with our kids
our partners or at work if maybe we need
to slow down I wonder if the time of
maximum efficiency is over and the time
of maximum creativity is here and we
need to slow down see I wonder if maybe
we need to spend less time on social
media and following every single tweet
and we actually need to be with our
friends and actually meet and slow down
I wonder if the time of the primitive
brain being chased by the Rhino is over
and the time of innovation creativity
and maximum happiness is here and we need to slow down thank you
best interest like when I was chased by
a wild rhino in Nepal I was standing at
the edge of the chitwan jungle my friend
Todd next to me a random Peace Corps
volunteer next to him and next to her
was this guy who had flown across the
globe to declare his love for her only
to get shot down in front of us
our guide in front of us says if we get
chased by a wild rhino make sure you
climb a tree and in life there’s times
you should ask a follow-up question or
two or three like how often does this
happen where vine owes chase humans and
what kind of tree should you climb or
when being chased by a wild rhino what’s
the technique for climbing a tree but we
didn’t we didn’t ask these questions we
enter the jungle we’re hiking for a
couple hours we see some monkeys and
small critters but we really don’t see a
rhino feels like this rhino thing might
really be to get the American tourists
to feel a sense of adventure and then we
come across her she’s about 30 yards
away I pull out my camera because it was
film my friend had a digital camera but
who knows if that thing’s really gonna
take off so I take a step forward
I mean if it’s blurry or it doesn’t show
up are my friends and family really
gonna believe this so I take a step
forward and that Rhino charges I take
off running blatantly disregard the
trees around me that I could be climbing
I know that I can outrun Todd because I
was a sprinter in high school
whereas Todd was long distance so after
about 50 yards it’s anybody’s guess we
don’t hear the Rhino anymore we come
back our guide is up in the tree heshes
down and he yells at us why you know run
up tree
why didn’t we run up a tree because when
you’re being chased by a wild Rhino you
do what you know you don’t do what’s in
your best
interest you don’t try to run up a tree
if I tried to run up a tree
I could have slipped and fallen and been
crushed I could have awkwardly been on
one side of the tree or the other while
this rhinos over there I’m not gonna try
something new but the thing about the
brain is that we do this exact same
thing when we see an angry tweet when we
get frustrated with the news or our boss
gives us something that we’re upset
about see there’s this idea with brain
research called vigilance decrement save
vigilance decrement vigilance decrement
was a long-held belief that the amount
of energy the amount of innovation we
have in a day was limited like a glass
of water it gets poured out the idea of
this was that we had a certain amount of
innovation or a certain amount of energy
in a day that we had a certain amount of
vigilance that over time would go down
that there would be decrement now some
University of Illinois researchers
pushed back on this they did a research
study where they looked at two different
groups as research studies often are so
the first group what they gave them was
a four digit number say that number was
five one seven eight they put him in
front of a computer and for 50 minutes
they said every time your digit number
comes up hit the buzzer
now other random four-digit numbers are
gonna be showing up so for 50 minutes
they’re doing this extremely boring task
what did they experience vigilance
decrement over that 50 minutes the
amount that they could pay attention at
the end was less than how well they
could pay attention at the beginning now
they looked at a second group gave them
another four digit number and gave them
all of the other four digit numbers
coming in except at the one-third mark
what they did is they gave them a one
minute break so what did they do during
this one minute break they said you know
go sit in the lobby for a few minutes
you know shake it off this is tough and
then at the two-thirds mark they did the
same thing they give him a 1-minute
micro break now what was happening here
it’s something interesting in the brain
where they found that there wasn’t any
decrement in their vigilance they worked
just as well at the end as at the
beginning because they were deactivating
and then reactivating deactivating than
reactivating
see they found that it’s not actually
just whether we have a certain amount of
innovation in the day it’s how we use
our brains now this isn’t a new concept
some of the greatest thinkers of our
time did this Winston Churchill had a
non-negotiable afternoon nap Steve Jobs
when he had an important meeting would
do it as a walking meeting so people
would have lower blood pressure and have
more oxygen in their brain or Timothy
Ferriss author of the 4-hour workweek in
his new book tribe of mentors surveyed
hundreds of top executives CEOs and
leaders and what’s the one thing that
they all had in common
well they had daily meditation as a way
to stay grounded see I wonder if when
we’re experiencing a blockade when we’re
pushing back and feeling like we just
can’t break through maybe with our kids
our partners or at work if maybe we need
to slow down I wonder if the time of
maximum efficiency is over and the time
of maximum creativity is here and we
need to slow down see I wonder if maybe
we need to spend less time on social
media and following every single tweet
and we actually need to be with our
friends and actually meet and slow down
I wonder if the time of the primitive
brain being chased by the Rhino is over
and the time of innovation creativity
and maximum happiness is here and we need to slow down thank you
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