[MUSIC PLAYING]
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: I have
heard that people at Google
are extremely smart, talented,
and very good with numbers.
I'm a neuroscientist.
I love to see for myself
if that's really true.
So I'd like to ask 10
people to come over here.
We're going to do a
little competition
and put this to a test.
Please?
[LAUGHTER]
Otherwise, I'm just going
to take the first row.
So if nobody dares, you guys
here are already doomed--
so five people over here,
five people over there.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: One,
two, three, four, OK--
five people--
that's five people.
Good.
Two people here.
We need three more.
OK.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to work in
two competing teams.
I'm going to start with
the first team over here.
And you guys are not supposed
to talk to each other.
You just watch them and wait
that they make a mistake.
OK?
I'm not as good with numbers.
So I need your guys' help.
If anybody makes a
mistake, let me know.
Could you please form a circle?
Natalia will be in the middle.
So all you have to do
is to count to 100.
OK?
Can we just give it a try?
AUDIENCE: One.
AUDIENCE: Two.
AUDIENCE: Three.
AUDIENCE: Four.
AUDIENCE: Five.
AUDIENCE: Six.
AUDIENCE: Seven.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: OK.
OK.
You can count.
That's good.
[LAUGHTER]
Since you're so super
smart supposedly,
I would like to introduce
three simple rules.
OK?
The first one is called
the evil number seven.
So don't say any number that
has a seven in it, like 67 or 87
or something like this.
Don't say any number that is a
multiple of seven, such as 77
or 49.
Don't say any number where the
two digits add up to seven,
such as in 52.
You guys are supposedly
smart, right?
[LAUGHTER] So when such a number
comes up and it's your turn--
and let's take you
more in the middle so
that you're not confused
as a participant.
NATALIA: Yeah.
I can [INAUDIBLE].
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Right.
So when such a
number comes up, what
you should be doing is
instead of saying the number,
you swirl around your own axis.
Can you do it, like this?
And when you're back here facing
the others, you clap your hand.
Can you do-- once.
And then the third rule is your
team must reverse directions.
OK?
We just try it quickly.
So you go first--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
No, you say one.
[LAUGHTER]
OK.
You say one.
AUDIENCE: One.
AUDIENCE: Two
AUDIENCE: Three.
AUDIENCE: Four.
AUDIENCE: Five.
AUDIENCE: Six.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
And then you--
and then you go
reverse directions.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
OK?
You got it?
Are the rules clear?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Yeah
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
Please watch them.
I'm not such a no person.
So, ready, set, go.
AUDIENCE: One.
AUDIENCE: Two
AUDIENCE: Three.
AUDIENCE: Four.
AUDIENCE: Five.
AUDIENCE: Six.
AUDIENCE: Eight.
AUDIENCE: Nine.
AUDIENCE: 10.
AUDIENCE: 11.
AUDIENCE: 12.
AUDIENCE: 13.
[LAUGHTER_]
AUDIENCE: 15.
AUDIENCE: 16.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: OK.
Let's give them an applause.
[APPLAUSE]
OK.
Just stay here for a moment.
Now don't outsmart me.
Don't make up any smart
strategies, please.
Let's see if you
can do any better.
We'll take Marina in the middle.
So you just hide here, OK?
OK.
Ready, set, go.
AUDIENCE: One.
AUDIENCE: Two.
AUDIENCE: Three.
AUDIENCE: Four.
AUDIENCE: Five.
AUDIENCE: What?
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: OK.
AUDIENCE: Sorry, guys.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
I think you can all
go back to your seats again.
[LAUGHS] So what did we
just experience here?
Why was it so hard
to count to 100?
And why would that
matter to you, right?
Who cares if they
can count to 100?
I will tell you why.
I will give you a closer
look at how the brain works
to understand what
just happened and also
to help you understand how
you can use that knowledge
to improve your performance.
At any time, feel
free to interrupt me
and to ask questions.
I love questions.
And I love to be challenged.
So if something is unclear or
you have a little question,
just raise your hands.
And you will get a microphone.
And you can ask right away.
So don't wait to the very end.
I'm flexible.
So use the possibility
to ask right away.
So if this is a head
and you can see it
from the side with the eyes
here, and this is your brain.
There is a part of the brain
called the prefrontal cortex,
PFC. That's the part
of the brain that
makes you successful.
That's the part of
your brain that you
use for complex decision-making,
rational thinking,
planning ahead for the future.
That's what you need in order
to be a high-performing person.
Researchers found that
already at age five,
you can see if children have
well-developed prefrontal
cortices.
And what they did is
they made an experiment
where they had people
or children sit down
in a chair in a
laboratory setting.
And they said, you can
get one marshmallow now.
And they put it
in front of them.
Or you can wait for
15 minutes and then
you can get a second
marshmallow if you manage
to wait for those 15 minutes.
Well, then the
researchers left the room
and left the kid alone with
a marshmallow for 15 minutes.
You would see some kids.
They would run for
the marshmallow
and just eat it, get
it over with, right?
And some others, they would turn
around, ignore the marshmallow,
or put it under the table so
they didn't have to see it,
or play with it and
throw it in the air.
Crazy things happened.
But what researchers
found that the kids that
were able to wait
for just 15 minutes
to get a second
marshmallow were the ones
that were way more
successful later in life.
They had earned more money.
They had better jobs.
They had better health.
They were happier overall.
So success in life is
correlated with how well
your prefrontal
cortex is functioning.
Because it's your
prefrontal cortex
that helps you to make
executive decisions.
And it helps you to
have executive control.
When we did this little
experiment over here
and I introduced the
rules with the evil number
seven and the swirling around
and not saying the number
and then reversing
directions, this
was a task aimed to
test or to freak out
your prefrontal cortex.
You had to use your
prefrontal cortex
to manage these different rules
and to do this calculations
in your head.
The problem is, as we know,
the prefrontal cortex fails
very quickly, right?
And we could all see it here.
[LAUGHTER]
So we like to think of
ourselves as rational beings.
We think that we are so smart.
And we're always in
control of things.
And we're so rational.
But that's not how
our brains work.
But in order to be
successful in life
and in order to be
innovative and in order
to create new ideas and
to be high-performing,
you will need your
prefrontal cortex.
So I will show you
today how you can
improve your prefrontal cortex.
But before that, I will show you
which other brain areas always
run over the prefrontal
cortex, because it's
a part of our brain that was
only fully developed, you know,
at age 18 or 21.
Maybe some of you
guys here don't even
have a fully developed
prefrontal cortex
yet, if I look at the audience.
It's a part of our
brain that is the newest
from an evolutionary
perspective.
And it's also the one that
takes longest to grow.
So I have five kids at
home under the age of six.
And they do crazy stuff.
And I stay relaxed,
because I know
it's just that their prefrontal
cortex is not working fully
yet.
So which other brain parts run
over the prefrontal cortex?
There are many other
areas that influence it.
But I'd like to
highlight one today
that we could see in
our little exercise
and that really
determines much of what's
going on in our lives.
It's a part of our brain
called the basal ganglia.
What are the basal ganglia?
That's where your
habits are stored.
That's where your
mindsets are stored.
That's where your
belief system is in.
So if you think that
Brexit is a good idea
or that voting for a certain
political party is a good idea,
that's probably stored in your
basal ganglia in your brain.
When you have lots
of experience,
it goes into your basal ganglia.
If you think about that
little game we did,
it aimed also at
your basal ganglia.
Because what did you
do that you learned
at age two or three or one?
AUDIENCE: Counting.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Counting--
all of you know how to count.
The better you
know how to count,
the more it is represented
in your basal ganglia.
And once that something
is in your basal ganglia,
you don't get rid of it anymore.
Once you know how to ride a bike
or once you know how to count,
you can't unlearn it.
Once it's there,
you're stuck with it.
OK?
And it will overrule
everything else in your brain.
So you need to be aware
also of habits you create,
because they can
be very stubborn.
To illustrate this,
if you think about it,
the first time you learned
how to drive a car, maybe
at your first driver's lessons,
that was really something that
required a lot of attention.
You had to focus on the wheel.
You had to focus on
pushing the brakes.
You had to focus
on shifting gears.
There was a stop sign.
Oh, there's-- my driver
teacher is talking to me.
Oh, what a distraction, right?
You're totally
getting shivering.
This is because you drove with
the part of your brain called
the prefrontal cortex.
You had to use your prefrontal
cortex for driving, because you
had to think of all the rules.
And that's something you
had to do consciously.
So you did have to pay a lot
of attention to that process.
Later on, a couple
of years later, you
drive with your basal ganglia.
You can probably, you know, get
up in the morning half asleep
and get yourself to
work in your car.
I'm not suggesting
that's a good idea.
I'm just saying you
probably do a lot of things
while you drive.
People talk on the phone.
People talk to the person
sitting next to them.
People eat on their car.
People put on makeup in the car.
People text while driving.
And you know, that leads
to a lot of mistakes.
But you can get from
A to B without even
noticing what you did, because
it's in your basal ganglia.
The brain is a
lazy couch potato.
It likes to make
things easy for it.
Whatever you do with
the prefrontal cortex
takes up a lot of energy.
There's something
that psychologists
call ego depletion
or decision fatigue.
After a long day of heavy
thinking and paying attention
to things, you're just
done with it, right?
You don't want to think anymore.
You just want to watch Netflix
or something like this.
You have used up
all your willpower
at the end of a long day.
So the prefrontal cortex is
not an unlimited resource.
It's a resource that
gets depleted easily,
that gets distracted
easily, and that
gets run over by other parts
of the brain very easily.
OK?
So today, I just
wanted you to not just
talk about the
prefrontal cortex,
but to make you experience how
easily it gets knocked out.
So if you want to be
successful in life
and if you want to be
successful at your jobs
and high-performing,
you need to find
ways to make the prefrontal
cortex function properly.
And there's three
things we need in order
to make our prefrontal
cortex happy.
And these are the things I
would like to show you today.
Are you ready for that?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: OK.
So here it goes.
If this is performance--
and I don't mean how
much money you make
or if other people think you're
smart or things like that--
I'm thinking about
how high-performing
is your individual prefrontal
cortex at this given moment,
OK?
So this is measuring performance
of your prefrontal cortex
over here.
And here, we have stress level.
Basically, here you would
say you're in a coma sleep.
And over here, you would
be close to panic attack.
And in between, there's
many different circumstances
and situations you could be in.
Usually, let's say somebody
here calls you up and says,
you know, we have this
new initiative at Google.
[BLOWS RASPBERRY]
We don't know yet
if we're going to
go through with it.
It's just a new idea.
Maybe next year we're going
to have a meeting about this.
But we don't know yet
who's going to sponsor it.
So could you please put together
some PowerPoint presentation
for this and some ideas?
Doesn't sound very
good, does it?
So you're going to
sit at your desk.
And you're probably going
to clean up your desk
and procrastinate
and do other things.
But your highest performance
will not be on this job.
This is true for all
kinds of routine jobs,
such as doing your expenses
or checking your emails.
You can do a lot of things just
with your basal ganglia, right?
You will just go through the
motions, no effort required.
And the performance of
your prefrontal cortex
will be very low.
So now let's imagine
that you're supposed
to give a presentation
in front of your CEO.
I know you have your
Christmas party tonight.
And you now receive an email
this very moment, telling you,
why don't you give a spontaneous
speech tonight presenting,
you know, your latest
results at work?
We'd love to hear
more about this.
It should be five to 10 minutes.
And you know, just
prepare something really
fun and energizing for people.
Engage them.
And afterwards, we're
going to rate you.
And this will influence
the bonus you get.
OK?
[LAUGHTER]
Something like
this, their chances
are that your
performance is going
to be down here,
because you might
be so sweating and terrified.
Everybody is watching
you, all eyes on you, OK?
And then maybe right
before you are on it,
you realize that all of
your numbers are wrong
or that, you know,
something is not working out
with your presentation.
When we are under
extreme stress,
when we're experiencing
stress, our prefrontal cortex
shuts down.
This is what happens.
Your brain will go into
fight, flight, or freeze.
And this will lead to the fact
that our brain just shuts down.
Not all parts of the brain,
but the prefrontal cortex
will shut down.
Because from an
evolutionary perspective,
if you have to fight
a bear in the forest,
you don't want to think of 10
different creative solutions
of how to fight a bear.
You can either fight or
flight or freeze and hide
under a bush or
something like that.
So under stress, the
prefrontal cortex shuts down.
When we're very bored,
our prefrontal cortex
does not feel motivated to work.
And then in both cases,
it's your basal ganglia
doing the job.
When we are bored, we just
go and click into our habits.
We do the things we always do.
We go through the motions.
Other people might even
think you're performing well,
because if you have
good habits, then
you can go through a lot in life
just with your basal ganglia,
right?
It all depends on what
kind of training you had
and what's in there.
If you are very
stressed, your brain
will also rely on
your basal ganglia,
because your prefrontal cortex
doesn't work properly anymore.
Then you also have
to rely on instincts.
That's why in professions like
fire fighting and the police
and medical doctors who
work in emergencies,
they train people a lot.
Psychologists call this
over-training, over-learning,
because they want to
make sure that people
have the right kind of action
stored in their basal ganglia.
So in the military,
for example, you're
trained how to pull the
trigger 100 million times so
that when the emergency
situation comes up
and your prefrontal
cortex shuts down,
you know exactly what to do.
And you make that decision
within milliseconds.
Because the prefrontal
cortex is slow,
but your basal
ganglia are quick.
And they work without
you not even noticing.
They just go on autopilot.
OK.
But this is where you want to
be with your prefrontal cortex,
right?
If you want to be
innovative, if you
want to come up with
new ideas, if you
want to create something new
and exciting in your company,
you have to engage
your prefrontal cortex.
As you can see, there's
an inverse U correlation
between stress level
and performance.
If there's too
little stress, you
will just do business as usual.
People might even
go into boreout.
People love what you do.
You might get compliments
for your work.
But it's a bit boring
and irrelevant.
And you just do it.
But nobody cares
about your work.
And over here, you
might have a situation
with too many deadlines, too
many people wanting stuff
from you, bad bosses
who follow after you
and give you bad
feedback all of the time.
Things like this can really wear
down your prefrontal cortex.
So how can you get up here?
When we reach peak performance,
we lose concept of time.
If you ever had a moment at
your work or in your free time
when you really were
performing at your best--
it could be in sports.
It could be in music.
It could be in arts.
It could even be at your job--
you lose the concept of time.
You're fully present here now.
And you love what you do.
Usually, this is
associated with joyful.
It's a joyful experience.
Research shows also that when
we are in this state of mind,
we are five times as productive,
five times as productive.
That's a lot.
You could save a
lot of time if you
know how to get there
whenever you want it,
whenever you need it, rather
than spending most of your time
here or here.
For your most strategic
task, for your most important
decisions, for the
things that truly matter,
you should know how to get here.
And there are three
things you need.
And I call them fun,
fear, and focus.
Why should you have fun at work?
Aren't you paid to work?
You know, shouldn't that be what
you receive for your hard work?
Isn't that enough?
Research shows that when
people have fun at work,
a neurotransmitter
called dopamine
is released in your brain.
I will write it here
for those of you
who want to remember that.
So you have the dopamine.
OK?
And the dopamine is
a real brain booster.
Dopamine is a
neurotransmitter that
links into the reward
system of your brain.
It will make you think faster.
It will make you learn faster.
And it will make this a
very joyful experience.
If you think about it,
it's not by coincidence
that most famous people
who excel in some area
really love what they do.
Because when you're
really good at something,
then dopamine is released.
And it makes it even better.
So if you want to
have more fun at work,
this is not just
about having free food
and all of the
gadgets you enjoy here
at Google or the after
work party kind of fun
you're going to have tonight.
It's more about, do you
truly love what you do?
Are you're really good
at what you're doing--
you know, fun
related to the task
that you perform every day.
So my advice to you
would be to find
a job where you can be
really the best in class,
not something where you're
kind of doing OK-ish.
Seek something where
your talents can shine.
And then you will get
bursts of dopamine
that will help your brain
to perform much better.
Other ways to get more
dopamine are to, for example,
work with surprise and novelty.
Every time we get surprised,
our brain releases dopamine.
Every time something
new happens, our brain
reacts by eliciting dopamine.
So that little exercise we
did here a few minutes ago,
I also did this in order
to get you out of a rut.
You come to listen to a talk.
But I wanted you to
also do something
you didn't expect to be
doing, because this will give
everybody a burst of dopamine.
And it will make you retain
better what I tell you today.
Jokes are a good way
to get dopamine burst.
When people laugh, the
brain releases dopamine.
So if you want people to
learn well and to perform well
at work, it might pay off to
have somebody really funny
at the team, maybe somebody not
really high-performing person,
not so--
[LAUGHTER] I'm serious.
Funny people boost
everybody's performance.
So you know, if you have
this fellow who is not
adding much value
but making jokes,
keep that guy on the team.
[LAUGHTER] OK?
From a brain perspective,
laughs really boost performance.
So that's the fun.
The second thing is the fear.
I don't know if you
have experienced that.
But I have a friend.
And she went to a
Bob Dylan concert.
And what happened is
that she hated it.
Why did she hate it?
Because he was playing new
songs she never heard before.
She wanted to hear
the songs that she
knew and loved to sing along.
And instead, he was going
totally experimental on stage.
And she said, I didn't know
the stuff he was singing.
It was OK.
Why did Bob Dylan do this?
He was upsetting his audience.
Nobody loved the concert.
People hated it.
Well, otherwise I guess he
would have been bored to death.
If you're Bob Dylan,
you've been doing
the same thing for 40 years.
You don't want to
play the same songs.
It goes out of your ears.
Your ears will explode if you
hear that song one more time.
I don't know.
I'm not Bob Dylan.
But I guess that's what
was going on in his mind.
You need to try new things.
You need to push the boundaries.
Most people, when you ask
them how can you reach best
performance, they say this
happens when the challenge
meets your skill set.
No, that's not true.
This happens when the challenge
exceeds your skill set.
You need to be slightly
over-challenged.
Find a job you really love
and then push yourself
to the boundaries.
Get over the top.
Do things that are a bit
too difficult for you.
Do things that are a bit scary.
If you're never
scared at your job,
something's wrong with you.
You need to be
sometimes a bit nervous.
You need to try new things.
You need to experiment.
If you're always staying
in your comfort zone,
your brain will react by
going into your basal ganglia.
Because when we have a
slight level of fear,
our brain releases a substance
called noradrenaline.
And noradrenaline is a
positive stress hormone.
OK?
Noradrenaline-- might not
be the prettiest flip chart
you guys have seen.
So here it is for those of
you who want to write it down.
So you need the dopamine.
But you also need
the noradrenaline.
When there's no
challenge, when there's
no deadline, when nobody
cares about what you're doing,
you will under-perform.
You will go into
basal ganglia mode.
So push yourself.
If you find yourself too
comfortable in your role,
you might want to quit your
job or go on a job rotation
or try something new.
If you're getting
too comfortable,
you will go into boreout.
And your brain will
think, why should I
engage my prefrontal cortex?
It costs me a lot of
energy and attention
to engage my prefrontal cortex.
The brain will only do it
when it's really necessary.
And if there is no challenge,
if there's no fear,
your brain will not go
through all of this effort.
So you need to be slightly
over-challenged to achieve
that.
Yes, a question?
AUDIENCE: Regarding the fear
and the stress, well, I'm not
an expert in this issue at all.
But that hormone is a good
one when we are a bit nervous
or with fear.
But is it associated
also with cortisol,
like it happens
at the same time?
And is it-- because I've
heard that cortisol is not
that good for your performance.
So then I would like to know--
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
Mhm, the difference.
AUDIENCE: --your
opinion about it.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Yeah.
Cortisol is also helpful.
But it's not a good thing.
Cortisol is a negative
stress hormone.
So what happens with
cortisol is that if you
have that over a longer
period of time in your body,
you will go into burnout.
A part of your brain
called the amygdala,
which is processing negative
information, will grow.
Your prefrontal
cortex will shrink.
Your hippocampus for
learning will shrink as well.
So cortisol has a very
damaging impact on our brain.
But when is cortisol released?
Cortisol is released when
there's chronic stress
over a longer period of time.
So let's say you have an awful
boss who treats you badly.
If you live in a
dysfunctional relationship,
if you go to your
job every morning
and you feel that
you hate it, that
will give you a
level of cortisol.
And when you feel so
overstressed that you
can't sleep anymore,
it's the cortisol
hindering you to go to sleep.
Noradrenaline gives
you positive push, OK?
So it gives you a kick.
Cortisol will slow
things down for you.
So this is the matter of whether
it's a short-term stress--
here, I am speaking
about short-term stress,
which is good--
or whether it's a
long-term stress.
And then the number one
protection factor for cortisol
is actually autonomy.
If you think about it, big
bosses in large organizations,
they work many hours.
But they're not as
stressed as the people
at the bottom, who
maybe work 9:00 to 5:00.
Because when we can
influence the situation,
that's when our brain makes
sense of the situation.
It does matter whether
you work up to 3:00 AM
because your boss
told you to do that
or whether you work up to 3:00
AM because it's your company,
and you chose to do that,
if you feel that there's
a purpose associated with it.
So if you want to
avoid cortisol,
try to take as much control
of the situation as you can.
Rather than being a victim,
go into a more active role
to fight the situation.
OK?
So that's the noradrenaline
and the fear part.
What about focus?
Imagine some athlete in
the middle of a match,
like Johnny Sexton.
Or imagine Serena Williams
playing a tennis match.
And then in the
middle of the match,
she's pulling out
her cell phone.
She says, I just need
to take that call.
Hold on a moment.
Or I need to check my emails.
People would hate that.
Their friends would be appalled.
People would be shocked.
But in the business
world, that's
how people behave all
the time, constantly.
People are multitasking.
People are constantly
checking their emails.
People are hardly
ever focused, right?
And research shows
that when we multitask,
we make 50% more mistakes.
And we take 50% longer
to complete the task.
Research also shows
that today's teenagers
have the attention span
shorter than the one
of an average goldfish.
Attention span is going down.
Our brains are plastic.
We're adapting to
new situations.
And if you're
constantly multitasking,
you're not getting better at it.
Your attention span is
actually going down.
Because your brain says, I
never need focused, prolonged
attention, right?
I never need it.
So why should I
develop that skill?
But it's impossible to
reach peak performance
if you're not fully focused.
Because when you're
fully focused and present
in the moment, your brain
will release a substance
called acetylcholine.
Let me write it
down here for you.
As we saw in that little
exercise we did in the group
this morning, you really had to
focus on keeping the seven out
of the game, right?
You really had to focus on
these complex calculations.
Your prefrontal cortex will only
work when you're fully focused.
It requires attention.
It's impossible to get into
flow if you're not focused.
So what should you do about it?
I mean, there's many ways to go.
One of them is, for example,
to eliminate distractions
from the onset.
Because our prefrontal
cortex is a limited resource.
If you are going to spend all
of your energy suppressing
the urge to check your phone--
let's say it's on your desk
while you work on something.
And then you just read
a book that told you
that multitasking is bad.
And then you decided
to check it less.
You're always going to
look at and think, no, OK.
I check it later.
Get rid of it.
OK?
Put it somewhere else.
I know that many
executives are now
doing what is called
a meeting of one.
When we get in a meeting
with other people,
we always schedule time.
We turn off the phone.
We don't check-- you know, we
really focus on that meeting.
But you should be just
as critical, rigorous,
when you have a
meeting with yourself.
If you really have to put
an important presentation
together, if you really have
to solve an important question,
take some time.
Block your door.
Don't let people walk in on you.
You know, I don't know if you
have an open office policy
or something like this.
Put something in front of your
door so that nobody can get in.
It's nice to be social.
But research shows that
when people have too much
open office spaces,
collaboration and communication
actually decreases.
You think it would go up.
But it actually goes down,
because people are hiding.
Because it's impossible to
focus if you constantly have
your colleagues in your ear.
So find a way to truly
focus on your work.
But I would like to let
you in on a little secret.
Most books will tell you
that eliminating distraction
is the right way
to improve focus,
or that you should go to a
mindfulness training course
and learn meditation and do
yoga, something to train up
your inherent ability to focus.
That's good.
But it's not really
working, because people
know that multitasking is bad.
And they keep doing it anyhow.
Why do they keep
doing it anyhow?
Because we're addicted
to our phones.
If you think about
it, every time
you get a new email or something
happens through social media,
your brain thinks, oh,
there could be something
new and relevant going on.
I need to check that out.
And then you get a
burst of dopamine.
And you get a burst
of noradrenaline
because there could be
something relevant for you.
And when we are bored at
work and tired and a bit,
you know, not fully motivated,
you might just as well
pick up your phone to see
if something new is going on
in order to get a quick
burst of dopamine.
Or when you're very
stressed and you
want to escape from
that situation,
your phone could be
an escape strategy.
Rather than focusing on
what's going on around you,
you focus on your phone.
And what happens is that every
time a new email comes up
or something new happens, you
get these bursts of dopamine.
And they link in to the
reward circuit in your brain.
And you get addicted to it.
And you need more
and more and more.
As you can see in teenagers,
drug use has gone down,
but phone use has gone up.
So it's the new drug.
Basically, in the brain,
multitasking and the use
of mobile devices is
treated like an addiction.
If you look at people's
brain while they're
looking at their phone, it's
like a brain love or a brain
on drugs.
So I want to invite you to
create a work environment that
is more fun and where you
have the right level of fear.
And then focus will
come naturally.
Pay attention to that.
You will see that these things
are correlated to each other.
When you have fun at work and
when there's truly something
at stake, when it's
challenging, your focus
will be there immediately.
Yesterday, I had a
session with executives.
And they were working on glass.
We first wanted
to do a fire walk.
But then the university
building wouldn't allow that.
So then we did a
glass walk on real--
you know, it was 70 bottles
of glass, shattered,
70 bottles of wine,
shattered on the floor.
And people were walking
over it barefoot.
Nobody was multitasking
while doing that.
Everybody was focused.
Trust me.
I've seen people.
Everybody was really paying
attention while walking,
because you don't
want to hurt yourself.
So you have a certain
level of fear.
And it was kind of fun, because
it was new and unexpected,
not something you
do every day, right?
Oh, let's walk on glass today.
So people had fun.
People had fear.
And everybody was focused.
We didn't even have to
tell people to focus.
Focus just happened.
So if you find yourself
having trouble with focus,
improve the level of fun,
improve the level of fear.
And it will come naturally.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER: If you
have any questions?
AUDIENCE: So you were kind of
talking a lot about delaying
or postponing gratification.
What are some of the
more specific things
that people could do to
try and be better at that?
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
To delay gratification?
AUDIENCE: Yeah,
because that seems what
you're kind of thesis is there?
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Yeah.
Well, find something you
truly love and practice it.
Research shows that
people like musicians
who have to practice
a lot to get better,
they have a better
executive control.
Because let's say
if you spend all
of your day playing
video games, you
get an instant reward
all of the time.
You know, you just
push some button.
And then it's like, woo,
you know, something happens.
AUDIENCE: I kind of disagree
with that, honestly.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Yes.
AUDIENCE: Because like
in many computer games,
you don't just mindlessly
mash on buttons.
You actually have to think
about your skill set,
develop yourself.
You have to train.
You have to look at other
peoples, how they strategize,
a lot of things.
And actually, a lot
of research recently
has been showing that
computer games have
been increasing one's ability to
focus on and train one's self,
and getting in many
sense, a flow, which
is what you were talking about.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
Yes, in the game,
but not necessarily
outside the game.
AUDIENCE: But you can
apply it elsewhere.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Yeah.
But I think you get more
instant reward in the video game
than if you do
practicing the cello.
AUDIENCE: Definitely, yeah.
That, I agree.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Right.
I agree with you that
in the moment when
you play the video
game, you are in flow.
You have the fun.
You have the fear.
You have the focus for sure.
But if you do
things that give you
no gratification
in the beginning,
such as learning to
play an instrument
or reading long books
with more than 100 pages,
right, then what happens
is that your brain
will get used to not get
everything right away.
But a lot of it has
to do with parenting.
If your parents brought
you up to work for things,
then you probably will continue
to do that later in life
as well.
So when you have
kids, you should
be thinking about not
spoiling them too much,
or they will not have that
ability to delay gratification.
And then you have
what we see today,
that many millennials are
having suicidal thoughts
and are very unhappy because
they always got everything
from their parents.
They never had to
work to get anything.
AUDIENCE: So you were
talking about the correlation
between performance and stress.
So if you were to look at
it in a perspective of time
as well, because for me, that
dopamine and the noradrenaline
and all of the fun,
fear, and focus
seems to be a little
bit more short-term.
Is that true?
Or how long can you
keep going like that?
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
It's a short-term thing.
You cannot be all day in flow.
And you shouldn't
be all day in flow.
Because if you think about
it, when your brain releases
dopamine and noradrenaline
and acetylcholine,
it gives your brain
a quick burst.
But then it vanishes quickly.
If you think about
negative stress
hormones, such as cortisol,
they hit your body.
And they can stay forever.
Let's say I give you 10
things to think about.
I say, you did great
and this and this
and this and this
and this and this,
and great job at this, and
great, and great, hooray.
And then I say you have one
little area for improvement,
one little thing to work on.
That's the one you're
going to remember.
We are wired to focus
on negative things.
OK?
So what this means is that
this is a short-term thing.
You should use that if
you want to get something
really important done.
And then it's OK to
spend the rest of the day
sometimes under-challenged,
sometimes over-challenged.
This is something you
should use for your most
important moments.
If you think about
athletes, they
spend a week training
and recovering.
And then they just
have a one-hour match.
You need that for
that one-hour match.
And afterwards, your
brain will be depleted.
What you see is that when
your brain releases dopamine,
when all of that
dopamine is used up,
you feel kind of
like, whew, exhausted.
So it's a short-term thing.
AUDIENCE: So most
of us don't really
to have their offices here.
It's really an open plan.
And basically, if you want
to disconnect, what about,
for instance, listening to
the music, and specific music
more like classical?
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: I
didn't get your question.
Could you--
AUDIENCE: So the question is,
if you want to disconnect,
does listening to
the music help that?
Or it distracts you?
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS:
So if you want to focus,
whether it's good
to listen to music?
Well, for some
people, it's good.
And for others, it's not.
Research shows that this
is highly-individual.
It seems that a little
bit of background noise
is good if you want
to be creative.
Here, we've been speaking
about the flow state.
And then music can be good
if it's not disrupting you,
if it helps you to
get-- if it's more
quiet than the
people around you.
But if you, for example,
want to be a bit creative
and if you're designing
things and if you're
working in a more
artistic way of working,
it could be OK to have an
office that is like Starbucks,
you know, with lots of
people running around.
Because then these distractions
will give your brain
some impact to make connections
that you haven't made before.
So the answer is for
some people, it's good.
And for some jobs, it's
good if you really have
to just concentrate and focus.
And if you're working
more artistically,
it's actually OK to be
a bit more distracted.
AUDIENCE: Thank you
so much for the talk.
I have a question.
When you provide these
talks or the courses
like the walking
on glass, they're
probably tailored to the group.
But they probably
run from your own BSG
as well, because
you do it so often.
What do you do to
create the fun, fear,
and focus for yourself?
[LAUGHTER]
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: That's
a really good question.
Actually, the little
experiment here
we did with the
standing up, I've
only done this once before.
I always create new
stuff for myself.
Usually, you know,
I've just changed it.
Now I made it about
the prefrontal cortex
and the basal ganglia.
I always take in other
brain parts, you know?
I change my presentations.
I adapt them.
I try to also, for me--
well, the fun for
me is the purpose.
Because I see that people
get the benefit from what
I'm doing.
So if people tell me, oh,
this was really helpful
and write to me a year
later, then this for me
adds value to my life,
to what I'm doing.
The fear is I'm a public
failure, you know?
I could be here on
stage, making a mess.
And somebody asks
very smart questions.
And I could be standing
here like a full idiot.
This can happen, right?
And then your reputation
is kind of ruined.
This will be filmed.
So there's always
a level of fear.
And focus, once I have the
fun and the fear, it comes.
But I mix things up.
And as it happens for me,
engagements get bigger.
I get more speeches
with more people there,
more than thousands, you know?
I started out with small groups.
And now I get these
sometimes big things, where
I have to design something new.
Yeah.
SPEAKER: Thank you very much.
Thank you for all
your questions.
Thank you, Friederike,
for this great talk.
And I think there is no
doubt that we need to train,
not our bodies, but
our brain as well.
And now we have an instruction.
Thank you so much.
FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
