F2F #75: Brain fasting

Over the last few weeks, I've started taking control of what I put into my brain more consciously but also when.

As a founder type (overachiever, A-type personality, easily distracted, neurodivergent, lots of context switching, etc.) my brain is always firing on all cylinders. It's user to doing lots of stuff in parallel, be hypervigilant and switch rapidly between tasks, having to juggle long- and short-term memory at the drop of a hat. It's working hard during the entire day, as if it was running a marathon.

I have been running MarsBased for 12 years now, and have launched a few side projects (Startup Grind, Foc a Terra, Winning Capital, etc.) with more or less success, on top of angel investing and pursuing other initiatives, like playing in a band, writing a book and more. I just need to do stuff.

Oftentimes, people who need to do stuff to calm their brains confuse that with need to consume stuff. It is no surprise that there's a strong correlation between neurodivergence (autism, ADHD, etc.) and addictiveness. In my case, I have found that I am addicted to consuming content: podcasts, youtube, you name it.

Now, it doesn't sound very original to you maybe (aren't we all addicted to social media?), but my point is the following: I have recently started to do brain fasting for a few hours a day and it is working surprisingly well.

I used to turn on music the first thing in the morning as soon as I woke up, I used to play podcasts for walks (no matter how short!) and for workouts, scroll social media while killing time and read articles throughout the day here and there.

After so many years in business, I have found that the delta I get from every new piece of content I consume is more and more negligible, having reached an all-time low.

I now don't learn anything new or am fascinated by anything. I just read, semi-absent-mindedly and move on to the next thing. I've checked the task. Done.

On the other hand, I've found that by not listening to podcasts when I walk, now, my brain is generating me new ideas and solving problems for me. I am reaching levels of creativity and productivity never seen before just because I am letting my brain work as intended. I am not constantly interrupting it with meaningless work.

In other words: I've stopped being a shit boss to my brain.

So, the delta of every new piece of content teaching me something is shrinking more and more while the delta of increased creativity & problem-solving is growing more and more.

Look, I'm not even going to bother discussing the scientific evidence of brain activity being boosted by walking, because there is a lot of it out there. I am just saying that my brain was maybe wanting to speak but I was shutting it down with extraneous thoughts all the time. I have missed out on so many valuable ideas that I feel very guilty about it and don't know how to improve this other than completely reverse it.

To avoid indulging in bias, I understand that maybe I have reached this point because I have been doing this all along. Had I not overfed my brain for so long, maybe I wouldn't have accomplished all I've done or become who I am. I acknowledge it.

The autopilot mode we've adopted as a society, by which we default to being in passive content consumption an alarming percentage of our time, is very dangerous. It numbs our brains on an individual level, but it also means that this happens at a collective level.

We've overfeeding our brains - some people with junk food, some with high-quality food - but the result is pretty similar in both cases. Unbalanced relationships with food are always unhealthy. The same applies to our brains.

Let it breathe. Take breaks. Fast.

Your brain will thank you!