There was a recent time when I couldn’t go for a walk, drive to the shops, or even brush my teeth without a podcast playing in my ears.
Productivity, business, self-improvement - if someone was talking about it, I was listening to it.
But one day, halfway through a particularly enthusiastic Diary of a CEO, I realised I couldn’t remember a single thing I’d heard in that podcast. Or in the last week! Not one. It was just noise. Interesting noise, maybe. But noise nonetheless.
The Podcast Pause
Around the same time, I was walking with my friend, Jamie, who told me how he’d ditched podcasts and replaced them.
I decided to take a break. No podcasts. No audiobooks. Just… music, or even… silence.
The first few days felt odd. Like I’d left the house without my keys.
But quickly, something wonderful happened: my brain started to wander. I began to notice things. The sounds of where I live. The lyrics of an old song. And my breathing.
Yes – cue the metaphor.
Why your brain is like your lungs
Like your lungs, your brain needs time to breathe out as well as in.
Cognitive researcher Dr. Marcus Raichle found that our ‘default mode network’ - basically the brain’s natural reflective state – only kicks in when we’re not actively consuming new input.
It’s the pause that lets you process, consolidate memories and make creative connections.
Without these ‘mental exhales’, you’re just breathing in, taking in a sea of information and never really letting anything settle.
Give it a go. Trade your podcasts for pop. Swap your soundbites for silence.
Let your brain exhale.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
What do you think? Are podcasts filling our brains with stuff that we don’t process or use? Or is it just my tiny mind that can’t keep up?
Comments