Hello and welcome to another episode of the Working Conversations podcast where we talk all things leadership, business, communication and the future of work. I'm your host, Dr. Janel Anderson.

Picture this. You open your calendar and first thing in the morning and what do you see? A wall of back to back meetings, a few scattered time slots to check emails, and maybe you, if you're lucky, 15 minutes to grab a coffee or lunch. By the time you finish your last meeting of the day, your brain feels fried. You've made a hundred decisions, answered countless emails, and maybe even put out a few fires. But did you actually do any deep strategic thinking today? If this sounds familiar, you're not alone.

The modern workplace rewards busyness over effectiveness, and a packed calendar is often mistaken for productivity. But here's the problem. Your brain is not designed to operate at a high speed all day long. What if I told you that by intentionally creating more white space in your day, you could actually be more strategic, more creative, and better prepared for the future? That's exactly what we're diving into today. Here's where we're going in this episode. First of all, we're going to explore the neuroscience behind brainwaves. And if you've been listening recently, you know some of the basics. But today we're diving into why living in a high beta state is wrecking your ability to think ahead.

Secondly, we're going to look at what happens when your calendar is overloaded and why that constant busyness is killing your strategic thinking. Next, we'll look to why white space on your calendar is the key to better decision making. And I'll give you some strategies for how to create it in your day. And finally, we'll leave you with some actionable steps that you can use to shift from a high beta state, which we'll talk more about in a second, to a more strategic, forward thinking brainwave state. And as a bonus, I've created a free resource to help you implement these ideas. It's called My Take Charge of your Future White Space Toolkit and it's available for download. You can check out the show notes for the link. You'll find that at janelanderson.com/210 for episode 210.

All right, let's dive into it. First of all, the neuroscience of brainwaves and why this even matters. Remember, your brain is an electrical powerhouse. It's constantly shifting between different frequencies depending on your mental state and what you need at the time. Now, if you caught episode 206 a few weeks ago, you've already had a primer on how your brain waves can best support you in various tasks. But now let's take that discussion a little deeper.

First, let's break down those beta waves, because this is where most of us are living during our workday. Now, I didn't discuss the multiple types of beta brainwaves in episode 206, so let's dig into that.

There are multiple kinds of beta waves, and each one help you handle different types of situations. High beta brainwaves are associated with high stress, anxiety, and the fight or flight response that your sympathetic nervous system uses to elevate your blood flow and a host of hormones in your body to handle those high stress situations. Research shows that high beta brain activity, excessive high beta brain activity, can lead to burnout, reduced cognitive flexibility, and poor decision making. And there was an article back in 2012 in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience that outlined the details of that.

Now, the next type of beta waves are your mid beta waves. And this is where productivity and focus happen. This is when you're engaged, you're solving problems and you're getting things done, but you're not so stressed out that your sympathetic nervous system is involved. You're really in a much more focused state.

And then there's low beta waves. And this is when you're calm, present and thoughtful. This is the optimal state for strategic thinking. And most of us don't spend much time, if any, there on any given workday. So here's the kicker. If you stay in high beta waves too long, your brain gets stuck in reactive mode, meaning you lose the ability to step back, think big picture and anticipate the future. And there was an article that detailed all of this in the Annual Review of NeuroScience back in 2009. Now the good news, you can shift your brainwaves intentionally.

And again, if you heard episode 206, you know a little bit about this already. The best way to do that during your workday is to create some white space on your calendar, because this carves out time for you to naturally drop down into that low beta state where you've got the bandwidth to do the strategic thinking. Again, I'm getting ahead of myself just a little bit here.

Now let's look at the problem that comes with having an overloaded calendar when you have back to back meetings. And you've heard me talk about this before on the podcast, that back to back meetings comes about from the work from home and the hybrid work environment where instead of swinging by somebody's desk, we grab them for 30 minutes on their calendar, or worse yet, an hour on their calendar when maybe we just need a few minutes. But again, our calendars get overloaded with all of these meetings. So when you are in back to back meetings, your brain stays in that high beta mode, constantly processing, constantly reacting. You're producing more cortisol, that stress hormone that I was mentioning earlier, and that makes it harder to access your creative and strategic thinking.

Again, there's research to back this up. There was an article just back in 2017 in the psychological Review that, that really dove into all of the different stress hormones that get released in your brain when you are in that high beta mode. And again, that uses so much energy from not just your brain, but the rest of your body as well. Just think of that tension that's all through your body when you're in that high beta mode. So it's using a lot of powerful, not only brain resources, but physical resources from the rest of your body as well. This is part of why you feel so exhausted at the end of the day. Now, when you are in that high beta mode, your brain fails to make meaningful connections between different ideas because there is no transition to process information and to do that powerful connecting that our brain can so effectively do, but only when we give it the space and time to do that. Now, if you've ever left a meeting forgetting half of what was discussed or you don't remember your to do items if you didn't write them down, well, this is why your brain simply doesn't have the space to process information before jumping into the next thing.

So the result, well, you're less strategic, you're stuck down in the weeds handling little minutia and you're reacting instead of being proactive and anticipating what's coming next. So with that as a backdrop, let's drop into this idea of white space and why white space on your calendar is to being more strategic and making better decisions. So what I mean by white space, if you haven't caught on already, are those intentional blocks of time where you don't have meetings or structured work plan. And white space, my friends, is not wasted time. It is where you actually do your best thinking. So if you don't already have white space programmed into your calendar, I'm going to give you some tools for doing that. But again, I want to encourage you to do that. Research from the University of California at Santa Barbara found that insights and creative problem solving happens best when people have that unstructured time on their calendars to let their minds wander and to let connections Happen between ideas in different parts of their work and let them co mingle and come up with solutions and better ideas.

So think about it. When do you have your best ideas? Usually it's in the shower, it's on a walk, or during a quiet moment. Again, in episode 206 we talked about this. And that's because those moments allow your brain to shift from that high beta into low beta or even down into alpha waves where the deep thinking and future predicting and foresight happens. So by building that intentional white space into your calendar, you are making space for your brain to do this kind of work. You are making space for your brain to process and synthesize new information. You are making space for your brain to identify patterns and connections and anticipate challenges. You are making space for your brain to shift from reactive to responsive and strategic thinking.

It is so powerful, my friends and so many people don't do it. Again it leaves you exhausted at the end of the day, it leaves you not anticipating the future and it leaves you stressed out and burned out. So let's talk about how to move from high beta into mid beta or low beta waves. I'm going to give you some actionable strategies here. Now, again, you might be thinking, really, we can do this on our own. Our brain just isn't operating all on its own volition. Well, when we don't carve out that extra space, our brain's just going to keep responding to whatever we throw at it.

So what I want you to throw at it is some white space, some intentional white space on your calendar. I'm going to give you five ways once you're in that white space to intentionally shift your brain waves. And again, also some of these tips are to build that white space into your schedule in the first place. So my first tip is to block transition time between your meetings. Schedule 10 to 15 minutes in between meetings or phone calls and protect it. Use it to pause, use it to breathe, use it to reset your brain. Better yet, make this the normative behavior for the meetings that you schedule and maybe even within your own department and even organizations organization wide. I've talked extensively with organizations about creating that passing time between meetings, much like we used to have between high school and again when you were in college, that passing time between classes was even longer because sometimes you had to go all the way across campus from one building to another.

Even in high school, they know that you need to get from this part of the building to that part of the building between classes. And so between bells, there's time for you to get from place A to place B. Use that same idea to structure anywhere from five to 15 minutes as passing time between meetings. Your brain needs that. And really, if you can adopt this as an organizational wide, normative behavior, it will help tremendously. Even if you can just carve that out on your own calendar, it will help tremendously. So that's the first thing is making sure there's a bit of space between one meeting and the next to give your brain the time to downshift and get ready for what's coming next and maybe even do a quick inventory of what your responsibilities are coming out of that previous meeting. Once you're in that white space, that five to 15 minutes, use breathwork to downshift your brain activity.

Now, I've talked about using breath work here on the podcast in the past, and you may have heard me talk about this specific technique. It's called 4, 7, 8 breathing. And in 4, 7, 8 breathing, the cadence is this. You inhale slowly for four seconds and then you hold that breath for seven seconds and then you exhale slowly for eight seconds. That's why it's called 4, 7, 8. I think of this one as a triangle. Inhale slowly for 4 seconds, hold slowly for 7 seconds, exhale slowly for 8 seconds. This has been shown to reduce cortisol and to shift brainwaves into a calmer state.

And again, there is medical research to back this up, my friends. So use that breath work when you're in that white space at the beginning of the white space to downshift. Because again, left to your own devices, your brain might keep spinning on high speed. We want to get those high beta waves down into low beta waves where you can do that powerful connecting and strategic thinking. Third strategy, take micro breaks away from screens. Step outside, stretch, look out a window. If you've been in any of my training classes, you might have heard me talk about 20, 20, 20, and we might have actually done 20, 20, 20. So what 202020 is again, our tool backed by neuroscience, is stepping away from our computer screen every 20 minutes or so.

And I know that's not realistic. If you can at least do it a few times a day or at the beginning of your white space, it will be tremendously, profoundly effective. So 20, 20, 20, stepping away from your computer screen, looking at something in nature that is 20ft or more away from you and watching that for 20 seconds. Again, it could just be plants or trees swaying in the breeze. It could be a bird outside of your window or your dog in the backyard, or even your dog in the house. But ideally, if it's in the, if it's in nature, it will help reset your brain to what is happening in real time as opposed to something that's happening on your screen. So again, whether it's stepping outside or doing that 202020 where you're looking outside, stretching, I also do if you've been in a virtual training class with me or a virtual keynote with you, you know that sometimes I will do five shoulder rolls backwards. I'm doing them now.

If you're watching on the YouTube video, five shoulder rolls forwards. Again, it just helps us get back into our bodies and out of that stressful brainwave activity. So this is going to help you shift, really downshift into those mid level and low level alpha waves where that strategic insight can happen.

Step number four, or idea number four, technique number four is to engage in low stakes creativity. So doodling, journaling, brainstorming without pressure. I'm a big fan of bullet journals. This is just where you make a bulleted list of what's on your mind at any given time. Again, you maybe have heard me talk about this on the podcast before. It doesn't have to start, Dear Diary. It can just be a quick list of things that are on your brain and putting them on paper helps capture them and it helps release your brain from them because it knows that those are captured in some sort of existent system. So your brain can feel free to wander or think about other things. So again, doodling, journaling, brainstorming without pressure. These are creative activities that help stimulate those mid and lower level alpha waves, making you more innovative and creative. Now let's get now to my fifth and perhaps most important technique. And that is schedule a thinking block of time on your calendar every single day in the toolkit that I mentioned. And I'll mention it one more time and again we'll drop the link in the show notes for today's episode.

I have some straight structure based on what level in the organization you are. So what level of leadership or responsibility you have correlates directly with how much white space you should have on your calendar. And if you haven't gleaned this already, the higher up you are on the organizational chart, the more white space you need because you're doing more strategic thinking or you need to be doing more strategic thinking, powerful decision making, integration of ideas and so forth. But schedule minimum 30 minutes daily for big picture thinking, reflection and scenario planning. And again, when you look at that toolkit that I'm dropping in the show notes, you'll see exactly how to do that. You'll see a little bit more guidance on when in the day this might be best for you to do compared to somebody else. Give you some guidelines for what time of day that's going to serve you best and up how much time to put into that. Okay, so here is.

But let me, let me quick recap those five strategies before we go into a recap of this episode. The first one, block a few minutes of transition. Anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Transition between meetings throughout the day. This is separate from that white space on your calendar. This just helps decompress from one meeting. Remember what you're supposed to do before jumping into the next meeting. Use some breath work during that downtime or during your white space, or both to downshift your brain work, to downshift your brain activity and get into a more integrative space.

Number three, take those micro breaks away from your screen. Ideally, getting out into nature, stepping outside your building, even if it's a busy city sidewalk. Stepping outside your building, you'll get some fresh air. Or looking outside into nature if you can. Number four, engage in those low stakes creativity exercises like bullet journaling, doodling, just letting your mind wander. And then number five, scheduling that ever so important thinking block on your calendar every day. And again, you can get the guidelines from my toolkit to let you know exactly how much time you should be planning each day. All right, so big picture.

Here's the big takeaway. If your calendar is too full, your brain is too full. If your brain is too full, you are reacting instead of anticipating and being strategic. And in today's fast changing world, the ability to anticipate change is your greatest strategic asset. The leaders and professionals who thrive aren't the ones who are the busiest. They are the ones who give themselves the space to think, to strategize, and then to make better decisions. Again, as I mentioned, to help you put this into action, I've created the Take charge of your future white space toolkit. It's a free download from my website.

It's designed to help you reclaim your time, reduce stress, and make space for strategic thinking. Grab your copy of it on the show notes page at janelanderson.com/210 for episode 210 and I will drop the link there. This toolkit offers up ways to add whitespace to your calendar and it has suggested amounts of white space based on your role and your level of leadership in the organization. There are guidelines for individual contributors and senior executives and everyone in between. So I strongly encourage you to grab that toolkit now as you start to implement some of this, I would love to hear from you. What is one thing you are going to do this week to create more white space? Send me a message, leave me a comment, or tag me on social media. I want to know how this is working for you. All right my friends, protect your white space, protect your brain, and most of all, take charge of your future.

Now. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with somebody else who might benefit from hearing it. As always, stay curious, stay informed and stay ahead of the curve. Tune in next Monday for another insightful exploration of the trends shaping our professional world. And if you learned something or you simply enjoy this content, please do me the favor of subscribing to my channel on YouTube, subscribing to the podcast on your podcast player of choice, and following me on social media. These are all excellent and no cost ways for you to support me and my work. Again, you'll find the links to the show notes and all my social media over on that show notes page, janelanderson.com/210 for episode 210.

Until next time, keep thriving and keep working toward the future that we all want and need. Stay connected, stay curious and I will catch you next week, friends. Be well.