Simply put, our brain has two parts, the primitive brain, or Lizard Brain, and the pre-frontal cortex, or Human Brain (as I like to call them). Our ability as humans to think critically, reason, empathize, and make plans set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.
The Human Brain is essential to managing stress, embracing emotional intelligence, and maximizing productivity. That means taking advantage of the unique skills that we embody.
Being able to think critically is a way to look at a situation, break it down its various parts, and analyze those parts rationally before forming an opinion or taking action.
Reasoning is the ability to be logical and set aside the emotion and visceral reactions.
Empathy puts us in another person’s shoes to see and feel their perspective.
And finally, planning allows us to make decisions in advance, rather than allowing our instincts to run the show.
While taking advantage of the Human Brain sets us apart, the Lizard Brain also provides many benefits. It is the reaction center that allows us to jump out of the way of a car going too fast, or to grab a child who is about to run into the street. It allows us to respond quickly in emergencies. And it even manages habitual actions like brushing our teeth every night.
The Lizard Brain is not the thinking brain, it is the habit brain, built over years of making conscious decisions until they become unconscious. By using the Human Brain strategically we can create new habits that serve us.
The challenge is switching from the Lizard Brain to the Human Brain. Using the Urgent-Important Matrix by Steven Covey, when a situation is Important and Urgent, the Lizard Brain is going to be useful because these are the situations or tasks that require quick and decisive action and rely on the instincts of habitual behavior.
When a situation or task is in the other categories – Urgent but Not Important, Important but Not Urgent, or Not Important, Not Urgent – it becomes imperative to use the Human Brain and not react on instinct or out of habit. If we only rely on instinct or habit, the situations drive our actions rather than us being in the driver seat.
Recently, my son and I created a chemical reaction with hydrogen peroxide, soap, and yeast called Elephant Toothpaste. This chemical reaction builds up a lot of pressure and like a homemade volcano, results in a mini-explosion. We mixed the ingredients, placed a stopper on the beaker to build the pressure and when the stopper exploded way more than expected and hit the ceiling, along with much of the mixture, I had a moment to react. My Lizard Brain immediately when first to my son’s safety, and once I knew he was okay, it switched to anger at the mess I’d have to clean up.
My son’s safety was Urgent and Important. It required the Lizard Brain’s quick reaction so I could handle any emergency that may have been waiting. But while cleanup seemed Urgent and Important, it was not an emergency. It felt Urgent because it happened quickly, but I recognized it wasn’t important in the same way my son’s safety was and so I shut down the Lizard Brain and switched on my Human Brain.
First, this allowed me to view the situation with critical thinking. Though spread all over the kitchen, the mess caused no damage and could wait for a little while. Instead I could see this was truly funny.
My son and I laughed hysterically and shared a moment of bonding that would not have been possible if I had let my Lizard Brain run the show. A precious moment was created when I turned off the stress and turned on the joy.
After we settled down – which took a little while since we were laughing quite hard – I reviewed the mess again and made a plan on how best to clean it up. I gave my son instructions and it took less than 5 minutes to have my kitchen back to symbiosis. Had I reacted with my Lizard Brain, the mess would have been harder to clean because I would have been stressed and angry and reacting versus thinking ahead.
This same truth applies to every situation in life. Rarely are work situations emergencies, even when they feel like it. Stepping back and switching on the Human Brain reduces the stress and allows solutions that are far more effective and efficient.
True emergencies are obvious so the next time you find yourself in a situation that feels Urgent and Important, but is not a true emergency, pause to ask yourself which part of your brain you are using. If you find you are in reaction mode, take three deep breaths, then decide to use your Human Brain instead.
The next first step is the simple act of telling yourself which part of your brain to use. Making the conscious decision will flip the switch and slowly build the new habits that will lead to less stress and move forward action.
