The Secret Behind Working "Smart"

“Work smarter, not harder.”?

For years?I?never understood what this expression meant.

How do I work smart??

What does?“smart”?actually mean in this context??

Well, I want to take you back to a moment I had a few months ago when I came across an Instagram post?and?it all clicked into place!?

So, anybody who knows me knows?that I love to optimize?my health.?One day?I?was listening to a health podcast?and?the host was discussing how his optimal morning routine consists of:

• Going outside to absorb early sunlight.?
• Walking barefoot to ground and discharge.
• Breathwork relaxes the vagus nerve and stabilizes the nervous system.

I started to follow this routine?and?it?worked (at least for the short term).

But then I subconsciously began to find it?difficult?to maintain…?

In other words, I was trying too hard to maintain this?routine,?when there was a much?smarter?way of doing so. I just?hadn’t?yet figured it out.

Experience taught me that too many steps from A to B reduces our likelihood of ever?actually?getting to B. Think of locking your phone in another room while?you are?trying to work/study. There are way more steps needed to go from your desk to your phone?compared to?if?your phone was placed?right next to you.?You are subconsciously less inclined to want to reach for your phone?in the former case.

A similar thing?was happening?with my morning routine: there were just?way?too many steps from start to finish?and?my subconscious began to find a way out.

But I refused…

I knew there would be an easier way to maintain this routine long-term.

But I?just didn’t?know what to do. I knew?that skipping?steps was not the right choice, so there had to be another way…

Then, one day?the?host posted an Instagram photo of himself sitting on the beach doing his breathwork.?

At first, I?thought?“Wow, what a pretty beach.”?

But then it all clicked!

I finally realized what I needed to do to simplify the morning routine!

In the photo, the host was utilizing the?very?concept that underpins working?“smart.”

What was this concept?

It was the ability to stack effectively.?

The host referred to it as?“biostacking.”

While?he was?doing breathwork on the?beach?he was effectively doing three things at once - sunlight, grounding, and breathwork.

• Sunlight by sitting directly in front of the sun.
• Grounding by sitting on the beach sand.
• Breathwork is the main activity.

It all made sense at this very moment.

Being able to stack effectively is how you work smart.?

The crazy part is that we all?“stack”?every day without even realizing it:

• Listening to a podcast while doing the dishes.
• Talking to someone on the phone while driving (the legal way).
• Eating while working at your desk.

However,?a?very?popular?misconception here is that stacking is the same?thing?as multitasking - which has been proven to reduce productivity and?therefore?cannot?be considered?“working smart.”

That could not be further from the truth.

If you look at it deeply, you are not multitasking at all.?

Sure, you are getting multiple things done at once, but you are not diverting your attention in the case of multitasking to reduce productivity.

How is that possible?

Well, effective stacking is all about using different parts of your brain?at the same time. This way?each?part of the brain that focuses on any given task can give its full attention and therefore not take away from other tasks.?

In the case of listening to a podcast while washing the dishes - the learning part of your brain (Hippocampus) is absorbing all of the information from the podcast, while?the autopilot part of your brain (Basal Ganglia) is?being used?to perform dishwashing. The Hippocampus is not splitting its focus across two tasks,?and neither?is the Basal Ganglia.

This?is how you stack effectively.

On the other side, there is stacking ineffectively, or?“multitasking”?as many refer?to it.?

Imagine if you were sitting in a university lecture and simultaneously listening to a podcast.?You would be stacking ineffectively?in this case?because you are trying to split the focus of your Hippocampus.?That?doesn’t?work in your favor when trying to work smart.

My favorite example of comparing effective stacking with ineffective stacking is while working out.

Imagine you are doing some upper body exercises on the following muscle groups: chest, triceps, and lower back.?

In this case, it would be?common?to see somebody do a set of lifts on their chest, rest, do another set of lifts on their chest,?rest,?before switching it over to the tricep muscle group, and then finally the lower back.

However, if you zoom out, each of these muscle groups is different, and while they?are connected?in some form, they are barely?being used?while the other is in use. While working your chest muscles, you are not working your lower back muscles -?especially?if the movement?is targeted?to a specific part of your chest.?

So, what this means is that as long as a particular muscle group is not actively?being used, it is resting.?This?means that?other muscle groups can be exercised?while one is resting. You would exercise your chest muscles, then immediately exercise your lower back muscles, and then immediately exercise your tricep muscles.?

This?is similar to using different parts of your?brain?as I described above, and this is how you can stack effectively your training exercises rather than ineffectively.?

You may think this is overload.?

But it is not.?

It is an effective way of stacking and will?also save you a bunch?of time while having the same workout that long?periods of rest?would have negated.

That's?a wrap!?

Now you know the real secret behind?“working smart.”?It’s?a phrase we?hear all the time, yet nobody teaches us how. But the?real?secret behind working smart is to stack effectively within your activities. I hope the concept of stacking makes sense now?and I’m?sure?you’re?thinking of dozens of ways?in which?you stack every day. Now that you are aware of it and how efficient it is, you will be able to find more ways to stack in all parts of your life - work, fitness, chores, etc.?

This?will?transform your productivity for the better, give you more time to pursue the things you love, and level up faster in anything!

Thank you for reading!

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? Theo Anthony 2024