Laura Stack* investigates why it is so important to have well-honed mental acuity in the modern workplace.
This isn’t a just another blog about how to hone your mental acuity so you can boost your workplace productivity.
There are plenty of those out there, and I’ve done one or two myself.
No, this article is about the why, not the how. You may think the why is obvious, but is it?
Most people only have a nebulous idea that mental fitness is a good thing — and, of course, they’re correct.
However, it’s important to know why it’s a good thing in detail, because this makes its value easier to pin down and focus on.
There are always the basic arguments for keeping your mind sharp.
It may help you live longer and avoid Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and often aids your memory.
It also keeps you centred and protects you in several environmental senses, ranging from shielding you from physical harm to expanding your common sense.
It also offers more immediate benefits to your entire life, of which your work life is a significant part.
These reasons include, but are not limited, to the following.
It helps you plan
It’s easier to care about what’s next when your mind is sharp.
Furthermore, you can more easily consider all options, obstacles, and milestones pertaining to a project, and visualise your ultimate goals in all their glory.
While you can’t account for all contingencies, it’s simpler to address them when you can think clearly.
It makes you more mindful
When your mind is dull, you float through life on automatic.
You may get by, but your efficiency and effectiveness are minimal.
You’re more likely to miss important things or make mistakes that require repair, thereby wasting time and energy.
Mental acuity, when properly applied, makes you more alert to what’s happening right now.
Such mindfulness helps you navigate the present with greater ease.
Your attention focuses more fully on what you’re doing and taking part in, not only allowing you to boost your efficiency, but also to retain more of what you’re experiencing and learning.
It enhances creativity
Mental sharpness not only helps you plan the future and navigate the present, it helps you leverage your past with greater facility.
Now, you won’t experience many ‘eureka’ moments just by increasing mental acuity.
You have to deliberately let it loose, free-associating and purposely shuffling through your experience, education, readings, and other learning as you cogitate on a problem.
Ideally, it can also bridge the way into the fertile fields of your subconscious mind, where potential ideas cross-fertilise and accumulate.
It contributes to mental flexibility
When your mind is unclouded, it’s more likely to let you see farther into your memories and experience.
It may also help you see when other people’s ideas make good sense.
When this happens, you become less reactionary, more willing to consider new ways of doing things as the world changes.
It also allows you to deal better with daily stresses and to survive painful blows, allowing you to learn from them and move forward more easily.
It simplifies decision-making
In allowing you to ‘see’ farther, mental acuity presents a wider variety of options when you’re trying to decide on a course of action.
Such as clearly understanding your goals, as well as consciously putting to use well-established decision-making processes in combination.
Recognising the benefits of all the options makes decision-making easier in the long run.
It helps build an optimal mindset
Overall, higher mental acuity contributes to your general wellbeing, providing you with another tool that helps you become your best self.
When your mind is sharp, it allows you the flexibility and mindfulness to make the best decisions possible.
You’ll also be able to think more creatively, so you increase your chances of surviving anything life or work throws at you.
While physical health is vital and contributes to your mental health, cerebral sharpness is what really matters in your workplace.
How fast you can run or how much you can bench-press pales in comparison to your ability to assimilate data, perform rapidly, integrate well with your team, and create new opportunities for the organisation.
Sharpening your mental tools will benefit your career — whether that means lots of reading, doing more Sudoku puzzles, untangling brainteasers, or all the above.
*Laura Stack is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and authority on productivity and performance. She has authored eight books, including her newest work, Faster Together: Accelerating Your Team’s Productivity. She can be contacted at theproductivitypro.com.
This article first appeared at theproductivitypro.com.
