Which part of your brain do you take to work with you…

Put it another way, which bit do you leave at home? The thing is, most of us get into a way of thinking at work, and a way of talking, that seems to fit how we’re expected to behave. And it’s normally not how we are at home. It happens during the commute. Whether you’re in your car or on the tube, your brain slowly morphs, from happy, playful, imaginative you into ‘office you’. And by the time you’re at your desk the metamorphosis is complete. We even speak a different language. We get into meeting speak, clever speak, look how well I know this routine speak… “By virtue of this; from the outset; in regard to the other; by the end of play…” We wouldn’t talk to our friends and family like that. It’s all part of the disguise. We disguise ourselves as a mythical ‘office’ person. And we actually use a different part of our brains at work. The more rational, judgmental bit. The bit that know what’s right and what’s wrong, and can make that assessment at stapler speed. And that’s useful. It gets us noticed and promoted… to a point. The trouble is when we’re suddenly asked to be creative, imaginative, to have ideas. Not easy. Because that doesn’t fit the persona of ‘office you’. It doesn’t come naturally to the bit of brain you take to work. But the weekend brain is still in there. The bit that says “bugger it, let’s have a bash. Let’s see what happens. Let’s play it by ear.” The bit that says “I don’t know, I’ll give it a go.” The bit that’s comfortable mucking about. That is a different bit of our brains. And when we need to be creative, that’s the most important bit. There’s nothing wrong with ‘office brain’. You need it to get stuff done. But we all need to get better at taking ‘weekend brain’ into work with us too.