Thinking Work is still real work

I stumbled across a great article a few weeks ago and shared it on my personal blog, but I can’t stop thinking about its significance for us as ministers. We’re not “information workers,” but we’re certainly not doing back-breaking labor as a regular part of our jobs, so it still has relevance.

Why Your Brain Wants Cake

The frontal lobes require lots of energy in order to function’ […] there’s a reason why you feel tired and hungry after intensive intellectual work.

In the studies referenced in this article, researchers realized that using our brains intensely and making choices affects the amount of energy we have. Another analysis I read wrote about how we have a limited amount of “deciding power” available to us, and if we waste our “deciding power” on little things that don’t matter, we’ll be less able to handle the big stuff that comes our way. It makes you wonder if more of us should be adopting uniforms like Steve Jobs’ trademark black turtleneck and jeans (less things to decide in the morning.)

Also from the above-linked article:

Distracting the brain with a challenging memory task made a person much more likely to give in to temptation.

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