Ep136: Hot vs cold executive function - the secret to getting things done?

Speaker A: 00:00:00

Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder, more sustainable approach to productivity.

I'm Louise Miller and each week I share bite size insights to help you step away from the hustle, stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world.

Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a cuppa by going to buymeacoffee.com louisemiller and making a one off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes. Okay, grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started.

Over the years, so many people have referred to what I do as magic that I've often joked that the reason people who work with me are suddenly able to finish what they start and get so much more done is is witchcraft. But it isn't. Really.

I wish it were, but I'm not Hermione Granger there's actually a far more scientific explanation for why my approach to productivity is so effective, and it's all to do with how your brain works, more specifically your executive function.

So I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of executive function in as much as it's the set of cognitive processes that allow you to plan, prioritize, focus your attention, and juggle multiple tasks. But did you know that you have two neural pathways underlying those systems known as a hot and cold executive function?

So I only found found that out a few years ago and it made so much sense, both in terms of understanding why so many people struggle with productivity and understanding why my approach is so effective. So let's start by exploring the difference between your hot and cold executive function as we go.

In this episode, I might use EF in place of executive function. It's a bit of a mouthful, so if I say ef, that's what I mean.

So your cold EF is tied to the regions of your brain that help with working memory, attention, task switching, and keeping a goal in mind.

It's what allows you to plan your next steps, hold information in your mind, stay focused on an important task even when it's boring, and prioritise even when nothing is screaming for your attention. Now, hot EF involves the same processes, but as they apply to emotionally or motivationally significant situations.

So your HOTT EF gets involved when the stakes feel high, when something feels emotionally loaded or when there's an immediate payoff.

And as a result it can often be responsible for procrastination, reaching for distractions and working on what's fun or easy instead of what matters most.

So you might think that the answer to your productivity struggles is to lean fully into ways of working that favor your cold executive function so that your hot EF doesn't get the chance to sabotage your progress. So things like planners and time blocking checklists to do list apps and fancy spreadsheets.

But my guess is that you've been trying those things already, and although it seems on paper like they should work in principle, my guess is that if you're listening to this, they just don't work for you. So am I right?

And it turns out that there's a very good reason for that, because those things kind of pretend that your hot executive function doesn't exist. But it does.

And when your hot EF pops up to say hello, you'll be totally unprepared for it and potentially find yourself chasing shiny objects down a rabbit hole. Because you need both your hot and your cold executive function to be working for you if you want to get the important things done.

So let's spend a few minutes looking at the pros and cons of your hot executive function. So let's start with the positives.

When you genuinely care about a task, your hot EF will amplify that motivation, making you more likely to take action. When there's a strong emotion attached to the things on your list, your hot system will help you to prioritize more quickly in the moment.

That's where your gut tells you what you should do in a high pressure situation. When a task really matters to you, it's easier to stay on task and push through obstacles even when you're feeling a bit stressed.

So your hot EF can be a massive help. But unfortunately, it also comes with its downsides.

If the emotional signal from your hot executive function is too strong and that emotion involves anxiety or fear, that emotion can hijack your executive system, preventing you from making good decisions.

It can also nudge you towards tasks that feel fun or immediately rewarding, which can distract you from the things that are really, really important and impactful, but perhaps feel a little bit boring.

And on a similar note, your hot EF can increase impulsivity, which results in you abandoning kind of slow burn projects in favour of something more immediately stimulating.

So if you rely on your hot executive function to drive you forward, it becomes difficult to be consistent because you'll only Take action when you're in the mood. And then there's the big one, right?

Procrastination tasks with high emotional stakes are often the ones we avoid the most because there is too much at stake. It feels like too much of a risk. So it's a pickle, isn't it? Right. We need the emotional driver to get us to take action.

But too much emotion or too much of the wrong kind of emotion and we're screwed. So let's have a look now at your cold executive function to see if that can kind of help shed some light on all of this. So first, the good stuff.

Because it's not bothered about how you feel, your cold EF can provide you with consistency and reliability. It's really good at suppressing irrelevant stimuli, which will help you to stay on task when something more interesting presents itself.

When your cold EF is well supported, it can reduce decision fatigue by introducing systems or habits that actually minimize your cognitive load, giving you less to think about. So in theory, your cold EF can just get on with it because it sees everything as neutral. There's no emotion attached to it. So, so far, so good.

Although that does all sound a bit boring to me. Right, so let's have a look at the downside of your cold executive function.

So it has no motivational fuel and so it struggles to provide and produce the drive to start on its own. Your cold EF can become rigid and inflexible, which isn't great in situations that need you to pivot and adjust.

And it has no idea what actually matters, which means you risk spending all of your time doing busy work, ticking boxes on tasks that actually shouldn't have been on your list in the first place.

So hopefully this is helping you understand why being productive isn't quite as straightforward as finding a system, sitting down, and getting on with it. Most people in my world are having their productivity derailed by their hot executive function.

They may have tried all sorts of things to get their cold EF to take over, but as we've seen, those systems aren't always helpful and they often can't compete with the more emotionally responsive hot executive function. And it makes sense that those of us running a business would struggle with this, doesn't it? Right.

When you're in a job, the tasks that you're doing don't usually have such emotional weight.

The stakes aren't as high, your identity isn't as tied up in what you're doing, and so it's easier for your cold EF just to happily get on and do its thing. But once you start working for yourself and suddenly the buck stops with you, that is a whole different ball game.

So just because your productivity is being impacted by cognitive processes that are going on in your brain without you even realizing it, that doesn't mean that you can't do anything about it.

So the key to all of this is to find a balance that works for you, so that the emotion of your hot EF gets you motivated in taking action, and your cold EF helps you to stay on track. And that, it turns out, is what my approach to productivity does so brilliantly.

So, first, you need something concrete that will help you stay on track when something more interesting comes along. In other words, you need a plan. But the plans people create in my world are not just any old plan, right?

The plan you make with me, yes, it will satisfy your cold EF by breaking projects down and giving you structure, but it goes a step beyond that, because you will know. Because you'll know why the things on your plan matter.

How they fit into the bigger picture of your life and the part that they play in moving you closer to your vision. So that's great for your call ef, because it will prevent your plan from feeling really soulless.

And it will mean you're not spending all of your time being very productive, doing all the wrong things. But introducing that emotional layer into your plan is also really great for your hot EF as it provides the motivation you need to get started.

So when you have that deep connection to why the things on your plan matter, you're way less likely to be distracted by other shiny things and way more likely to stay the course. And the other great thing about having a plan that integrates both your hot and your cold executive function is that it guards against impulsivity.

So we know that your hot EF isn't always great at decision making in the moment. So let's identify the things that are most important and will make the biggest impact.

And let's do that when you're in a calm and quiet space where you can hear yourself think. And another thing we can do as well when we're creating our plans is to get ahead of those heightened emotions that might trip you up.

So once you've named what might come up for you, what might trip you up, the things you're scared of and you can see them for what they are, you're then able to choose how to move forward. So it might be that you want to do some journaling around the fear that's coming up for you.

Maybe you have a coach you can talk to about the anxiety you're feeling. Your hot executive function wants to distract you from those feelings by giving you something fun to do instead of is trying to keep you safe.

But it'll just end up meaning that you're avoiding the things that are important. So productivity and progress happen when you find a way to sit with those emotions and work through them.

And that's why productivity isn't just about finding the perfect system or a spreadsheet or an app. It's not about just writing a to do list and then crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

It's about harnessing your hot executive function by introducing just enough emotion, just enough motivation, enough of that kind of meaning and purpose behind the plan to help you actually get motivated and want to do the thing.

Getting ahead of the obstacles and some of the cons that we talked about earlier around that hot executive function so that the cool EF stuff that you are introducing so the plans and the systems and the things that you've got to support you have got a better chance of actually serving you moving forward. So I know I have covered a lot here today.

You know, I started out by saying that people often refer to me as some kind of a witch, but hopefully this deep dive has helped you to see why my approach to productivity works. It's not magic, it's neuroscience, right? So I know I have thrown a lot of information at you today. This one might benefit from a re listen.

You might start to pick up on some things that will help you make some adjustments in how you're doing things so that you can get both your hot and your cold EF working for you. I really hope there's something here that helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle.

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