Ever caught yourself optimizing every single minute of your day? Even a quick walk to the supermarket?
I spoke with a high-level manager who used to do exactly that. Calls on the way to the grocery store. Emails while brushing his teeth. No moment left unoptimized.
But he didn’t tell me this with pride.
Not anymore.
Because now he is facing serious health problems. His nervous system isn’t whispering anymore; it’s screaming. He lost part of his vision. Yeah, he really did.
You might wonder: what does vision have to do with any of this?
Here is what most people don’t know: Your brain’s number one job is survival. Your vision sits at the top of your brain’s survival priorities.
Why?
Because if there’s a bear in the woods, you want to see it before you feel it on your shoulder.
When your nervous system is stuck in overdrive and never resets, your brain will send stronger and stronger signals. At first, it’s some weird back pain. Then maybe digestive issues. Maybe sleep problems. And eventually, it is complete shutdown.
Your brain isn’t trying to ruin your life. It’s actually trying to save it.
Because survival comes first. Performance comes second.
And here’s the part we forget: Focus. Creativity. Clear decisions. All of those are high-level outputs of a regulated system. You can’t access them in a state of constant overload.
Your nervous system will adapt and compensate until it can’t anymore.
If you want to perform at a high level without breaking down, don’t start with outputs, like treating the symptoms.
Start with the root cause and the system that runs it all:
Your nervous system.
Want to learn how?
– Michi