Marketers' secret productivity engine

Marketers are orchestrators of people, processes, and technology. Intentionally utilizing the tools and mental energy necessary to create the desired state.

As you zoom in and out of your organizational stack, you'll see the different levers, tweaks, and approvals you need to pull to achieve your goals. Each system you own affects other systems. Protocols and documentation keep everything grounded. And all of this works together seamlessly to drive organizational efficiency and revenue within your marketing team. This is something you do every day in some way.

Rebalance: the key to sustainable success

Here are the difficult questions you don't want to ask yourself. In what capacity do you give yourself this same care and attention? How much do you understand? Not only as a marketer, but also as a family member? As a friend?

You're constantly battling friction: responding to requests, setting boundaries, facilitating discussions, setting and resetting priorities, and navigating complex workplace dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Often this friction is felt so strongly that the positive energy and momentum you created quickly diminishes and then appears to slowly recover.

Projects can lose momentum, teams can become dysfunctional, and they can lose sight of the goalposts. Even if the work continues, this is a huge burden on even the most experienced orchestrator. This ultimately leads to burnout. It is a detrimental process in itself, with cascading effects that affect not only the orchestrator's core functionality, but everything and everyone it comes into contact with. Burnout occurs and often takes months to readjust, leaving people, processes, and technology in a dire state.

Understanding this, the key to success as an orchestrator is sustainable productivity and balance. But what exactly should we do?

Interestingly, this is similar to the systematic approach you take to your role. Leverage the various internal tools and processes available to you and create protocols that promote your own energy usage and balance.

As well as its own stack, it has a number of internal systems and processes that are responsible for inputs and drive outputs. It uses data and communication to control energy, alertness, physiological needs, hormone release, and more. In other words, the power behind the orchestrator.

There are many books, studies, courses, and interesting papers written about all these systems, but especially some very interesting and lesser-known ones that can be very powerful for orchestrators, conductors, and creators alike. There are two. Here we explore the power of brainwaves. In the next article, the Ultradian will discuss his rhythms and how, as an orchestrator, he utilizes these two systems and processes to bring back his energy and allow him to perform at his highest level without stress. It will cost you your health.

Learn more: 20 ways to make your marketing team more productive

Decoding the music of the mind: Brain waves

Just imagine for a moment. You are on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The surroundings are calm and relaxing. So the ocean reacts as well. The water surface is calm, with gentle rhythmic swaying, and the animals above and below are at peace. You can easily lie down and rest or enjoy some quiet daydreaming.

Now imagine that storm clouds begin to roll into view and the environment quickly transitions into dark and stormy conditions. The ocean begins to react to the strength of the winds and the movement of weather patterns above, causing strong shaking and disturbances below. The waves become so strong that it becomes almost impossible to stay on the ground. You can't take a nap here.

Did you know that a very similar process is happening inside you every minute of the day? Like the outside world, this process is also driven by pure energy vibrating at different frequencies. And our brain is in charge, deciding how to react to everything outside us and communicating through patterns of electrical activity produced by neurons. This electrical activity is called “brain waves.”

Brain waves are energetic responses to what you see, feel, and experience. Basically, brain waves determine consciousness, brain activity, and ultimately the state of consciousness, as measured by frequency (Hz). There are five types of brain waves that are generated, and these brain waves are generated all the time, but when the environment around the brain changes, one of them can become dominant. Each of these brainwave states is also responsible for different mental states, cognitive functions, and abilities.

Most of us have heard of one or two of these brain waves. You may have heard about delta waves, which are the dominant brain waves during deep sleep. Or maybe you've heard of beta waves, which are the dominant brain waves during typical periods of conscious wakefulness.

But what most of us aren't taught is the power behind each of these brain waves and the states they can create. As your brain waves oscillate slower (lower frequency), the gap between your conscious and subconscious minds begins to close. Doing so increases cognitive abilities and access to information that is not normally available in the normal waking state (beta). Interestingly, our normal state of wakefulness can be associated with anxiety and stress when recorded at higher frequencies.

This is not to say that these brainwaves are inherently good or bad, but if we remember the ocean analogy, what good can come from a never-ending storm? Instead of continuing storms, we want to create an environment where we can easily ride these waves. Sometimes we use big waves and lots of energy to encourage action and quick decisions, and other times we need relaxed, rhythmic waves. It creates space for inner reflection and creativity.

Conductor's Guide to Brainwave Optimization

So how can we use these brain waves to create the right space at the right time?

The good news is that this is mostly in your control. As mentioned above, these brain waves respond to what is happening outside the brain (what you are thinking, feeling, and experiencing), so they are responsible for changes in your mental state that occur in your daily life. Start thinking about it. How about a relaxing weekend? In nature? Are you exercising? Do you want to attend another hour-long meeting? Are you rushing to get the kids to school? As soon as you wake up? How you experience these moments can be an indicator of how you are.

Notice that you often get your best ideas when you're not sitting at your desk working. Maybe you magically solve a problem in your sleep, or come up with a brilliant idea in the shower by connecting seemingly unrelated thoughts. It's not magic, it's your brain responding. So, if we change the way we think, feel, and experience these moments and environments, can we change the state of our brainwaves? That's the fun part!

As we have seen above, there are certain brainwave states that we can imagine to be very useful in different situations. Given that the alpha state is a relaxed, meditative, and creative state, this may be the best state to be in during a writing session or creative brainstorming session. Or you can look at gamma waves, which are the highest frequency bands associated with concentration, improved memory, and concentration. This may be the perfect state to be in when you're looking for peak productivity, practicing a presentation, or doing important work. Tasks that require the highest cognitive abilities.

So, we know that we naturally move in and out of these brainwave states all the time, but how can we become more intentional and aware of them so that we can take advantage of them?

First, it's important to just be aware of your state of mind and how it naturally occurs. This is the easiest way to take advantage of this moment. If you know that exercising puts you in a creative state of mind, you can structure your workouts around that. With increased attention and intention, begin to observe this natural flow of energy and what it produces. And you can take it to the next level by intentionally invoking your dominant brainwave state based on your environment and activity.

For example, music and a calming environment can be powerful tools for speeding up or slowing down brain activity. Music can also be measured in frequency, so you can put on your orchestrator hat and find songs and tones with frequencies that match your desired state.

We are not wired to be dominated by beta brainwaves, but unfortunately our mindset, emotions, and environment cause us to function this way. Whether it's due to a disconnect between our mind and body, the way we spend our days, or negative thought patterns caused by certain beliefs, assumptions, and value programming.

As a result, stress levels and anxiety increase, which are not ideal conditions for many activities and tasks that need to be performed. If you want to eliminate friction, start noticing how and why your brain waves appear during the day, and experiment to align them with what you need to do in a more effective, productive, and balanced way. Please start.

Next time, I'll build on this and explain the key cycles you can adjust to increase your energy and productivity: Ultradian Rhythms. It turns out that, like the systems we manage in marketing roles, brainwaves can influence these cycles in both productive and unproductive ways.

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