Your Brain on Work: The 3 Things Your Brain Really Wants
Ever wonder why work can feel so compelling, uncomfortable, and exhausting all at the same time? Your brain may have more to do with it than you think.
Why are we so motivated to reply to one last email, but can’t find the same motivation for the things we actually want to do outside of work?
Why does feedback, either giving or receiving, continue to feel scary for so many of us?
How can one Slack message ruin our entire day?
Simple - it’s your beautiful human brain!
What’s happening in your brain?
At its core, our brain is designed to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and conserve energy.
That’s it. Three simple motivations that influence so much of what we do.
The brain is constantly looking for things that feel good, trying to avoid things that feel bad, and looking for ways to use less energy.
These motivations made a lot of sense for humans living in environments where food, energy, and safety weren't guaranteed. They helped us survive.
But today, our brains are operating in a very different world.
Why work amplifies it
Work gives your brain a lot to react to.
Seek pleasure - Praise from your boss. A Slack notification. Finishing a task. Getting a promotion. Checking something off your list.
All of these can feel like pleasure to your brain - and who doesn’t want more pleasure?!
Avoid pain - A difficult conversation. Making a mistake. Criticism. Rejection. An awkward meeting. Speaking up when you're not sure how people will respond.
Your brain is wired to avoid these uncomfortable moments whenever it can.
Conserve energy - Putting off a complicated project. Avoiding a decision. Staying with the familiar process. Reaching for your phone instead of tackling the thing that requires concentration.
Your brain is always looking for ways to save energy, and sometimes that looks a lot like staying with the familiar and avoiding something hard.
So what can we do about it?
The goal isn't to fight your brain. These motivations are there for a reason.
Instead, it’s about noticing what our brain is up to and deciding how we want to act next.
This can be as simple as asking yourself, when you find yourself working through the weekend:
Am I seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, or conserving energy?
Then ask:
Is following that impulse actually helping me?
Sometimes the answer will be yes.
Maybe working through the weekend is genuinely aligned with what you want. Maybe you're excited about a project, building something you're passionate about, or working toward a goal that matters to you.
And sometimes, you might notice something else.
Maybe you're seeking the pleasure of Monday morning praise.
Maybe you're avoiding the discomfort of having unstructured time.
Or maybe you're conserving energy by staying busy rather than asking yourself a harder question:
What would my life look like if work didn't have such a hold on me?
That tiny moment of awareness creates a choice.
You don't have to fight your brain. You just have to understand what it's doing well enough to decide whether you want to follow it, or focus it in another direction.
And this is exactly what we explore in Your Brain on Work. We look at the psychology behind everyday work experiences, and what happens when our human brains meet the modern world of work. See you inside!
Your Brain on Work is a WorkSense™ publication exploring the psychology behind our everyday experiences at work - and using those insights to help work make sense.