Introducing BOB

I attended a management seminar a few years ago, and the host relayed information so pertinent to our daily lives that I share it whenever possible.

He introduced me to “BOB,” which stands for Brain On Backup.

You see, BOB is a phenomenon that everybody experiences but few people realize happens.

In many instances in our daily lives, we do things without really thinking. Think of the last time you drove someplace familiar, like work or home. You probably weren’t the one driving—BOB was at the wheel.

Let me explain…

Because the route was so familiar to you, you weren’t actually paying 100% attention during the drive. You would jump in from time to time when something unexpected happened, such as someone hitting the brakes in front of you or something of interest popping into your line of sight, but you weren’t an active participant in the driving process. Your brain was on backup, which freed you to think about other things.

How many times during your day do you let BOB take control? Stop and think about it—it’s probably a lot more than you realize. It certainly was for me.

We’ve become programmed machines, folks. During routine events in our lives, we stop paying attention and let BOB take the helm.

To me, this is a scary thought. After all, there are some things that deserve our complete and undivided attention. Driving is definitely one of them (though the thought of BOB driving everyone around sure explains why the roads are a hazard most days). Brain surgery should definitely be another (no offense intended to any brain surgeons).

I’m sure that the human mind invented BOB to keep us from overthinking things, or to help us reserve brain power for the really important things in life. Regardless, BOB is taking over our lives slowly but surely, and we probably should do something about that.

I’m not saying that we should get rid of BOB, but maybe we should reduce the number of hours he works. Give it a try—you might be surprised about what you’ve been missing.