Libby Johnson: Hello everyone. I'm Libby Johnson, director of Learning and Development. Today I'd like to talk about neuro-resilience Actually, I want to talk about neuro-resilience every day to anyone who will listen for as long as they will listen, and I think my team can attest to this. For today, I don't want to talk about neuro-resilience as a concept.

I want to talk about it as something usable, especially if you work in healthcare, or frankly, if you're ever feeling exhausted in a way that rest doesn't totally restore. Here's the thing, most of us already know what would help us feel better. The problem is that knowing and doing are governed by different parts of the brain, and when we're stressed, exhausted, or burned out.

The part of the brain that knows better doesn't always get the final say. Let's be honest. For a lot of reasons that come down to biological architecture, the voices in our brain that carry the most wisdom are the most frequently overruled. So what I want to share today are a few specific tools that support neuro-resilience not by demanding more effort, but by reducing the load on the brain itself.

Hack number one. Let's start with decision restriction. One of the most underappreciated drains on resilience is decision fatigue. Every choice. What to eat, what to respond to, what to prioritize costs us a specific amount of energy. And when our energy is low, our brain starts conserving it in ways that don't feel great.

This could look like avoidance, shut down, irritability, going non-verbal, or even greater rigidity in our thinking. So one of the simplest neuro-resilience strategies is this restrict your decisions. On purpose. This might look like eating the same breakfast or lunch for most days. Having low effort, healthy snacks at eye level in the refrigerator that are ready to go, having default work clothes, or even a personal uniform that's at the ready for low effort days, or a short, non-negotiable routine to start or end your shift.

isn't about becoming boring. This is about targeting decisions in your life that are less meaningful for you and automating them. This protects your cognitive energy for the decisions that actually matter And that add value to your life. See, exhausted brains don't need more freedom. They actually need fewer forks in the road.

Hack two, externalize responsibility so your brain can stop holding it. All. This is a resilient skill that sounds simple, but it is neurologically profound. Your brain was never meant to be a long-term storage device. There is no such thing as iCloud on the human OSX. When we try to hold everything internally, appointments follow-ups Don't forget, the brain interprets that memory vigilance as ongoing threat. That's when you see rumination anxiety spikes And that constant low grade sense of being behind. If you ever feel a sense of shapeless dread, this might be where it's originating from. This is where tools like Kanban Boards, task lists and visual trackers come in, not as productivity hacks, but as nervous system supports.

When something is written down, invisible And in our physical environment, our brain releases it, our working memory is allowed to clear and forgetting becomes neutral Instead of a source of shame, this matters. Especially for people who are already tired, you're not disorganized, your brain is overloaded.

External systems are not a crutch. They're compassion for your human operating system. Close your mental browser tabs and put some post-it notes on your refrigerator instead, you deserve to be able to let it go.

Hack three before bed bucketing. Let's talk about sleep for a moment. Specifically that moment right before sleep. A lot of people struggle not because they're not tired, but because their brain won't stop circling, replaying conversations. Making lists, solving problems at 11:47 PM that absolutely do not need solving right now.

One technique that I love and I use myself is what I call before bed bucketing. It's pretty simple. Before sleep, close your eyes and mentally sort any thoughts that emerge into one of four bucketed categories. Try and visualize them. The four buckets are. Does this need to happen tomorrow? Does it need to happen soon?

Does it need to happen in a few weeks or months, or does it need to happen someday or maybe even never? Nothing's getting solved. Nothing's getting judged. You're just telling your brain, I see you and This is where this belongs. What this does neurologically is powerful because it signals containment.

Containment allows the brain to rest knowing things have a sense of place, even if that somewhere is imaginary in one of those buckets in your brain. The analytical act of sorting moves us from circular thought patterns and worries to our part of the brain that makes decisions that one move has the ability to deescalate stress and support a good night's rest.

To understand why hacks like these work, it's useful to know a little bit about how the brain makes decisions. There's an older cognitive model called Triune brain Theory, and it's helpful to conceptualize how our brains tend to wrestle with Triune brain theory describes three interacting systems, the survival brain, the emotional brain. and the thinking brain, but here's the key point of Trium brain theory. These three parts don't get equal voting rights. When we're stressed or tired, the survival and emotional brain systems speak louder.

They want comfort, avoidance, reassurance, familiarity. The thinking brain, the one who actually has the best ideas. Often gets overruled and talked over. This is why we can genuinely identify and want to do the right thing for ourselves in many cases and still not do it.

 Which leads me to hack four, the five second window. There's this moment and it's very brief when our thinking brain does actually speak up. You may feel it internally as a small, quiet nudge. I should probably be drinking some water. I should be writing this down. I should probably go to bed now. The voice of the thinking brain is polite.

It's not loud, and it does not care to repeat itself. From the moment that you hear the thinking brain speak, you have about five seconds before the emotional brain starts negotiating. The emotional brain is going to counter with things like, do it later. You're too tired. It doesn't matter if you do it today or tomorrow.

Neuro-resilience sounds complex, but sometimes it looks as simple as this when the better urge appears. Act before the debate begins.

I want to share something personal here because it shapes how I think about all of this and why I am specifically passionate about it. For much of my life, I've relied on supportive systems, not as a burnout intervention, but as a daily need. I learned early in life that I couldn't rely on my internal states or my energy or motivation or focus to be consistent, so I had to build around them.

What I've come to realize is that burnout and exhaustion puts many people into a cognitive state that feels very familiar to what neurodivergent folks like me struggle with overload, rigidity and loss of flexibility. The answer isn't punishing ourselves. It's better scaffolding.

So in closing, neuro-resilience isn't simply about pushing through. It's about designing your life so that when your brain is tired, you're still supported. Less friction, fewer decisions, more external support and systems that are set up to work on your worst day, not just designed for your best one.

If you'd like to learn more about neuro-resilience and other fascinating topics, please consider joining the Four Corners Conference for Professional Development coming up on February 26th. This event is an all-day community learning opportunity and can be reimbursed through your education benefits.

You can learn more and register by visiting fccpd.com And if you've made it this far, I have a few promotional tickets to give away. Feel free to contact me directly and inquire about availability for you or for members of your team. Thanks so much for listening today and keep learning.