Neuroscientist increases mental resilience by 40% in 32 days with Optimal Pace Protocol
Aaron Houghton
Aaron
S.R.
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Aaron
SR, you've been a Dory Guide member for ninety days, consistently measuring your Optimal Pace every day and seeing great results. You improved your Mental Resilience score from 65 to 91 in your first thirty days using the protocol.
But you're not new to the science or practice of understanding the mind.
As a former biotech founder, and now a pharmaceutical executive, medical doctor, neurologist and neuroscientist you know far more about how the brain works than most people ever will.
Aaron
You've mentioned your familiarity with pacing work as a scientist and executive and the huge positive impact that optimal pacing can have on our lives as thinkers and builders.
Since running your life on the Optimal Pace Protocol, what have you learned about the actual pace that works best for you?
Charles
To be honest, the first thing I learned was that my Optimal Pace is not as many hours as I would have guessed. But once I learned that, and practiced it daily for a few weeks, it made sense from an experiential standpoint.
I also see that one’s Optimal Pace is akin to a homeostatic setpoint like your basal metabolic rate. I.e., it’s fairly fixed but can be adjusted with some intentional behaviors and interventions.
Aaron
Now that you know your Optimal Pace, what changes are you making to maintain it, thereby protecting your performance and the health of your mindstate?
Charles
Once you become aware of your Optimal Pace – it is indeed important to protect your time and maintain your pace.
In my corporate work life, that means being more selective about what meetings I truly need to attend and maintaining focus in between meetings to complete work as efficiently as possible.
Aaron
You increased your Mental Resilience score by 40% in your first month using the protocol, meaning your mindstate is now way less reactive to the highs and lows of your external environment. What does that feel like in daily life and what does it allow you to do differently than before?
Charles
In daily life, specifically in work life, it feels like being less emotionally reactive. More detached, observant, relaxed – which allows me to me engage my left hemisphere and calmly think through and respond to difficult conversations in real time.
Aaron
You believe in Optimal Pace as a tool for achieving great professional outcomes, but the required steps can feel monotonous and small during execution. We measure our minds, learn our Optimal Pace, adjust our commitments, and guide ourselves to full recovery every day.
What would you say to people just now discovering Optimal Pace about how they can turn their new knowledge into new habits they can trust?
Charles
Try it out. Discover your pace. Then decide.