Learn how to perform at your best in a world that never switches off

How well does your brain work? This is not a question about how clever you are or how good at your job. It’s about whether you are maximising the time when your brain is

best able to think clearly, focus deeply, and tackle your most challenging work.

Dr Jon Finn has spent his career studying the emerging science behind the way human brains function. After working as a psychologist in elite sport, he turned his attention to workplaces and how we optimise the use of our brains in the work environment.

It turns out that many of our daily habits reduce our ability to use our brains effectively.

“The thing that drives everything we do and say is the brain, but it’s been invisible for most of history,” Finn explains. “It’s only been possible to look at how it functions in real time in the past 25 years, and this has shown that much of what we believe is based on misconceptions.”

The brain is highly energy-demanding, so it naturally tries to conserve effort by operating through habits and automatic patterns. People, therefore, develop habits that enable this, which may have been fine in evolutionary periods when we were doing repetitive tasks, and energy was precious.

In the workplace, however, the most valuable work usually requires us to think deliberately, solve difficult problems, and make high-quality decisions. Yet, our lifestyles and work environments rarely maximise our ability to work at this level.

The advent of AI changes everything. Using our brain at its most powerful is no longer an optional extra. AI can already do repetitive tasks better than us. To remain relevant, we must optimise our brainpower. To do this, we must change our habits.

How to change

Finn’s work with teams has demonstrated that this is possible and can have significant effects. In his session at the Internal Audit Conference in September, he will provide a practical framework that demonstrates how our brain states affect everything in our lives, from our energy levels and ability to focus to our resilience and the quality of our decision-making.

Attendees will complete brain state assessments that will help them to think about their own patterns of behaviour, performance, health, and happiness. They will be encouraged to introduce a simple daily habit to “reset” their cognitive state and take control of their brains, energy, and performance. 

“The always-on world is destructive for wellbeing, happiness, and performance,” Finn explains. “We have now created a competitor, and we can do what AI can’t only if we understand our brains better.”

The brain is adaptive, he adds. It will change if we recognise and consciously alter the daily habits that exhaust and hinder us. It’s not easy. We must seize the limited period of the day when our brains are at full power, because, at other times, when we are recharging the brain’s “batteries” or working on low power, we lack the energy and insight to do it.

“The modern world conditions us to be always on and always busy. Consequently, most people have too few opportunities to recharge, so they feel constantly tired and that they are underperforming,” Finn says. “Not getting enough time to recharge is bad for our brains and our emotions.”

Develop a brain-smart culture

For businesses, encouraging more people to use their highest charged brain state is a must, but we must think differently about how we expect people to work.

At the conference, Finn will discuss why just giving people more time won’t necessarily enable change. “It’s like giving them a gym membership that no one uses,” he says.

Managers and teams need to learn how to develop better brain habits – and part of the solution may be to use AI for what it does best.

AI is a threat to how we work now, but it presents amazing opportunities, Finn adds. “It’s the most exciting tech we’ve ever had because it frees people to do the things they’ve always wanted to do. There will be many opportunities, but they will require a different culture, work environment, and education.”

Giving people choices is the most compelling way to enable them, he says. Cultures that encourage self-determination will encourage people to develop habits that enable them to use their brains to benefit themselves, their work, and their customers.

“We’re entering a period of history where understanding our brain is more important than ever,” he argues. “It will be key to making a life in a world where technology is hundreds of times faster and cheaper than we are. It’s also key to being happy and getting better results.”

Case study

Ahmed Uppal, Head of UK Audit at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB), called on Dr Finn to help his team adapt and become more resilient after Covid.

“We wanted to learn more about how to be resilient, how to handle stress and anxiety, how to be better team members and lead ourselves,” he explains. He found the process fascinating and saw significant engagement on this aspect from his team, and personally benefited significantly.

“Part of it was about being healthy physically and ditching bad habits like looking at our phones late at night or not taking frequent breaks. We also learned ways to enable us to use our brains to power our performance,” Uppal says. “The outcomes were amazing – the team felt it was safe to discuss their challenges and ideas, and we had so many ‘Aha!’ moments where people recognised the patterns and habits that were holding them back in their professional and personal capacity.”

Uppal adds that perhaps the most valuable takeaway from Finn’s training was that it was all achievable “if we induced change in bite-sized chunks that allow powerful habits to form and have a lasting impact. This can be as simple as taking enough rest and exercise, even if it is for short periods of time.”

Knowing, for example, that the brain works most efficiently in short blocks, that a walk after a meal will reduce sugar spikes and dips, and that it’s important to sleep regular hours and well without phones in the bedroom, helped Uppal to lose weight, become fitter, and sleep better. He says he has more sustained energy and can now block out time to do focused work without feeling overwhelmed.

His team has the freedom to work flexibly and identify when they work best, and he insists they take proper breaks away from screens as much as possible.

“Internal audit is a tough job. You need to be a diplomat to deliver unpalatable truths and sometimes deal with difficult stakeholders. You need to change and learn constantly, and process lots of complex information. You must communicate clearly and well. If you don’t use your brain effectively, this job will be exhausting,” he says.

“The pressures of modern life are not likely to diminish, so we must learn to handle them better and use our brains to help us cope and be resilient.”

Dr Jon Finn is the founder of the award-winning Tougher Minds consultancy and author of the bestselling books The Habit Mechanic and Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution. He will be a keynote speaker at the Internal Audit Conference 2026, which takes place on 29-30 September.