This Stuff Determines Cognitive Function

Each time I got worse it felt like my IQ plummeted. Each time I got better it felt like it rocketed up. And I did this numerous times in 10 years.

2014 was by far the most humbling experience of my life. A dentist had drilled down my cusps on my back teeth and I was in a rapid downward spiral.

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I wasn’t able to retain information for more than a few minutes and I just wasn’t able to think through anything complex.

Plus my attention span was max five minutes. Meaning after I started working on something for five minutes, I always got distracted somehow.

I felt like a complete dumbass. And it showed both in my performance at work and in my confidence.

At the time I asked to move from a commercial SVP in Lazada to a senior PM. And this was only after 1-2 months on the job. But I just knew there was no way I could maintain the responsibility level of an SVP. I felt like a lamb that had been put to slaughter.

Even when I asked to be demoted two levels I still couldn’t hack it. I literally think I was the worst PM in Lazada in mid-2014 because it took me forever to do anything.

And I could see this in the eyes of my colleagues at the time. The lack of respect.

Luckily my boss was in a different country and so I had some aircover for the time being. But I knew I had to figure it out.

And that is when I found the dental stuff and my head started to clear. By mid-2015 I was feeling great.

My head seemed like a sponge again that could just soak up information and retain it. Plus I found it so much easier to think through complex problems. And my attention span had increased considerably.

I felt like a completely different person and got my confidence back.

In 2015 I was promoted two levels in product… back to an SVP. I was #2 to group CPO of Lazada and had about half the software systems of the entire company under my scope (Operations, Finance, and Marketplace).

And I literally found it easy. Despite the fact that I’d only spent about a year in product and had never even been on the tech side of the house before.

I was now managing and running cognitive circles around some of the people who had looked at me like I was an idiot only a year before.

How the hell was this possible? I had changed nothing other than this dental stuff.

Unfortunately as I continued experimenting I started declining again in late 2016. And would experience these up and down cycles numerous times between 2016 until I finally solved this stuff in 2021.

What I learned from these cognitive ‘cycles’

Each time I was not doing well I found it very hard to concentrate and very hard to think through complexity.

Everytime I got better this improved massively.

By 2019 or so I’d been through it enough times that I’d even come up with mechanisms to measure certain things.

For example, I would set a timer and see how long I could concentrate and work before I got distracted. I would continue this for a few hours a day and then take an average of the times.

When I was bad my average was around five minutes. When I was doing well I remember thinking that I could easily stay focused on what I was doing for two hours or so.

Another one I would do is when I was doing well I would look back at documents i’d written when I was not doing well. And i’d often think to myself… “Oh my God… I was such an idiot. What is this crap?” LOL

I estimate that my brain works as well now as when I was in my mid-20’s

I’m getting closer and closer to the finish line and I just feel like a machine cognitively. I can concentrate for long periods and don’t need more than a few short breaks as I work my way through the day.

I also think through complexity so much easier than I did a few years ago.

My brain is just wired to take complexity, break it down into its component pieces, and solve each piece.

Sometimes I look at posts of old bosses or colleagues who I used to have a lot of respect for and are about my age and think to myself.. “what is this crap they are writing? It has poor structure and just rambles without getting to the point. I could write better shit in my sleep.”

I write these posts on Reviv in less than 30 minutes typically. It just flows easily.

What I think this means at a deeper level

If you think about what happened to me it has massive implications on society in general. I grew up as a smart guy… top academic guy in my high school, finished Dean’s list at an Ivy League.. and then in 2014 I’d somehow turned into a complete dumbass for over 6 months.

But then i returned back and there are probably not many 20 year olds that can outperform me now.

As in I think thru shit fast and clearly.. and can maintain my concentration till at least 10 or 11pm everynight.

And I don’t think any of this is specific to me. I literally think the same thing will happen to every human being that starts correcting these mechanics.

Imagine that is true and accepted widely in a couple decades… how friggin’ much will this element alone change the world?

It will be HUGE.

People in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s will be aggressively competing against 20 year olds.

Careers will extend far later.

People who were considered ‘underperformers’ will all of a sudden shoot up like a rocket.

Just wait… this shit will happen. I am very confident of it.