Can Scents Make You More Productive? (Performance Enhancing Colognes)

What's the secret to success? 4 college diplomas? Trust fund money? An IQ of 160? Let's get real – these things definitely help. But most average guys just aren't that lucky.

So what's the solution? Resign yourself to mediocrity and live a life of letdowns?

Heck no. Listen up, gents – there is a way for regular guys to boost their productivity and start to perform at a higher level than ever before: Performance Enhancing Colognes.

It turns out scent can make you smarter – and I'm breaking out the science in today's article. We'll be covering:

1. How Does The Olfactory System Work?
2. What Fragrance Notes Boost Productivity?
3. How I Discovered Performance Enhancing Scents
4. How To Choose The Right Cologne For You
5. Examples Of Performance Enhancing Colognes

#1 How Does The Olfactory System Work?

To understand how smell can positively affect your brain, you first need to know how your sense of smell works!

I'll be honest, gents – scientists have written entire textbooks on this topic. Med students study this to earn their MD, so I'm going to cut this down to a few simple facts to make this science nice and straightforward.

• The sensation of smell begins when you sniff odor molecules from the air into your nostrils. 
• At the back of your nose is a small patch of tissue called the olfactory epithelium, which is covered in a layer of mucus.
• The olfactory epithelium has a layer of specialized sensory cells called olfactory receptor neurons (aka “the taste buds of your nose” – you have about 40 million of them). 
• When odor molecules hit the olfactory epithelium, they dissolve and bind to the olfactory receptor neurons.
• The olfactory receptor neurons fire and send signals through the olfactory tract up to your brain. 
• Different odors can trigger different neurons in your brain. For example, Odor A might trigger olfactory receptors neurons 1, 2, and 7, and Odor B might trigger olfactory receptor neurons 5, 8, 25,000, and 12,345,979.
• All of these different combinations of triggered neurons allow you to detect a vast range of different smells.
• Moreover, Olfactory receptor neurons are the only neurons in the body that get replaced regularly (every 4-8 weeks), so they're always ready for action. 
• Once the combination of olfactory receptor neurons fires in a bundle through the olfactory tract, they head straight to the Amygdala, Thalamus, and Neocortex – the parts of your brain responsible for learning, memory, and emotion.

So what has this got to do with productivity and performance? I invite you to read that final bullet point again.

Once you've finished smelling something, a shot of neurons hits your brain and triggers learning, memory, and emotion. That means you can combine what you smell and what you learn to create some pretty impressive results.

In short – if you learn to associate a carefully chosen scent with a productive emotional state, you could train your body to return to that heightened sense of performance and productivity whenever you smell it.

Gents – you've got high performance on demand.

#2 What Fragrance Notes Boost Productivity?

It's no secret that certain smells evoke specific responses from the body.

For example, the smell of fresh baked cookies might make you feel happy and relaxed.

Conversely, the smell of a hospital might make you feel anxious or on edge.

When it comes to finding a scent that will increase productivity, I look for fragrance notes that have been scientifically proven to have positive effects on the mind. For example:

• Lemon – helps boost performance on cognitive tasks and helps to lift the mood.
• Rosemary – improves memory.
• Peppermint – boosts performance on various tasks, including memory recall and reaction time.
• Cinnamon – enhances cognitive processing speed.
• Lavender – improves concentration and reduces anxiety.

Am I saying you should bury your nose in a half-cut lemon or shove a cinnamon stick up your nostril? No – that would be stupid.

However, I am suggesting that these olfactory notes have a higher chance of helping you stay productive and boost your everyday performance.

Remember, if you pay close attention to the science of scent and use these olfactory notes as scent triggers to kickstart your productivity, a cologne that contains them could become your direct line to increased performance.

Using the power of the olfactory system, it's possible to start training your brain to up its game whenever you smell them on your skin!

#3 How I Discovered Performance Enhancing Colognes

Let me tell you a story.

Until recently, I struggled with productivity big time.

I tried everything. Time management techniques, meditation, and even going off the grid for a weekend to “unplug.” But no matter what I did, I just couldn't stick to a task long enough to see it through to completion.

Then, one day, it hit me. After years of trying, I came across a productivity hack that worked for me – and it didn't involve bullet journals, to-do lists, or deep-focus music.

It was all to do with my sense of smell.

I've always found that the smell of freshly cut grass reminds me of my childhood and playing ball in the park with my dad. The fresh smell of chlorine reminds me of the swimming spot at the end of the street where I grew up.

These scents transport me back to some of the happiest days of my life. They actively improve my mood and change how I'm feeling.

Which had me thinking: why couldn't I apply the same theory to productivity?

It turns out you can. Performance Enhancing Colognes do just that: they help you train your brain to return to a state of high performance on demand.

Performance Enhancing Colognes are formulated using the productivity-boosting olfactory notes I mentioned earlier in this article. As well as smelling great, fragrances containing these notes can help switch on the parts of your brain responsible for high performance and kick your productivity into overdrive.

In fact, some colognes are actually designed with productivity and performance in mind. Instead of using performance enhancing olfactory notes by chance, these colognes use them intentionally to create a fragrance that's guaranteed to help you work smarter.

#4 How To Choose The Right Cologne For You

With all of this talk about Performance Enhancing Colognes and scent triggers, I'm sure you're wondering how to choose the right fragrance for you. After all, no one should wear a cologne that they dislike just to boost productivity.

My advice here is simple: wear a cologne that you like the smell of. Trust me; it doesn't matter how much peppermint a fragrance uses. If you're distracted by the scent of your own skin, then no amount of productivity enhancers will distract you from that.

Instead, focus on finding a cologne that you genuinely enjoy wearing. If it contains performance-enhancing fragrance notes like lemon, rosemary, peppermint, or cinnamon – great! But if not, don't worry too much. You can always find another way to get your performance-enhancing scent fix.

Some might say it's best to look for performance enhancing fragrance notes in several different scents so that you can apply them according to your mood, occasion, and time of year.

#5 Examples Of Performance Enhancing Colognes

For well over 3 years now, I've been working to perfect the ultimate set of Performance Enhancing Colognes. I designed them to help men boost their performance, smell great and become the man they know themselves to be.

With the Mission Fragrance set, I provide 3 carefully formulated Performance Enhancing Colognes:

1. Honor
2. Courage
3. Commitment

Honor

I formulated Honor as a fresh and clean fragrance. Technically speaking, it's what I would classify as a ‘Fougere' fragrance, which contains fresh, aromatic, and oriental aromas. 

Personally, I'd be comfortable using this fragrance every day. It isn't constrained by occasion or formality, so a man can wear it without fear of smelling out of place.

In my opinion, Honor is a great morning fragrance to wear as you arrive at work. It's light and breezy and doesn't make itself immediately known.

From a performance standpoint, you can expect to be invigorated by the citrus notes within this fragrance. It's uplifting and gives you that ‘up and at them' feeling.

Courage

Courage isn't as light as Honor but isn't deep enough to be classed as an ‘evening fragrance.' This makes it an excellent fragrance for the 9-5 worker as its lifespan should get you through most of your working day while remaining ‘office friendly.' 

The bold mix of light top notes and deeper base notes give this fragrance the power to be noticed without seeming too intense—the perfect companion for a busy workplace. 

Courage is what we would classify as a ‘citrus aromatic' fragrance, which contains lighter citrus notes alongside floral and green notes. While Courage is still quite a light fragrance, an air of depth within its floral heart notes gives it a bit more of a kick compared to Honor. 

What's more, you'll find a hint of lavender coming through in Courage – which helps to increase concentration and reduce anxiety.

Commitment

Looking for a fragrance that the ladies will love on a date night? Look no further than Commitment – an ‘Amber Woody' fragrance that oozes sophistication and mystery.

I'll be honest; you need to be careful with this fragrance. Is it going to suit the everyday office environment? Probably not. 

However, will this fragrance make you smell incredible on a date or formal occasion? Absolutely! I formulated Commitment with formality in mind – great for a winter wedding, dinner party, or big date. 

Notes like Vanilla, Tonka, and Oud give this fragrance a luxurious scent sure to impress in the right environment. 

Mission Fragrances goes live on 15th August 2022, but stocks are limited to 100 sets! Click here to join the early bird list and reserve your set while you still can!