The term “drinking from the firehose” is a metaphor explaining the experience of being presented with an overwhelming amount of new information while simultaneously attempting to understand, remember, and apply it. The phrase may even carry with it a note of pride and toughness, a badge of honor for those who successfully implement their new knowledge and abilities. The approach that it represents is also self-defeating.

In business, the perception of stakeholder demands and the requirement of profit can lead to distraction and emotional distress that overrides effective learning and retention. The reason that rapid learning under pressure is espoused by certain organizations (including the Department of Defense) may be based upon the principle of similarity. Soldiers (and executives) who learn under pressure will hopefully be able to carry that experience forward when presented with genuine events that are life and death (for humans or a corporation). Sadly, this assumption is unsound; evidence from decades of study about learning shows that a high-speed, high-stress environment combined with information overload often results in decreased retention and information processing.

Understanding the fatal flaw in rapid learning under pressure requires delving into several aspects of human cognition.

The first of these is the theory of effort justification. This theory explains the human tendency to place greater positive value on an outcome or experience which had higher difficulty or suffering attached to it. The more you struggle to achieve something, the more likely you are to think the experience was positive and the achievement worthwhile. When people who have to “drink from the firehose” complete their training, they will often forget the difficult parts and create a narrative about how the struggle was worth it. This glossing over effect can also lead to a distortion of performance during the time of struggle.

The second aspect relates to habits. When humans act on habit, they are accessing memories and knowledge about what has worked previously and what feels comfortable or known. The mental short cuts we make about self, world, and others sort through a massive amount of data and parse it into actionable pieces. These shortcuts and frameworks (called heuristics and schemas) allow humans to make quick decisions when uncertain, anxious, or just overloaded. This makes it more likely that someone who is presented with too much information too quickly will sort the information according to what they already believe and understand, rather than meaningfully integrating it and building new insights.

The third aspect relates to brain anatomy and cognition. When humans are under threat, older and more instinctual parts of the brain take over. Your amygdala is your internal threat detector and it will override the parts of your brain where rational thinking and planning occur. Unfortunately, the amygdala cannot distinguish between physical threats (e.g., bears and ninjas) and cognitive or emotional ones (e.g., “I don’t understand! What if I fall behind? What if I fail?”). When a threat is detected and distress arises, the amygdala is more likely to respond and short circuit the logical processing of information. When the amygdala is activated, the part of the brain where long-term memories are stored, the hippocampus, is also disrupted. If you are trying to retain facts, make plans, or think logically about the future, you will be at a severe disadvantage.

These principles show that organizations that pride themselves on the idea of being high speed or full of grit can misapply techniques of learning with the belief that it will improve outcomes. Research on how humans learn best shows that there is almost always a better way- allowing learners time to process, reducing information overload, and managing learning pace are keys to success. The next time you hear a business pitch about rapid learning and strong solutions, take a minute to think it through, rather than getting all wet.