DESCRIPTION

If you sit down to work with your email open on a second monitor, Slack open and twelve browser tabs staring back at you, your brain is trying to track more than it can hold. Your working memory can actively process about four chunks of information at a time.

In this episode of The Mastery Project Podcast, I explain why your thinking slows down by two o'clock in the afternoon, and I walk through a three-step paper method to get your mental bandwidth back. Educational psychologist John Sweller developed cognitive load theory to explain what happens when unfinished tasks, reminders and open mental loops take up working memory: you are left with almost no bandwidth for actual problem solving, and your brain looks for an escape such as social media, the news or your inbox.

In this episode:

- Why later research put working memory at about four chunks, not the old rule of seven items

- What a "chunk" is, and why a familiar daily routine takes up less space than an unfamiliar phone number

- How open loops crowd out problem solving

- Why another productivity app adds to the problem

- Why airline pilots and surgical teams use written checklists for routine procedures

The three steps, done on paper before any demanding project:

1. A five-minute brain dump. Before you open your work document, write down every unfinished task, nagging reminder and worry on a blank piece of paper. Don't try to organize them.

2. A micro checklist. Instead of telling yourself to write an entire report, write down the next three physical actions, for example: open the document, list the three headers, draft paragraph one.

3. A physical capture pad. Keep a notepad right beside your keyboard. When a stray thought comes up during focused work, jot it down, return to your work, and process the pad after your focus session ends.

These steps come from exercise 12 in chapter 7 of my book Focused, "Write it all down before demanding work occurs." The book comes with worksheets you can download and use alongside it.

Focused: Reclaiming Attention in a World Built to Distract You

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HMYGHKVD

How many browser tabs do you have open on your screen right now? Tell me in the comments.

Chapters

0:00 Your brain can process about four chunks at a time

0:29 The old rule of seven items

0:46 A small whiteboard in your brain

1:04 Cognitive load theory

1:38 Why your brain looks for an escape

2:05 Why another app won't fix this

2:31 Cognitive offloading

2:47 Step 1: The five-minute brain dump

3:20 Step 2: A micro checklist

3:46 Step 3: A physical capture pad

4:27 Your challenge for today