Do you have a full head at the end of the day, or do you feel like there was more to it? Unlocking your full potential often lies not in working harder, but smarter; in how you manage your energy.
The invisible factor that influences your performance is Cognitive Load. This is the total mental effort required to complete your tasks.
The good news? You can learn to understand your mental load and learn to consciously manage it. It is the route to more rest, a sharper focus, as well as sustainable productivity.
The game of your memory
Cognitive load is the total mental effort that your working memory makes. Your working memory is crucial, but it has a strict limit: it can hold up to 7 items at a time. We distinguish an interplay of
🧠 Intrinsic Load; the task itself
This is the inherent difficulty of the matter. How complex and novel is the subject? Think of understanding a business process or learning a programming language.
Goal: Control! Keep it organized. You can reduce the overall load by dividing the material into smaller, logical steps.
🧠 Extrinsic Load; excess tax
This includes, for example, distractions, unclear emails, a lack of structure, as well as noise or friction that have nothing to do with the tasks themselves.
Goal: Minimize! Switching between tasks can cost you up to 40% of your productivity.
🧠 German Load; learning
The useful, conscious effort to make connections, recognize patterns and store them in your long-term memory. This is building knowledge.
Goal: Optimize! You want to invest a large part of your mental energy to actually grow.
Keep your head workable
Your brain is only 2% of your weight, but consumes almost 10 times more of your energy. When you accept too much of the extrinsic load, recognize these signals:
- Brain fog/mental fog: a sense of emptiness and difficulty concentrating, even on simple tasks.
- A “short fuse”: you quickly become (more) annoyed by colleagues or minor interruptions.
- Indecision: you get stuck in details and can't make decisions.
- Sloppiness: errors in routines that you normally do blindly.
Deep concentration runs out after a maximum of 45 minutes. Your brain needs breathing space now.
Is your brain 'full'?
- Do a brain dump; write down what you're thinking about, without a filter, and sign in. Visual information is processed faster than text.
- Your auditory memory (the inner voice) only remembers 2 seconds, so take note!
- Work with checklists; you give your brain space by not having to remember everything.
- Temporarily turn off notifications and work with 30-45 minute focus blocks to gain control over the balance between attention and rest.
- Evaluate for energy, not tasks; plan the toughest tasks when you're freshest.
- Escape from blockages by starting with a minimal version. What is the smallest step you can take now? Go for small victories; they provide momentum.
- Sleep adequately and qualitatively; 1 bad night reduces 30% of your cognitive capacity.
Realistic perspective
It's not about working harder, but dealing smarter with your scarce mental capacity. By minimizing the extrinsic load, you create space to focus on the task itself (intrinsic load) and the associated learning process (germane load). Reflect from a realistic perspective: you don't have to do it perfectly, but you can learn to deal with it better.
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