GET THINGS OUT OF YOUR HEAD(幫助大腦節省能量)

Creating visuals for complex ideas is one way to maximize limited energy resources.

Another way involves reducing the load on the prefrontal cortex whenever possible. （減少前額皮質的負載）

If Emily gets a piece of paper and writes down the four big projects for the day, she saves her brain for comparing the elements instead of using energy to hold each one. （寫到紙上可以節省比較的能量）

The same benefits can be achieved by using physical objects, such as a stapler, pen, and ruler to represent each project. The idea is to get the concepts out of your mind and into the world, and to save the stage for the most important functions. Minimize energy usage to maximize performance.

If Emily had prioritized first thing in the morning, and got things out of her mind and into the world to compare them, there』s still one other thing she could have done here to be most effective this morning.

The stage uses up power quickly, and as the lights dim, it gets harder to hold actors in the right place and stop others from getting on the stage.

This tendency means scheduling the most attention-rich tasks when you have a fresh and alert mind. （重要的事情先做）

This could be early in the morning, or perhaps after a break or exercise. The prefrontal cortex has much in common with other energy-hungry body parts such as muscles. It tires from use, and can do a lot more after a good rest.

Making a tough decision might take thirty seconds when you are fresh and be impossible when you』re not.

It』s helpful to become aware of your own mental energy needs and schedule accordingly.

Experiment with different timings. One technique is to break work up into blocks of time based on type of brain use, rather than topic.

For example, if you have to do some creative writing in several different projects, which requires a clear, fresh mind, you might do all your creative writing on a Monday.

People don』t tend to do this—they tend either to work on one project at a time, or to respond to issues as they arise, sometimes thinking at a high abstract level, sometimes at a more detailed level, and then sometimes multitasking and switching around a lot.

Instead, you could divide a day into blocks of time when you do deep thinking such as creative writing, other blocks for having meetings, and other blocks for routine tasks such as responding to emails.

Deep thinking tends to require more effort, so plan to do your deep thinking in one block, perhaps early in the morning or late at night.

One big advantage of this strategy is that you can shift around the type of work you do, to let your brain recover.

If you were doing physical exercise, you wouldn』t do heavy lifting all day. You』d do some heavy lifting, then some cardiovascular exercise, and then some stretching. Each time you changed your exercise mode, your muscles would get used in new ways, with some resting while others worked. It』s similar with mixing up types of thinking. Give your brain a rest when you can by mixing things up.

One final insight about prioritizing involves getting disciplined about what you don』t put on the stage. （不去思考什麼，不去做什麼，也就是做減法）

This means not thinking when you don』t have to, becoming disciplined about not paying attention to non-urgent tasks unless, or until, it』s truly essential that you do.

Learning to say no to tasks that are not among your priorities is difficult but very helpful.

Another technique for thinking less about unnecessary tasks is to delegate well.

How do you know what to delegate and what not to delegate? This task, like prioritizing, uses a lot of energy, so is also best done with a fresh mind.

Another technique is not to think at all about a project until all the information is at hand.

Don』t waste energy solving a problem you know you will have more information about later.

The bottom line to all this is one simple message: your ability to make great decisions is a limited resource. Conserve this resource at every opportunity.

《Your brain at work》