Published 01:56, November the 9th, 2009
Understanding your gray matter
Dozing off at your desk? You’re just one of many burnt out, overtaxed workers who could benefit from leadership coach David Rock’s latest book, “Your Brain at Work.” By advising on how to prioritize and better manage distraction, Rock helps his reader survive and excel in today’s work environment.
“Think of the brain like a stomach,” instructs Rock. “There are processes involved in digestion that have real limits, such as the amount that can be eaten at once and the time it takes for digesting.
You can’t really push those limits very far.”
The same goes for mental work. With this in mind, Rock advises we use our brain solely to process information, rather than store it. “Simplify ideas before trying to digest them,” he cautions.
What Rock recommends for your brain at work
Simplify: Reduce complicated ideas to their core elements. By breaking down complex thoughts into salient points, ideas become far easier to manipulate.
Prioritize: Think of thinking as a precious resource to conserve, tackling the most important and difficult tasks first.
Chunk: Rock prescribes three to four “chunks” (as in, blocks of what you’re concentrating on) as an ideal number to hold in the mind at one time. Any more than that can become inefficient.
Focus: While it is physically possible sometimes to do several mental tasks at once, accuracy and performance drop off quickly. If accuracy is important, don’t divide your attention.
METRO