For the last X years I’ve been feeling guilty and lazy because - most days - I run out of steam after 3–4 hours hard mental work, and I'm exhausted.
I theorised that this was just a natual side-effect of getting older.
But then … I noticed that a lot of my clients were feeling the same.
And I started to wonder ... what if it's something different?
We are all clever people, who help clever people solve gnarly problems.
What if there is a “clever tax”?
Today, I stumbled across an article that uses different words, but says that, essentially, YES there is a clever tax.
Read this:
“Our USP as humans is the quality of our thoughts, ideas, decision-making. For the brain to produce work of quality, it needs to work in its own way.”
Its preferred way isn’t a monotonous continuous slog, which actually impairs executive function, it’s short bursts of intense work followed by longer periods of light work.
-- from The Times (possibly paywalled)
Those are the words of Dr Mithu Storoni, author of Hyperefficient: Optimise Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work, which comes out this Thursday.
Here's more:
Studies show that if you do more than four hours of “mental heavy lifting” daily, Storoni says, the mind can’t recover even after a night’s rest and fatigue drags into the next day.
Four Hours!
And:
“Some research suggests that if the brain works really intensely, resources get depleted and waste by-products created by the hard-working brain cells build up,” she says.
“This can interfere with the brain’s efficiency, which is why you feel mentally drained and working on requires huge effort.
And, finally:
It’s likely that mental fatigue is a signal that your brain wants — and needs — an opportunity to replenish.”
I've preordered the book and audiobook. I'll report back.
This stuff it's important for people like us.
It's especially for people like Bree, my chronically overworked "Big Cheese" character, who's trying to be hyper-productive for 12 hours a day.
There's a huge difference, of course, between being busy and productive.
Maybe if Bree worked far few hours ... she'd get more done?
Sorry for the longer note. I couldn't do shorter today. I hope this helps.
Yours ...
Clarke - who loves it when you hit reply 😃