1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,159 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work date. Today's show is 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: another mini episode where I share some interesting research about 7 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: how you might be able to improve the way you work. Now. 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: You're probably not surprised that I love to do lists, 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: having shifted to wonder list many years ago. There is 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: nothing quite like the musical ding that sounds when I 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: tick off an item to signal that progress has been made. 12 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: I'm also a fan of good old fashioned pen and 13 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: paper list too. It was the act of making a 14 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: physical tick always manages to bring me a moment of 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: deep satisfaction. However, the problem with most to do lists 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: is that they don't discriminate between the type of thinking 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: that different tasks require and the fact that our brain 18 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: is suited to different types of thinking depending on the 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: time of day. So, for example, a big three hour 20 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: task requiring deep thinking often appears on the same to 21 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: do list as callback John from ACME. It takes discipline 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: to prioritize the meaty three hour challenge over the quick 23 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: call to John. However, according to psychology professor Roy Baumeister, 24 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: our self control muscle is actually limited. In an article 25 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: that Baumeister published in the British Psychological Society Journal, he 26 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: writes that when people exert self control, they use up 27 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,559 Speaker 1: some of this energy, leaving them in a temporarily depleted state. 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: So if they are trying to exert self control again 29 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: soon after, they tend to do worse than if they'd 30 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: not previously exerted that self control in the first place. 31 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: So basically, what it's saying is that self control is 32 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: like a muscle that gets tired, and people might start 33 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: the day fresh and rested, but as you exert more 34 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,920 Speaker 1: self control over the course of the day, your powers diminish. 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,839 Speaker 1: So this becomes particularly problematic when it comes to our 36 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: to do list. The quicker and almost always less impactful 37 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: tasks get prioritized because they're easier to do and thus 38 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: require less self control, and the hard work always remains 39 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: at the bottom of the list. So what we need 40 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: to do is rethink our to do lists so that 41 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: they enhance our productivity rather than hinder it. Broadly speaking, 42 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: there are three types of thinking that our brain engages 43 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 1: in at work. The first type of thinking is focused 44 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: analytical thinking, and this thinking requires deep concentration and ideally 45 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: longer bursts of time, and for most of us, we're 46 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: at our most cognitively sharp in the morning. According to 47 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: Duke University psychology professors Dan Ariali, in one post that 48 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: he wrote online about this, he says that one of 49 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: the saddest mistakes in time management is the propensity of 50 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: people to spend the two most productive hours of their 51 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: day on things that don't require high cognitive capacity. If 52 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: we could salviash those precious hours, most of us would 53 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: be much more successful in accomplishing what we truly want. 54 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: So as such, we need to create a to do 55 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: list that is purely reserved for focused or deep work. 56 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: This should become the first to do list that we 57 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: look at every morning. The second type of thinking that 58 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: we need to engage in at work is creative thinking, 59 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: and this is a very different type of thinking and 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: requires our brain to be less vigilant and open to 61 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: breaking rules. Now, there was some research conducted by a 62 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: couple of professors, Professor Wath and Professor Rozachs, and they 63 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: demonstrated that we're better at thinking creative in what they 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: refer to as our non optimal times. So for most 65 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: of us, this is in the afternoon. This is the 66 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: time when our brain is a little bit looser and carefree. 67 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: Our afternoon brain is far less vigilant than our morning brain, 68 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: and because of this, the second type of to do 69 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: list we need is one for creative tasks. This can 70 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: become our go to task list for the afternoon. The 71 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: third type of state that we often find our brain 72 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: in at work is a foggy state, and some psychologists 73 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: refer to this as our post lunch dip, which I 74 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: think many people can relate to because a lot of 75 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: us find ourselves less cognitively sharp or alert straight after 76 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: lunch or during that mid afternoon slump, and this is 77 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: the perfect time to be doing what Professor cal Newport 78 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: refers to as shallow work. So this is work that's 79 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: non cognitively demanding, such as checking and responding to emails, 80 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: making phone calls, and doing repetitive or non challenging tasks. 81 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: So your third to list, the foggy list, needs to 82 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: capture all the tasks that don't require your brain to 83 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: be doing heavy lifting. Now, if you want a fourth 84 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: to do list, there is one other to do list 85 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: that you might want to think about, and I call 86 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: this the fast list. So this is a list that 87 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: should contain tasks that can be done in less than 88 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: five minutes. It's the perfect list to enable us to 89 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: remain productive when we've got those short gaps in the days, 90 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,599 Speaker 1: such as when a meeting finishes a few minutes early, 91 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: but we've got another one starting on the hour, or 92 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: we know that we're about to get interrupted with a 93 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,600 Speaker 1: call from our boss at any minute and don't want 94 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: to dive into a task requiring deep concentration that will 95 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: only be taken away from So this should become your 96 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: go to list for those idle minutes, of which we 97 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: have many throughout a week, and when we don't use 98 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: them productively, they can add up to a lot of 99 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: lost hours. So, rather than trying to just have the 100 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: one mega to do list, split your to do list 101 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,799 Speaker 1: into four separate list, your focused list, your fast list, 102 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: your foggy list, and your creative list to take advantage 103 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: of how your brain works and optimize your productivity. Hello. There, 104 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,239 Speaker 1: that is it for today's episode. Now, before you skip 105 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: on over to another podcast, I have a little favor 106 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: to ask. It's great getting feedback from listeners such as yourself, 107 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: so I would be so appreciative if you could give 108 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: this podcast a review in iTunes or wherever you listen 109 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: to your podcast. And if you like this episode, make 110 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: sure you hit the subscribe button so that you can 111 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: be alerted when new episodes are released. See you next time.