Stable Externalization
Full disclaimer: the following post is poorly researched, “folk productivity” advice. It borrows terms from neuroscience without strong research into those ideas, which makes it no more than useful anecdotes of the self-help genre.
One thing that helps me get more done is being more organized. If I think of myself as a meat-computer, a self-improving algorithm, I would say that my constraints are as follows:
- I have two cognitive systems, system 1 and system 2.
- System 1 is automatic, intuitive, and emotional.
- System 2 thinks deeply, but requires sustained effort.
- System 2 responds poorly to attention fragmentation, has low bandwidth.
- System 2 can be consciously controlled.
- System 1 imputes a policy (chooses a next thought or action) where system 2 does not or cannot.
- System 2 shuts off once attentional resources are exhausted, for which blood glucose is a proxy.
Also:
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