Cognitive Fatigue - The Efficiency Trap

We have the tools available to us now-a-days that can help reduce the amount of time we spend on many activities, and while this is generally a good thing it may create an unrealistic perception that we can get an increasing amount of activities done per day. 

We need to stop comparing our brains to computer processors and start using the time we create for ourselves to reduce cognitive fatigue instead. This episode provides an alternative perspective you can start exploring today.

Click for the episode: 'Cognitive Fatigue - Context Switching' 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hello and welcome to another episode of Small Steps with me, your host Stephen Davis from Interactive Therapy. Today I will be talking more about cognitive fatigue and the ways in which it can develop. As always, I'll provide an exercise at the end of the episode that you can start experimenting with today that over time may help you reduce feelings of fatigue and its other associated symptoms. Now in the last episode I talked about context switching, and if you haven't already heard that episode and would like to, then the link can be found in the description below. Today's episode will highlight another common tendency that people in all walks of life can fall into, often as a result of using tools made available to us in these modern times. In the brilliant book 4000 Weeks by Oliver Berkman, this is a tendency he referred to as the efficiency trap. Now the efficiency trap is simply the habit of first making our lives overly full because we feel like there is so much we can and maybe should do. We then increase our efficiency in carrying out the activities we've chosen, which helps in freeing up some time in that process. And then we go and fill the time we've created through our efficiency with even more activities. Again, because we feel there's so much we can and maybe should do. In the worst case scenario, we go through this cycle a number of times before eventually burning out. So there are hidden dangers of becoming more efficient with any aspect of your life, be that work or personal life. Now whether this is achieved through the adoption of specific tools or hacks that can speed up or automate processes or by bundling tasks and trying to multitask, the downsides of which I discussed in the episode about context switching, it can provide us with a potentially unrealistic perspective about our own physical resources. There seems to be a growing inclination in people, whether this is conscious or unconscious, to compare our behavior to that of computer processes. And there have been parallels drawn between computer and brain structures. Indeed, computing neural networks were conceived of in an attempt to mimic brain processes and help computers to think in similar ways to us. And as you are undoubtedly aware, the increase in capacity and speed of computer programs has been incredible over the last couple of decades. Speed increases in computers naturally means that the output by these computers has also increased, and has contributed to 24-7 connectivity as well as to the instant availability of knowledge. Now we utilize technology then to make our lives more efficient, and that can be a good thing. But the trap is truly set when we believe that the time saved can and should always be used to get more things done. Because this is when parallels between our brains and computers start to diverge or move away from one another. Whereas all a computer really needs to function is a continuous power source, our brains cannot and should not be expected to work continuously. They have a limited capacity, need time to properly process input, require regular refueling, and most importantly rest. Counter to popular expectation, our brains have not yet evolved fast enough to deal with the demands of this fast computer age. So by filling the time we save with yet more activities, we continue to run down the batteries on our brains, increasing cognitive fatigue in this manner. We may also find ourselves subject to some level of exploitation, both professionally and personally, as the external expectation of what can be produced increases. You can do things faster, right? Therefore you must be able to do more things. And this expectation of course has a knock-on effect, because not only are you using your brain to do more, but you're also increasing that level of context switching due to spending less time on a specific task. So on to today's exercise. And the idea of this exercise is then to focus on increasing your awareness of the efficiency trap in your own life, and rather than abandoning efficiency practices, focus on what you spend that regained time on that then may help you reduce cognitive fatigue. So to be more concrete, I'd like you to consider activities that are part of your everyday life and ways in which you may have made these tasks more efficient already. It could be a household chore, such as washing dishes, made more efficient by getting a dishwasher. Or some research that you've outsourced to AI which has provided a presentation or email outline. Now consider how much time you've likely saved through this added level of efficiency. And with that time saved, consider engaging in an activity that is beneficial to the recovery of your brain. This could involve taking a short nap, going out for a walk, reading for pleasure, or simply drinking something or eating a meal without rushing. Give yourself at least 20 to 30 minutes, but longer if that's realistic. And try to avoid choosing an activity at this time that involves too many stimuli, such as short films or a task that actually requires quite a lot of brain power. As you are looking to give your brain the time it naturally requires to process whatever it's already experienced in the time that has passed so far today. Good luck with the exercise and see you in the next episode.