My Mind is not a Computer

Recently I’ve been paying more attention to how and when I get my work done. Moreover, I’ve been keeping track of how long it takes me to finish certain types of work. The big realization that I’ve had is that my mind is not a computer¹. Within some range of operating conditions, computers will work the same at 14:00 as at 2:00, and they will do twice as much work if given twice as much time.

My brain doesn’t work this way. Sometimes I find that I’m able to do as much conceptual work in two hours on a Wednesday morning as I was able to accomplish in the previous week. I also find that I work best in the mornings; afternoons are generally pretty useless for me. Curiously, I find that stepping away from a problem is the best way to summon up ideas as to how to solve it. Sometimes that means going out for a walk, riding my bike, or taking a nap. Generally I find that getting outside and surrounding myself with nature (doesn’t necessarily have to be green) is the best way to create conditions for my mind to conjure up new ideas. Correspondingly, I find that there is far from a linear correlation between the amount of time I spend in front of my computer and the amount of stuff I’m able to accomplish. I’ve found that I can only think hard for about three hours a day. If I push myself beyond that I end up not being able to socialize or sometimes I even get a migraine.

I’m a lucky duck in that my current job gives me tons of leeway to work how I want. More importantly, my boss and my colleagues understand that none of us are computers, and we should structure our collaboration as such. We try hard to schedule meetings such that we have big blocks of uninterrupted focus time, acknowledging implicitly that our attention (as opposed to time) is our most valuable asset and that context switching has a high cognitive and attentional cost. It is precisely during these big blocks of uninterrupted work time that I’m able to solve the hard problems associated with the work I do.