How Good Is Your Brain’s Hygiene?

If we’re not at peak information overload, we’re certainly at an unparalleled all-time high. So how do we best manage it? Well, aside from subscribing to carefully curated newsletters like this one, applying intelligent principles such as these can go a long way in helping ensure your brain doesn’t get unnecessarily bogged down.

“Using each of these functions effectively is critical if one wants to manage information overload ̶ simply using your brain for crossing items off your to-do list is poor use of a very sophisticated machine,” Srini Pillay, M.D., writes for the Harvard Business Review. “Yet few people build the habits and lifestyles that allow for their brains to function at their best. At the core of managing information overload is the ability to know which function to use, and how and when to use it.”

My go-to from the aforementioned functions: turning the blender on. Often unknowingly, I spend most of my day connecting ideas. And more often than not, these connections happen when I’m on a run or doing something mindless, like cleaning the dishes. The end result? I free up some valuable space on my hard drive.

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A version of this post first appeared in the morning shakeout, my weekly email newsletter covering running, writing, media and other topics that interest me. If you’d like for it to land in your inbox first thing on Tuesday mornings, subscribe here.