????? 為大型社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)做規(guī)劃,。列維京寫道：“我們的祖先生活的社會(huì)群體變化緩慢，他們從生到死都和同樣的人打交道,，因此他們幾乎可以把所有需要了解的社會(huì)細(xì)節(jié)都記在腦海里,。”現(xiàn)在,，跟我們共事和交流的可能有幾百人,，而且普遍期望我們能記在他們的名字和上次談話的細(xì)節(jié)。只靠我們的大腦完成不了這項(xiàng)工作,。因此,，要把你見到了什么人以及你們談了什么事寫下來。社交網(wǎng)站（領(lǐng)英,、Facebook）可以幫你記下基本細(xì)節(jié),，還可以就生日和工作周年紀(jì)念日做出提醒。而對(duì)我們的大腦來說,，如果不映入眼簾,，根本就想不起這些信息來。制定一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃,，以便定期查看自己的通訊錄,。

????? 專注。我們的大腦可以在各項(xiàng)工作之間切換,，但從新陳代謝角度講,，這樣做成本很高。列維京寫道：“專注需要的能量較少,。通過安排自己的時(shí)間而進(jìn)入專注狀態(tài)的人不僅能完成更多的工作,，還不會(huì)那么累，在神經(jīng)化學(xué)方面的消耗也不會(huì)那么大,?！比绻鲆恍╇s事,，就把類似的雜事放在一起完成?！叭绻阌幸化B賬單要付,，那就只管付賬——?jiǎng)e在這個(gè)時(shí)候去考慮重大問題，比如是否搬到一所更小的房子里,，或者是否買輛新車,。”把這些留到一個(gè)專門的時(shí)間段去做,。

????? 預(yù)備和回顧,。當(dāng)然，雖然把大塊時(shí)間用于解決某一個(gè)問題是最佳做法,，但工作環(huán)境幾乎不允許我們這樣做,。許多經(jīng)理都在會(huì)議之間奔波，就像高中生一樣,，上了這門課又要上那門課,。大家可能覺得自己能記住每次會(huì)議的內(nèi)容，但實(shí)際上我們做不到這一點(diǎn),。正因?yàn)槿绱?，精神病醫(yī)生上班時(shí)每小時(shí)只工作50分鐘。列維京指出,，“他們用剩下的10分鐘把剛才發(fā)生的情況寫下來,。”因此,，制定計(jì)劃時(shí)不要環(huán)環(huán)相扣,，給自己10分鐘時(shí)間，以便把需要做的事記錄下來,。同樣的,，“從新陳代謝角度講，在不同事物之間切換注意力的成本很高,。因此,，給我們的大腦一些時(shí)間，讓它在下一個(gè)會(huì)議開始前逐步而放松地轉(zhuǎn)換思路對(duì)神經(jīng)健康很有利,?！崩硐肭闆r下，原定一小時(shí)的會(huì)議應(yīng)該推遲10分鐘開始,，并且提前10分鐘結(jié)束。試試看吧,。只要進(jìn)行嘗試,，就幾乎沒有不能縮短的會(huì)議,。

????? 不要糾結(jié)于不重要的事物。選衣柜或者考慮吃什么是否讓你心煩意亂呢,？如果我們的大腦每天只能做這么多決定,，那最好把它留給那些重大事務(wù)。清理一下自己的思路,，只留下那些管用的方案,。至于工作餐，每次都選同樣的好了（比如凱撒沙拉）,。我們總得吃飯,，而少做些決定就意味著在重大問題上我們可以做出更好的選擇。

????? 睡眠,。這是成功認(rèn)知的秘密武器,。列維京寫道：“實(shí)際情況表明，睡眠可以改善人們對(duì)抽象關(guān)系的構(gòu)建和理解,，它所能強(qiáng)化的推理能力不僅限于語言,，還包括數(shù)學(xué)、邏輯和空間,。這種改善很明顯,，一覺醒來，人們往往能解開睡前無法解決的難題,?！泵總€(gè)人都有自己最佳的睡眠方式。打盹對(duì)某些人效果最好,。有些人會(huì)一覺睡到天亮,，另一些人則會(huì)在半夜醒來一陣子。但無論哪種方式管用,，首先要做的就是去睡覺——一個(gè)快樂的大腦能幫助我們多做許多工作,。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????勞拉?溫德爾凱姆是一名記者，她的新書《她們自己的甜蜜時(shí)光：成功女性如何構(gòu)建美滿生活》很快就會(huì)問世,。

????譯者：Charlie

????審稿：李翔

????? Plan for a big network. “Because our ancestors lived in social groups that changed slowly, because they encountered the same people throughout their lives, they could keep almost every social detail they needed to know in their heads,” writes Levitin. Now, you may work and interact with hundreds of people who expect you to remember their names and details about your last conversation. Your brain alone isn’t up for the job. So write down notes about people you meet and what you talked about. Social networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook) can help with basic details, and with birthday and work anniversary reminders, but for the human brain, out of sight really is out of mind. Plan to review your contacts regularly.

????? Focus. The human brain can switch between tasks, but it’s metabolically costly. “It takes less energy to focus,” writes Levitin. “People who organize their time in a way that allows them to focus are not only going to get more done, but they’ll be less tired and less neurochemically depleted after doing it.” If you have chores to do, put similar chores together. “If you’ve collected a bunch of bills to pay, just pay the bills — don’t use that time to make big decisions about whether to move to a smaller house or buy a new car.” Defer those decisions to a different designated time slot.

????? Prep and review. Of course, while it’s best to spend big chunks of time focused on one problem, the workplace is seldom set up for this. Many managers tromp from one meeting to another like high schoolers switching classes. You may think you’ll remember what transpired in each meeting, but you won’t. This is why psychiatrists work a 50-minute hour. “They use that extra ten minutes to write down what happened,” notes Levitin. So rather than scheduling things back to back, give yourself ten minutes to write notes about what needs to be done. Also, “Because attention switching is metabolically costly, it’s good neural hygiene for your brain to give it time to switch into the mind-set of your next meeting gradually and in a relaxed way before the meeting starts.” Ideally, hour-long meetings would really run from ten after to ten before the hour. Give it a shot. It’s the rare meeting that couldn’t be compressed if people tried.

????? Don’t dither over things that don’t matter. Do you agonize over wardrobe or food choices? If your brain can only make so many decisions in a day, then it’s better to preserve its power for weighty matters. Edit your closet to limited options that all work. At business lunches, just choose the same thing (e.g. the Caesar salad). You’ll eat again, and making fewer decisions means you can make better ones when it counts.

????? Sleep. It’s the secret weapon of cognitive success. “Across a range of inferences involving not just language but mathematics, logic problems, and spatial reasoning, sleep has been shown to enhance the formation and understanding of abstract relations, so much so that people often wake having solved a problem that was unsolvable the night before,” writes Levitin. Good sleep looks different for different people. Some people do best with naps. Some people sleep straight through the night, and others wake for a while in the middle. Whatever works for you, though, prioritize making it happen — and your happy brain will help you get a lot more done.

????Laura Vanderkam is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming book Their Own Sweet Time: How Successful Women Build Lives That Work (Portfolio, June 2015).