Why You Should Do Most Attention Rich Tasks In The Morning?

Tasks that need more of our mental energy i.e. prioritising on something, decision-making, creating something or working on new ideas etc. should be done when our mind is fresh. Our prefrontal cortex handles attention rich tasks. It is a part of our brain, which deals with logical processes. And its capacity to solve problems is limited. Like other body parts i.e. muscles, prefrontal cortex is energy hungry. If you are tired, don’t expect your mind to solve some decision-making problem.

This is the reason, when you are fresh and full of energy; you don’t take much time to solve certain problems and decide on what to do. On the contrary if you are tired, you can take forever to decide on a small thing.

This also applies on why you should have meetings on the first part of the day. If you have a potential client to follow-up, fix a meeting before noon or lunchtime. When you reach office, your mind is fresh. A fresh mind can take better decisions. If you do meeting in first half, chances are higher that you will get some result out of that meeting. In second half, it might happen, you can continue talking for hours and then there would be no positive outcome.

Besides morning, there are other times that are suitable for energy hungry tasks.

After Exercise

Scientific studies say that after exercise your mind gets more active. This is the time when you can work better on attention rich tasks.

Take A Break

If you have a pending task, which requires more energy from prefrontal cortex, and it’s not morning, go take a break. Go out, take a walk, eat something nutritious and come back to work.

Have Coffee

From ages, coffee has been considered a mental stimulus. It stimulates your mind, making it more attentive. That’s the reason, we say, “Let’s meet over a cup of coffee”, not “Let’s meet over a cup of cold drink”.