Throughout my journey as a researcher and writer, I have had to develop and utilize various frameworks and tools to help my brain stay organized and focused, while not worrying about forgetting novel ideas and insights along the way. James Clear talks about systems and goals, highlighting in Atomic Habits (2018) that “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress” (p. 24). Even though the goal exists, the underlying system adopted through strategic habits will carry you there. What I am always curious about is how to build capacity in my systems for sustainability and longevity.

Optimizing Finite Resources

As I began identifying the areas of my life which I need to utilize most strategically, I landed on the resources of time and energy. Time and energy are limited day-by-day, necessitating us to find ways to make them efficient and automated as much as possible. Time never stops and can easily become your best friend or worst enemy based on how you use it. Energy, more specifically brain energy, can be maximized if treated right. Too much cognitive multitasking serves no one and quickly shows the importance of sacred concentration. Both time and energy are further dictated and depleted when we have jobs aside from our research and writing projects that are demanding and/or not aligned with our active project.

With these understandings, some key habits I found and implemented, along with their intended symptoms, were:

Time-Blocking

Planning your day into defined blocks of time allows you to reflect on priorities and maintain focus based on what that timeframe is defined by. This makes space for your brain to become fully immersed in the task at hand within a state of sacred concentration. Consider what you are unwilling to sacrifice as you are identifying priority tasks. Then begin defining your time blocks.

• Here is an article on time blocking tips for increased productivity

• Here is an article on how time management reduces stress

• Here is ToDoist’s take on the complete guide to time blocking

Write It Down

Throughout our daily tasks and most certainly our research, we will generate novel ideas and inquiries. We want to capture those insights without abandoning what are brain is currently immersed in. Write it down! Get your thoughts out of your head and capture on paper for a later time. These ideas are just as important as the work you currently find yourself in.

• Here is an article about the benefits of writing things down

• Here is an article about boosting productivity by writing ideas down

• Here is an article about how writing things down helps memory

Automate Your Brain

Neurons that fire together wire together. So how can we possibly optimize this so the amount of time and energy are minimally impacted? Put your subconscious to work and build upon your memory while you sleep. Reading, thinking, and coming up with questions before you go to sleep allows your brain to continue making connections.

• Here is a brief talk by Dr. Matt Walker on hacking your memory

• Here is a short article on hacking your subconscious mind

• Here is a study on memory tasks and sleep

Be The Broken Record

When we have specific insights, take in information, and develop ideas, talking about them contributes to multiple areas of progress. Talking about your ideas and insights with others will multiply your odds of building a network, a community, and feedback; everything that will work for your ideas and insights while giving you more reps at iterating and discovering more.

• Here is an article about how sharing ideas provides you gains

• Here is an article about how to train your brain to think more clear

• Here is an article about getting people to listen to your ideas

The more good habits we implement, the less our brains have to work to generate momentum within the habits. This necessitates the importance of knowing ourselves better.

Being Aware

“The Planning Fallacy is a phenomenon in which predictions about how much time will be needed to complete a future task display an optimism bias and underestimate the time needed” (Wikipedia, 2021). If we are unaware of our tendencies to be over zealous or procrastinative without understanding the reality of how time and energy works (or motivation, for that matter), we will most likely underestimate the amount of both time and energy it will take to get tasks done. In keeping your defined time block in the sacred concentration state, always over estimate the amount of time any single task will take to complete.

Scott Jeffrey has done work in the area of self-actualization (Maslow, 1943) and provides a deeper dive into what it is and how to achieve self-actualization in “A Definitive Guide to Self-Actualization”. Taking the time to truly understand oneself can unlock new ways to optimize one’s life, use less time and energy toward undiscovered self-imposed tendencies that cause barriers to productivity, and clarify paths to take with confidence.

Tools

I had found various technology tools to support the need to optimize time and energy, such as Zotero and Mendeley. However, for some reason, I was unable to make it feel familiar and intuitive to my brain. This is where being self-actualized provides clarity and confidence. Regardless of how many times I used it, I felt like I was using too many brain calories on the tool itself instead of my research. Maybe it is my control-freak tendencies or habits of going the more challenging route, but somehow my brain is better able to soak in knowledge, marinate informative findings, and cook up relevant understandings with a document. This potentially more tedious route of doing things is no surprise; as an artist, I use everything but a paint brush to produce the aesthetic that speaks to me. As a musician, I merge chords, tunings, and unorthodox techniques together to create the sounds that hit the right spot. As a reader and writer, the comfort and love I feel for run-on, streams of consciousness sentences are deep and preferred. With so many more examples of how my brain fulfills its needs, it came as no surprise that developing a framework and organizer that kept me centered on the objective while providing an organizational setup that would benefit my work efficiency throughout every chapter of my dissertation came in the form of a long (cumbersome to some) document.

Staying Organized & Focused on the Right Things

Research Questions

Craft questions that allow you to explore and discover the contributions and solutions to the problem you have insights into

The Problem

Based on your insights, experiences, and curiosities, identify a problem you know to be true, the research supports, and is the reason why you are asking your research questions

The Purpose

When looking at the gaps your problem exposes, the purpose of your study will provide new information to fill in the gaps to which the problem is perpetuated

Keeping It All Organized

Coding & Type

This is logistical information to help with various organizational techniques. This is especially helpful if you print literature.

Title & Citation

The title of the literature, linked for quick access to the work. This section is numbered and added to the document outline for quick access.

Notes

Document quotes and paraphrasings from literature, as well as capturing your thoughts in the moment. Most importantly, add APA in-text citations that pertain each quote/sentiment.

This is only one approach to ways we can optimize our brains and tap into our full potential through the lens of a researcher and writer. Knowing yourself is the best first step you can take to discover ways you can utilize your tendencies and resources to your advantage.