summary ofYour Brain at WorkBook by David Rock

first KEY POINT

How to maximize your productivity when you have work overload

Imagine being promoted to a new, higher position in your organization. After the euphoria of the whole thing has died down, you will be left to face the stark reality of your new position. More goals to crush, tighter deadlines to meet, more creative thinking to do, and more people to manage. Put simply, your workload will multiply and your boss' expectations of you will go up.This is the single reason many employees suffer breakdowns after being promoted. You will need time to adjust to the new position, but the process will be much easier if you master how to be productive despite the overload. You don't need to be recently promoted to learn the skill of personal productivity, everyone waking up to a job has to learn to be productive, and it all starts with learning how your brain works.Mental activities are more energy-draining than physical activities, like pushing a truck. This is why a secretary might get fatigued after three hours of consistent work, while a truck driver can be on duty for eight hours and still continue working. So if you find yourself being fatigued often on your job that requires brain performance, just know you're not alone.With this fact in view, how can people involved in mentally tasking activities maximize their work time so they can do so much in a day? There are a couple of ways to go about that inspired by scientific development. Start with giving your brain the right amount of glucose.

Working with a cup of coffee beside you will help a lot in this regard. If you're not that into coffee, you can take anything that provides you with glucose.However, glucose alone is not sufficient to keep your brain productive all through your work hours. The way you start and go about your day is important, too. Those are the things you'll be learning from this summary. The next chapter will show you how your routine has been keeping you from achieving more than you could naturally achieve, and what you can do about it. As we proceed in the summary, you'll also learn about mindfulness, and other activities that will help you function better at work.