r/LifeProTips • u/xTrainerRedx • 5d ago
Productivity LPT - Set "office hours" with yourself to reduce daily stress and cognitive load.
If you're anything like me and are constantly thinking and analyzing things all the time, you know that it can be very draining. I am not diagnosed ADHD, but I suspect my behavioral patterns are consistent with it.
Something that helps the thoughts feel less oppressive is to set "office hours" with yourself. If an especially charged, volatile or heavy thought pops up and tries to pull your attention, put it into a notepad and return to it at a designated time. Set aside 30 minutes or so (whatever works best for you), and dig into the topics. Then at the end of that time, close the log and set it down. You can even set reminders for your next office hours of where you left off.
By doing so, you are able to train yourself to let the thought go until your office hours. And then when you are having your office hours, you may find that the topic isn't even really relevant anymore. And any thoughts that are still relevant can be given your undivided attention that is free of whatever fleeting mental/emotional state that first triggered the thought.
However, you have to honor your office hours. If you put things in a notepad and never hold your office hours, you will unintentionally train your mind to not be able to trust your office hours and that the desired things will not be processed
Office hours applies best to especially charged things that take up a lot of processing power and focus. Obviously you cannot shut down or schedule every thought that comes into your head, but if you notice your internal state shift significantly when a particular thought arises, it may be good to try putting it into your office hours log. If it's an emergency, you won't have to ask if it's an emergency - it will be emergent and blatantly relevant and demand attention.
In holding office hours for myself over just the past couple weeks, I have noticed a reduction in general anxiety throughout the day, and a greater sense of peace and going with the flow of things now that my mental bandwidth has been increased due to having a healthier approach to the things that were taxing my system.
Hope this helps someone!
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u/tollthedead 4d ago
Therapy sort of did this for me. I didn't know how much cognitive load I had from analyzing my feelings and traumas. Now knowing I will deal with them in therapy I just don't think about them
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u/as828 5d ago
When do you set them for? Morning? Afternoon or throughout?
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u/xTrainerRedx 5d ago
Depends on your schedule and routine.
For me, I work MWF for 13 hours per day. So I don't really get to do it then - maybe during my drive into work or on my drive home, if I'm in the mood. But then there is the hard limit to stop when I reach my destination so I can focus on work or wind down for bed.
On my off days, it's usually either in the morning before I go to the gym and it even helps get my brain "warmed up" for the day. Or I'll do it after I get home from the gym, before or after my chores for the day.
It doesn't need to be super rigid, per se. But you do have to set firm limits, otherwise you'll just keep drifting into "compulsive office hours" and then it defeats the purpose. Because then it's still just the same random thinking but with a new name.
It's similar to exercising. A lot of people ask "what form of exercise/cardio is best?". And the answer is whatever form gets you to show up for it consistently.
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u/OutrageousCrow7453 2d ago
This is what I do with things that keep me up at night, write it down with the promise that I will think about it tomorrow at an appropriate time. Either I will have forgotten it anyway or do it when I don't have to actually sleep.
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u/post-explainer 5d ago
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