The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin

Lifehacks for the neurotypical.

They take their time, make eye contact, relax, and are really there with whomever theyre talking to. They dont have to worry if there is someone more important they should be talking to at that moment because their staff -- their external attentional filters -- have already determined for them that this is the best way they should be using their time.

David Allen, the efficiency expert, observes that what people usually mean when they say they want to get organized is that they need to get control of their physical and psychic environments. A germane finding in cognitive psychology for gaining that control is to make visible the things you need regularly, and hide things that you don

Just having the opportunity to multitask is detrimental to cognitive performance. Glenn Wilson of Gresham College, London, calls it infomania. His research found that being in a situation where you are trying to concentrate on a task, and an e-mail is sitting unread in your inbox, can reduce your effective IQ by 10 points.

Too much sleep is also detrimental, but perhaps the most important factor in achieving peak alertness is consistency, so that the bodys circadian rhythms can lock into a consistent cycle. Going to bed just one hour late one night, or sleeping in for an hour or two just one morning, can affect your productivity, immune function, and mood significantly for several days after the irregularity.