debilitating that it compares with heavy drinking, with its effects lasting
as long as a few days as the body recovers. Under these circumstances
business people probably should not be making important decisions
that affect the lives of others, nor should people be operating danger-
ous equipment. But, by the same token, we should not be attempting
to read, or do other things that call for the highest levels of concen-
tration. After a heavy lunch the body has to divert energy into diges-
tion, leaving less for other functions. And, as our body temperature
rises, we begin to feel sleepy, so we find it almost impossible to con-
centrate on what we’re doing.
Other tasks, particularly the more creative, demand just as much
concentration. Analysing, brainstorming and planning questions all
involve synthesising ideas and evidence from a range of sources.
They call for tightly focused thinking to bring to the surface of our
minds our ideas and the linkages between them. This is active deep-
level processing, best done at those times when we know that our
resources are not depleted, and there are few distractions to sabotage
our thinking.
It’s not difficult to see, then, that if we are to get the best out of
our abilities we must find the right time for the right task. If we
know that each week we have a certain amount of reading to do, it
might be best to plot this in our weekly timetable on two or three morn-
ings. The same might go for analysing, brainstorming and planning an
essay. There are other times too when we know our concentration is
likely to be unimpaired: late in the afternoon, in the evening, or late at
night. Alternatively, some people try to postpone lunch as long as
possible to give themselves four to five hours of good quality work in
the morning.
Immanuel Kant, the great eighteenth-century German philosopher,
preferred not to work at all in the afternoons. Of course, most of us
are not so fortunate as to be able to give ourselves every afternoon
off. But if we’ve plotted sessions in our timetable in which we can
tackle the work that demands high levels of concentration, we can
afford to use our afternoons for other, less demanding work. You might
choose to tackle bureaucratic tasks like sorting out your notes, or
writing up notes you may have taken in a lecture or seminar, which
need to be rewritten. You might read the papers, or do your weekly
survey of the magazines that tend to be useful, or go through the
current journals in your subjects for articles that you should read later.
You might even set aside an hour two or three times a week for writing
your journal.126 ResearchHTW17 7/27/01 8:16 AM Page 126