One of the discussions we had with Elder Son was about cognitive ... ? What was it? I'll have to ask him again.
But basically it was about ex-president Obama only having two suits and Mark Zuckerberg having one t-shirt. (I assume they have lots of the same rather than actually wearing the same ones all the time.) In this way they don't have to decide what to wear each day thus freeing their brain for more important thoughts.
Apparently we only have so much brain power - I think - and using it making these small decisions leaves us with less for important decisions. It even lowers our will power. Because we have a finite amount. I assume it's refilled every time we sleep. Don't take my word for any of this.
So Elder Son was saying our house is a nightmare for ??? (Again I'll have to ask him what he called it.) Things like we have three clocks in the kitchen and they all say a different time so he has to work out which one is right, and our taps in the bathroom are the wrong way round, turn the wrong way too, so he has to waste thinking power working that out.
So, what I'm getting around to saying is: it's no wonder I can't diet/resist chocolate. My brain is too busy to leave any power for will.
P.S. It's possibly cognitive overload, a theory about learning built on the premise that the brain can only do so many things at once.
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I think I have cognitive overload. There's so much information about so many things flying around nowadays, it's impossible to keep up with more than a fraction of it. Which is why my memory is so bad. It has to compete with all this random information about the imminent extinction of giraffes, the toxins added to bacon and 101 other things. By the time I've read about giraffes, I've completely forgotten what I was talking to Jenny about.
Precisely, Nick. Too much information.
Yes, I've heard that theory about cognitive overload and Obama with his choice of black or blue suits only. What I got out of it was that the fewer and more routinized choices we make, the more brain power and focus we have left over for the Big Decisions of Life. Personally, I think there's truth in it. It's like priorizing where your brain power will go.
It's like not getting overwhelmed with choice at the grocery store. Just buy the brand of shampoo that you always buy and don't look at the 50 other brands competing for your attention. People can get paralyzed by too much choice and then are unable to make any decision at all.
This is true, Debra. The overwhelming choice - when in the long run it just doesn't matter - is too much.
That's a very good theory. Sometimes I spend so much time wondering what to wear - will I be too hot/cold, is it going to rain, will I be over/under dressed, it does take up so much brain energy.
Explains a lot ... I have clearly too many England rugby shirts...
I am one of those people who, during much of my career, had identical outfits that allowed me to grab the first suit/shirt/etc in my closet to wear each morning, without having to think about it. I still have the same system: clean clothes go on the right-hand side of the rods and I grab the first "whatever" on the left-hand end to wear each day. Other people have complained that my clothing is boring (or that they could tell what day of the week it was by the color of my suit, since I sometimes had to vary colors); but, I care not a whit. Other people think habits are bad; but, they are time savers.
When I buy bathroom linens (which last happened in 1999), I buy 8 identical bath towels, 10 identical hand towels, and 16 identical wash cloths. Clean towels go on the bottom of the stack while I re-stock the towel bars in the bathrooms with towels off the top of the stack. This evens out the wear so that a set of towels lasts for 20-30 years - and I don't have to think about the whole thing until I move into a bathroom that is a different color!!
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No, I don't agree with the whole thing at all. It might well improve the working of my inefficient brain … but I'd much rather live in multicoloured, multiflavoured chaos than always know what's coming next.
My question is Why do you have 3 clocks in the kitchen and why are they different times ? And I won't ask about the taps haha
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