You probably don’t pay too much attention to your memory. But did you know that understanding your working memory and nurturing it can lead to increased productivity?
“Working memory could be thought of as the post-it note of the mind. It’s the information you want to keep front and center because you’re going to do something with it soon and don’t need it to be stored anywhere more permanently,” according to clinical psychologist Dr. Dug Y. Lee. “Your working memory is temporary holding space in your brain. Its primary job is to house information just long enough for you to sequence to the next step of a task,” says Francine Waskavitz, M.S., CCC-SLP, IHNC, owner and lead Memory Health Coach at Longevity Coaching, LLC.
In other words, you use your working memory at work all day – when a coworker mentions something in passing, when you open an email, and when you juggle tasks in a project-management tool. Some of that information gets processed on the spot, while other pieces of info become fodder for long-term memory storage.
“Beyond short-term use, your working memory receives and organizes information for longer-term memory storage. However, this process is highly susceptible to interference and distraction. It’s not enough to just receive information. If it’s data you need to remember, you must actively pay attention to it,” adds Waskavitz.
The relationship between working memory and productivity
According to Lee, your working memory can affect productivity in subtle ways. He shares two examples. Let’s say that you have lunch with your boss and they ask you to look into something right after lunch. You don’t write it down. By the time you go back to your desk, you’ve forgotten the exact nature of the request. Now you have to message your boss and ask again, wasting a few minutes and feeling kind of bad about circling back.
Another example: You’re presenting a sales pitch and your potential customer asks if your team has calculated potential gains for their business, specifically for one division. You enthusiastically say yes and pull up the presentation slide with the info the client asked, but you realize that while fiddling with the Powerpoint slide deck, you already forgot what division the client was inquiring about. You ask for a reminder, which erodes trust during your sales pitch.
The issue is not having to ask someone to repeat what they told you every once in a while, or dropping the ball on one follow-up. It’s the accumulation of all those little moments that can start to take a toll on your productivity. The opposite is also true: With an effective working memory, you’ll shave off time here and there, be more on top of your tasks, and it will have a cumulative positive effect on your productivity over time.
Tips to improve working memory
“Just like your muscles, you can exercise your brain’s ability to retain information. Also similar to your muscles, you have to ease into it. Just like you can’t go from couch potato to running a marathon, you can’t all of a sudden do an hour of memory puzzles and think your brain will actually benefit from it,” says Lee. Here are a few tips to flex your working memory on a regular basis.
1. Play memory games
Memory games are great because they provide a concrete way to see if your working memory improves over time, according to Lee. Apps like Lumosity provide fun ways to train your brain. Lee recommends easing into this sort of thing with a few minutes a day and building up from there.
2. Challenge yourself outside of work
Forgetting things can definitely be worse in some scenarios than others – working on an important project versus running errands, for instance. Practice challenging your working memory in innocuous situations so that it improves when the stakes are higher.
“Challenge your working memory with small wins in situations with minor consequences. For example, your partner asks you to pick up three things at the grocery store. Don’t write them down, and challenge yourself to remember those three things, suggests Lee.
3. Focus on one thing at a time
Both Lee and Waskavitz agree: Your attention span and focus influence your working memory. “There is a condition called Directed Attention Fatigue (DAF) that seems to be an epidemic. This is when people have a depleted ability to focus their attention. If there is any DAF happening, that would greatly worsen any deficits with working memory, according to Lee.
Waskavitz says that multitasking is the biggest culprit to tackle. “While multitasking may make you feel more productive, focusing on one task at a time (or monotasking) is actually more efficient. It’s also better for your memory,” she says.
“To improve your working memory and your productivity, commit to the power of doing one task at a time. This will require you to prioritize your tasks. Figure out what is most urgent and conquer those tasks first. This may also mean breaking down bigger goals into smaller, more manageable parts. Taking these steps can improve your attention, which is crucial to support your memory and work performance.”
