Working Memory
I used to be able to hold three to four concepts in my mind, manipulate them, compare them, and come to some sort of conclusion (action, decision, understanding, analysis etc.). I used to be able to “search” my brain for answers, tapping into previous knowledge and projecting out multiple possible answer scenarios. A concussion, years of sleep issues, and a horrific exit from adderall later, these skills are largely gone. These skills brought me joy and I want them back. What is working memory, what are the mechanisms, and how can we get more of it? Perhaps it’s a full episode or two. Thank you for everything you and your team do for the world and for science. We are so lucky.
Cognitive Load Limits
I work as an attorney and a lot of people struggle with burnout/hitting their hours. Assuming everyone is taking care of themselves (big assumption), is there any "cognitive load" reasons as to why someone can work 2400 billable hours and other people only can work 1800 billable hours before burning out, or is it a mixture of training, enthusiasm for the work, rewards, intensity, etc.?
Could you dedicate an entire episode or series of episodes to women's health?
Specifically, menstrual cycle health and optimization as related to cognitive performance an entire episode on PCOS (expanding on the material from the episode with Dr. Kyle Gillett would be *amazing*) optimizing female fertility
Setting goals for creative work
I have watched a minimum of 15 of your podcast appearances, where you talk about Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset and how you especially combine it with your deep understanding of the underlying dopaminergic pathways, which has absolutely blown my mind. I took many pages of notes from your various podcasts, like “getting the dopamine from effort and friction, effort being the right path, focussing on the process rather than the outcome etc.”. But I really struggle to understand how to set long- and short-term goals properly, in order to really focus on the effort process, while still having a concrete goal in mind at the same time (which confuses me a bit). Especially when you work in fields, where you simply can not really set actual measurable goals like in e.g. math (i am a music producer for a living and setting an exact goal like “creating 1 song per day (or week)” isnt hardly ever going to work out because its creative work and the process and timespan is always different per production). So the question is: Are goals neccesary for it and how do i set the best short and long term goals for the growth mindset (as a music creative), so that i can really give my absolute best effort to enjoying the process consistently, if i can’t define career goals clearly? Thank you so much!