The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types and 2 molecules
Match capture modality to information structure: use text for sequential verbal content, voice when hands are occupied, and photographs for spatial or visual information.
When unpacking task estimates, decompose complex tasks into component steps before estimating duration—unpacking improves accuracy by forcing visibility of dependencies and transitions that holistic estimation skips.
Design capture tools to minimize decisions between intent and recording, targeting one gesture or keystroke from any application context.
Start with one capture trigger anchored to your most natural existing habit, run it for six weeks minimum before adding a second trigger.
Track which inbox items actually required real-time response rather than batch-window response to gather evidence about whether continuous processing is truly necessary for your role.
When measuring your biological prime time, set hourly check-ins for at least 10 workdays and rate mental clarity, motivation, and physical energy on a 1-5 scale to identify your peak 2-3 hour window.
When defending peak attention hours against meeting requests, offer alternative times outside your blocked window rather than explaining or justifying the block itself.
Batch all shallow work—email, Slack, administrative tasks, routine meetings—into time blocks outside your measured biological prime time rather than distributing them throughout the day.
Before switching from any unfinished task, write a one-minute ready-to-resume note specifying: where you stopped, what remains unresolved, and the next concrete action you will take when returning.
For every app on every device, apply the 30-day action criterion: if no notification in the past month caused an action you're glad you took, disable notifications for that app immediately.
Classify notification sources into three tiers—Tier 1 immediate (5 or fewer total), Tier 2 batched (checked on schedule), Tier 3 eliminated (disabled entirely)—and configure each source according to its tier within 24 hours of classification.
Remove notification badge counters for all apps except Tier 1 immediate-response sources to eliminate visual triggers that create psychological open loops independent of notification content.
Insert five-minute transition buffers between all calendar blocks—meetings, deep work sessions, any context shifts—using those minutes to close the previous context and orient to the next rather than scheduling back-to-back commitments.
When a task produces boredom through severe under-challenge (skill level exceeds task demands by 3+ points on a 10-point scale), inject complexity by adding constraints, combining tasks, or converting execution into teaching rather than forcing continued engagement through willpower.
Use time-boxes of 60-90 minutes for creative and strategic work requiring divergent exploration before convergence, and 15-25 minute boxes for administrative work where compression forces efficiency, matching box duration to the cognitive signature of the task type.
When cognitive output quality begins degrading (increased rewrites, slowed pace, rising error rate), stop work and take a 10-15 minute break with genuine disengagement even if the task is incomplete, because work produced during depletion has lower quality than work produced after restoration despite shorter total time.
Eliminate decision points during deep work startup by pre-deciding tool configuration, document access, notification state, and physical materials before the session begins.
End every deep work session with a 2-5 minute shutdown ritual that reviews accomplishments, documents next steps, and closes all open cognitive loops before transitioning to other activities.
Maintain two separate task lists—Deep (requiring sustained focus) and Shallow (executable while mildly distracted)—and schedule Deep items during measured peak attention windows while batching Shallow items for post-peak periods.
Track your shallow-to-deep work ratio weekly and treat ratios exceeding 50% shallow as signals of structural calendar problems requiring role negotiation rather than personal discipline improvement.
Use automated time-tracking tools alongside manual 30-minute increment logs simultaneously for three consecutive workdays to capture both digital activity and non-digital context that neither method alone reveals.
When approval steps in a process have produced zero changes in the last twenty instances, eliminate the approval gate as pure waste regardless of its historical rationale.
For decisions blocking three or more downstream dependencies, calculate cost of delay by multiplying the decision's delay duration by the combined capacity waiting idle, then prioritize decisions by this metric rather than by perceived importance.
Make your current bottleneck metric physically visible in a location you cannot minimize or avoid (sticky note on monitor, whiteboard in workspace) and update it daily rather than relying on digital dashboards.