Have yous ever been so wrapped up in a task that the hours merely seemed to fly abroad? Co-ordinate to a new study from Northern Illinois University, that might mean y'all take practiced working memory, a trait that can help you stay focused and get the job washed.

And while it'southward not clear that you tin amend the size of your working memory, you tin can at least take steps to succeed with the recall you have.

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What'due south Your Capacity?
Working memory is like the RAM on your computer: Information technology helps you remember phone numbers, words in a sentence, and other $.25 of information for a few seconds to process them, says Paul E. Schulz, 1000.D., a neurologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Some people are better at this than others. In the new report at Northern Illinois, researchers tested 99 students to see which had a high working memory capacity. They so had the volunteers do math bug until they thought two or four minutes had passed (no iPhones or stopwatches allowed).

People with meliorate working memory were poor at judging the time, only whizzes at arithmetic. The results advise people with depression working memory get distracted but people with better retentivity "become lost in the primary task at manus," says study author Joseph Magliano, Ph.D., whose results were published in the journal Acta Psychologica.

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Maximize Your Memory
Of course, at that place are upsides and downsides to ignoring the clock. It's good to stay focused long enough to finish something, merely yous usually need to proceed an center on the fourth dimension to brand sure you don't blow deadlines, Magliano says.

So what does this hateful when y'all have a stack of expense reports and only a few hours to become through them? Researchers are divided on whether your working memory capacity is fixed or flexible. But they hold you can learn to manage your time, and your workload, with the brain yous've got. (Want more brain-boosting tips? Read How to Remember Everything.)

1. Know Your Weaknesses. If you tend to get sidetracked, your working retention may be lacking. "Create distraction-gratis work or study environments (turn off cell phones and e-mail reminders), discipline yourself to focus on the task at hand, and break big tasks into smaller ones and focus on one at a fourth dimension," says Lynn Yard. Grattan, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

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2. Sound the Alarm. On the other mitt, if your working retention lets y'all focus intensely over time, you'll need to attempt unlike time-direction tactics. "Use external devices such as alarms or timers as reminders that other tasks demand to exist completed," Grattan recommends.

3. Become the Expert. Work hard to proceeds in-depth knowledge and skills in your field. "That expertise will reduce the amount of mental energy—or working memory resources—needed to exercise the task," Magliano says.

iv. Railroad train Your Brain Online. Simply don't sink a lot of cash into it. Though some services like Lumosity are promising, inquiry hasn't all the same proven that these programs effectively boost working retentiveness chapters, says Mark McDaniel, Ph.D, a retention researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. (But there's plenty of inquiry on The Brain Biology Behind Video Games.) But if you think they're fun and they seem to acuminate your skills, they won't hurt. Other ways to work out your working memory include Sudoku, the New York Times daily crossword puzzle, or fifty-fifty just an engaging conversation with a smart friend, Schulz says.

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