Functions of the exocortex
The exocortex helps to "highlight" the necessary objects of attention in activity. A task planner allows focusing on tasks: whether it's an important work report or taking the coat to the dry cleaner. A calendar allows distributing your attention throughout the day in order to fulfill different roles. When filling out the tables for courses at HSM, missing items become visible, such as lack of attention to one of the areas of interest in the project (often entrepreneurial/marketing).
In addition, the exocortex significantly expands the capacity of attention. An adult's biological attention can be held on 7+/-2 simple objects and approximately 3 complex ones—yet in work, one often has to maintain focus on hundreds of "premises" with numerous objects! It is fundamentally impossible to retain all this information in mind: biologically, we are not designed for it. Therefore, the "technological memory" broadens our ability to focus on the important things. For instance, in the project modeler, you can relatively easily complete even complex projects involving many people. In your personal knowledge base, there could be hundreds of notes—and you can easily manage them, quickly finding the necessary idea instead of completely forgetting about it.
Additionally, with the exocortex, you can automate part of your actions. For example, you can automatically create a work report using configured templates and scripts, or quickly generate the required piece of code with ChatGPT, or get a high-quality image for a post or advertisement using Midjourney and others. Moreover, checklists for important recurring activities can be kept in the exocortex. For example, create a checklist for "Launching an A/B test" and train the team to use it, so as not to regularly find out that someone has launched a test without clearly describing what and how they are testing and how they will evaluate the results.
Furthermore, the exocortex can be used to plan not only work but also leisure. This is especially important for workaholics who regularly try to take on much more than they accomplish. Workaholics forget to rest and recover, to seek something else interesting in life besides work. Ultimately, this path can lead to burnout and regular visits to hospitals.
The exocortex helps us at work and during leisure, but sometimes it can also hinder. For instance, a person may often and for extended periods get stuck in social networks, mindlessly scrolling through the news feed for hours. Since this happens frequently nowadays, sometimes the harm of gadgets is mentioned. But in reality, the reason is not the gadgets but the people themselves. The responsibility for using the exocortex lies with the individual and the team, and the exocortex only allows you to do what you like, want, and consider important. If you feel the need to regularly strategize, plan your life, adjust plans, and only read selected content, following a personal information diet—please do so! If you want to spend time in social networks aimlessly and ruthlessly instead of meaningful work—go ahead! The exocortex did not schedule personal strategizing for deep evening when you are already pondering. The exocortex did not add 100+ sources to your personal news feed. You did—all yours to amend.
The good news is that the exocortex will support the establishment of new beneficial habits just as it previously supported harmful behavior. To achieve this, one needs to choose an exocortex that allows breaking harmful habits, like excessive use of social media, and establishing useful habits, like planning.