The Weight We Ask Our Minds to Lift

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This week I’ve been thinking about mental energy—how we spend it, how we waste it, and how we protect it. In engineering, you learn quickly that every system has a load limit, and the human mind is no different. Over thousands of hours working with students, I’ve seen how managing cognitive load can make the difference between a concept clicking in seconds or never landing at all.

On Focus and Cognitive Load

Some days you finish work and feel like you’ve run a marathon—without moving more than a few feet. Other times, you can spend hours on something and end up more energized than when you started.

That difference?

It often comes down to two variables: focus and cognitive load.

Think of focus as the narrowness of your attention—how tightly you’re tuned in to one thing.

Think of cognitive load as the mental weight you’re carrying—the amount of information you’re holding, processing, and making sense of at once.

When you put those two on a grid, you get a simple but revealing picture:

Mapping your mental workload: focus on one axis, cognitive load on the other. Where you spend your time determines not just output—but energy and clarity.

High Focus + High Cognitive Load
This is the “flow” zone—the surgeon in the middle of a delicate operation, the chess player deep in a match, the day trader making a rapid series of calls. Your mind is fully engaged and under a heavy lift. Done right, it can be exhilarating. Done wrong, it’s exhausting.

High Focus + Low Cognitive Load
The “grind” zone. Think assembly-line work, proofreading for typos, or long-distance driving. You have to pay attention, but the mental weight is light. This can be meditative… or mind-numbing.

Low Focus + High Cognitive Load
The “create” zone. It’s misunderstood because it doesn’t look like work. Brainstorming, strategic planning, introspection—your mind is juggling complex ideas, but in a diffuse, wandering way. Many of your breakthroughs happen here.

Low Focus + Low Cognitive Load
The “rest” zone. Staring out the window, listening to music, letting your thoughts idle. The mental equivalent of putting your feet up. This is where you recharge.

The Teacher’s Role in Managing Load

I’ve spent over 3,000 hours one-on-one with students.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is this: a great teacher doesn’t just pass on information—they lighten the mental weight required to understand it.

If you give a student a concept wrapped in jargon, ambiguity, and tangents, you’re asking them to bench-press twice their limit. But if you strip the idea to its essence and present it clearly, something magical happens. You can see the shift in their eyes: Oh… that’s it? That’s easy.

That clarity doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with clear thinking. Without that, even the most polished explanation will land awkwardly.

Cognitive Load Is a Muscle

Like any muscle, your mind gets stronger with intentional use—and weaker with haphazard strain. You wouldn’t lift a heavy weight with bad form and expect to get stronger without getting hurt. Mental work is no different.

The right kind of cognitive load—delivered in the right dose—builds capacity. Too much, too fast, and form breaks down. That’s where burnout starts.

A Simple Audit

Here’s a thought experiment:

Look at your week ahead. Which activities fall into each quadrant?

Are you spending all your time in “flow” and “grind” without enough “create” or “rest”?

Where can you lighten the load for yourself—or for someone you teach or lead?

We don’t always get to choose the weight we lift. But we can choose how we lift it.

About the Author Matt Starolis is the founder of Engineering Confidence, a transformative mentorship practice built on over 3,000 hours of one-to-one mentorship and nearly 1,000 hours of AI-driven analysis. His work is dedicated to helping ambitious learners—and their families—build lives defined by clarity, resilience, and earned confidence.