When Effort Starts to Feel Heavy

Short essays on attention, cognitive fatigue, and the small shifts that restore mental capacity before burnout.

When effort starts to feel heavier than it used to, most people assume they need more discipline.

In the clinic, I often see something else.

It is not a lack of effort. It is accumulation.

I see it in patients who are doing everything right, yet feel increasingly depleted.

Unfinished obligations, small decisions, and background tension divide attention and quietly reduce the mental margin that allows work and life to move with ease.

Most people respond by pushing harder. That usually makes it worse.

What helps is smaller and more precise: closing open loops, reducing friction, restoring capacity instead of forcing output.

I write short weekly essays about attention, fatigue, and how to recover that margin before burnout takes hold.

No noise. No spam. No wasted attention. Just practical ways to think more clearly and feel less overloaded.

Start here →
​https://achievewellness.gumroad.com/l/mylfn​

Michael Hunter, MD​
Radiation oncologist writing about attention, health, and cognitive capacity.