“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.” — Sherlock Holmes

“A man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Attic = 閣樓或頂樓

Be your own cognitive curator; you decide what goes in and what stays out, making sure that you’re not wasting valuable mental space and energy on things that aren’t aligned with your goals or distract you from your goals.

與古老的記憶術「地點法」（Method of Loci）有異曲同工之妙。地點法，也被稱為「思考宮殿（Mind Palace）」，是一種通過將資訊與特定空間或地點聯繫起來來幫助記憶的技巧。

References

• “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes” by Maria Konnikova
• TV series «Elementary» - Season 1, Episode 2