Timeblocking is a systematic scheduling approach where you break your day up into ‘blocks’ of time. Here are a couple of our favorites: Timeblocking to give your days more structure In practice, there are plenty of practical scheduling strategies you can use to find more focus.
Realistic time set aside for emails, meetings, and admin.Large chunks of focused “flow” time for more demanding projects.While there are lots of ways you can increase your overall time for Focus Work, the easiest is to change your schedule.Ī schedule that’s designed for sustained attention rather than context switching follows a few simple rules: The same goes for designers, marketers, project managers, and even executives. The rest is spent on emails, meetings, calls, and other work.
In our own research, we found that software developers spend just 41% of their day doing actual software development. designing for designers, coding for developers, etc… It also eats into the overall time you have to do your most important work. Batch and timeblock your schedule to create clearer ‘focus boundaries’Ĭontext switching doesn’t just kill your focus. But like most things that have an outsized impact on your focus, productivity, and time management, a few small changes can go a long way. There are also unconscious actions you take throughout the day that cause you to switch. Most of us have built a habit of task switching through how we use work tools like email or chat.
Context switching happens when your schedule is either too full (too many things to work on) or too empty (not enough structure to stay focused). Reducing the amount of context switching in your day requires a holistic approach to the way you work. 5 ways to build habits, routines, and schedules that will rebuild your focus Task switching between three tasks at a time = 20% of your productive time for each and 40% lost to context switchingĪnd just how much are you switching? One study found most people average only 3 minutes on any given task (and only 2 minutes on a digital tool before moving on).Task switching between two tasks at a time = 40% of your productive time for each and 20% lost to context switching.Focusing on one task at a time = 100% of your productive time available.And while the immediate costs might feel small, the compounding impact on your focus is staggering.Īccording to psychologist Gerald Weinberg, each extra task or ‘context’ you switch between eats up 20–80% of your overall productivity:
But you know your manager usually asks for an update at this time so you ‘check-in’ on Slack every few minutes to make sure you don’t miss it.Ĭontext switching, task switching, multitasking… whatever you want to call these behaviors, they’re incredibly hard on your already-taxed brain. You’re working on a difficult coding problem. (All while keeping one ear on what’s being said!) But as soon as the conversation shifts away from something you’re responsible for you check your inbox or jump back into the doc you were working on. Unlike time spent on Twitter or Instagram, the ‘tasks’ you’re likely to switch between all seem important. How context switching kills up to 80% of your productive time a dayĬontext switching is a silent killer.
Then, we’ll teach you how to build habits, routines, and schedules that reduce the amount of context switching you do. In this guide: We’ll show you the true dangers of a fragmented workday. So how do you design your workday in a way that allows for longer, more productive periods of focus? You can’t do your best work when your attention is scattered across 12 open apps, 34 ongoing conversations, and a to-do list a mile long. Between always-on tools like Slack and always- available distractions, it’s rare to get more than 20 minutes of uninterrupted focus. Unfortunately, our workdays are becoming more and more fragmented. Your title might be ‘senior developer’, but you’re probably just as likely to be a ‘part-time project manager’, ‘junior UX designer’, and ‘chief of inbox relations’.īut all this context switching–when you jump between tasks, tools, or projects–impacts your productivity, focus, and happiness. If you’re like most people, you probably wear more than a few hats at work.