Reclaim 40% of Your Productivity Each Day

Research shows that up to 40% of our productivity each day is lost due to context switching. Learn what context switching is and how to minimize it!

I have found that business leaders are constantly looking for ways to be more productive. Well, what if I told you that you can gain 40% more productivity in your day? I bet you would want to know more!

How to Increase Productivity as a Business Leader

In today’s world, we have many things that vie for our attention during the work day. This includes emails, texts, Slack messages, social media notifications, our spouse and children if we work from home, or teammates if we work in the office.

When we are trying to work with constant distractions and interruptions, it causes us to "context switch" which is shifting from one unrelated task to another. Humans have great flexibility to move from one task to another. Psychologists call it “cognitive flexibility.” That’s the good news.

The Problem with Context Switching

The less-than-good news is what context switching does to our productivity. Studies show that it takes between 9.5 and 20 minutes to get back into a workflow and regain our productivity after switching from one task to another.

Every time we are distracted and move from one task to another, it takes up to 20 minutes to get back into focus and flow on the new task. If we are distracted by an interruption, it takes up to 20 minutes for our brains to get back into flow.

And studies show that most people context-switch a lot during their day! In fact, a study of software developers showed that they context-switch an average 13.7 times per hour.

Most business leaders context-switch multiple times per day because they wear so many hats and must perform many different tasks on any given day. As an example, today I will spend time outlining an upcoming presentation, doing client work, reviewing job descriptions, meeting with my team, writing a chapter in my upcoming book, updating my organization dashboards and planning the quarter ahead!

But here’s the statistic that we should all pay attention to: Psychology Today says that 40% of our productivity every day is lost to context switching. I don't know about you, but I would really like to reclaim 40% of my productivity each day so I went on the hunt for research on how to dramatically reduce your tendency to context switch.

How to Reduce the Tendency to Context Switch

Here are the best practice tips that I found:

Evaluate all the ways that you are pulled to context switch when you are working. Track it for a few days and you will identify patterns and triggers. Then, establish workflows that limit this kind of switching. Read on for some ideas…
Turn off all notifications on your phone and computer. This will help you resist the urge to check email, Slack, social media and the like. In fact, experts suggest leaving your phone in another room altogether because it is one of our favorite ways to distract ourselves when we are working.
Plan designated electronic breaks when you will check email and Slack messages. For most positions, three times a day (morning, before or after lunch, and end of day will do just fine). Confining your response times to these windows will really help minimize your interruptions throughout the day.
Make sure your calendar matches your priorities. Plan blocked time for your most important priorities. “Deep work,” a concept developed by author and college professor, Cal Newport, is work that is creative or contemplative such as writing, planning, coding, and doing strategic or project work. When you are doing deep work, you want blocks of uninterrupted time.
Batch related work whenever possible. If you are scheduling client or prospect meetings, do this all at the same time each week. If you are editing videos or writing blog posts, try to do this all at the same time.
Restrict meetings with others to certain days or times of day. I used to work in a meeting-heavy culture, where we had Zoom after Zoom lined up throughout the day. I would try to get work done in small snippets of time between meetings, and it was miserable. If you work in a culture like this, try to promote at least one day a week, company-wide, that is an agreed-upon ”no meeting” day.
Finally, build buffers and breaks into your day. We are not machines and neither are our brains. Taking breaks leads to greater concentration in our work according to psychologists, so plan at least a few 5-10 minute breaks throughout your day, as well as a lunch break away from your desk so that you will remain energetic and feeling good!

Do you have a problem with context switching? Which tip will you try today to improve your productivity? Comment below and let me know!

Categories: : Focus, Habits, Productivity