You likely wear numerous hats at work, as do many other
individuals. Your title may be "lead developer," but you may also
hold the positions of "part-time project manager," "junior UX
designer," and "inbox supervisor."
But these shifts in context - between tasks, tools and
projects - affect your productivity, focus and health.
Unfortunately, our workdays are becoming increasingly
fragmented. With the constant use of tools like Slack and constant
distractions, it's rarely possible to focus for more than 20 minutes without
being interrupted.
Distractions such as 12 apps, 34 conversations, and a
mile-long to-do list prevent optimal performance. Such how can you organize
your job so that you can concentrate more successfully and for longer periods
of time?
In this guide. The real dangers of a fragmented work
schedule. We also show you how to develop habits, routines and schedules that
will reduce the need to switch between environments.
Why Context Switching Can Take Up 80% Of Your Daily Productive Time
Context switching is a silent killer - the "task"
of context switching seems more important than spending time on Twitter or
Instagram.
Can you think of an example of this?
You're having a conversation with your team about Zoom. But
when the conversation goes outside your permissions, you quickly check your
inbox or go back to the folder you were working on (and I'm keeping my eyes on
the road!).
Here's the deal.
You're dealing with a complex coding issue. But you know
your boss usually asks for updates at this time, so you log into Slack every
few minutes so you don't miss them.
Context
switching, task switching and multitasking: . Whatever you call
it, this is incredibly taxing behavior on an already stressed brain. While the
immediate cost may be small, the cumulative impact on concentration is huge.
According to psychologist Gerald Weinberg, 20-80% of total
productivity is depleted every time you switch between tasks and environments.
·
Focusing on one thing at a time = 100%
productive time.
·
Switching between two tasks at the same time =
40% of productive time per task, 20% of which is spent switching between
contexts.
·
Switching between two tasks at the same time =
20% of productive time per task, 40% of which is lost to context switching.
