A Productivity & Time Thief at Work

Posted on by Regine Albrecht

Stop splitting your attention – get more done in less time

  • Do you know what sneaky distractions are?
  • “Half-work?” What’s that?
  • Beating the culprit one task at a time

Whether you are experienced in working from home or you were thrown into it because of the pandemic, there is one thing we all have in common: distractions. We all encounter them; we all have to deal with them. Some people struggle to keep distractions at bay, some seem to manage them more easily.

What’s the difference between the two?

I’ll hazard a guess and say, the ones who struggle the most and fall prey to distractions are the ones who may not even know what distractions they are prone to give in to.

Before you tell me that it’s perfectly obvious that your kids are the biggest distraction, I won’t argue with you. Having kids around and trying to work is challenging, to say the least. But truth be told, that’s only partially true. Even if you had the perfect working conditions you might fall into a far sneakier trap, splitting your attention between various tasks. It’s a major productivity and time thief and is called “half-work.”(1)

I call “half-work” a sneaky distraction because it is by no means an obvious one like checking Facebook, searching for something non-work-related on the internet or having to deal with cranky kids. We may not even be aware of this drain in productivity and squandering of time.

Let me explain.

James Clear, author of the book Atomic Habits, coined the term “half-work.” He writes in his blog:

“In our age of constant distractions, it’s stupidly easy to split our attention between what we should be doing and what society bombards us with.”(2)

Instead of being fully engaged and focused on the work at hand, or any activity for that matter, we are prone to dividing our attention. Here are two examples to clarify what this means:

  • You start writing a report but stop randomly to check your phone for no reason or open up Facebook or Twitter. (3)
  • Your mind wanders to your email inbox while you’re on the phone with someone. (4)

Because we’re not fully engaged in and, therefore, not fully committed to and focused on what we are doing, it “takes twice as long to accomplish half as much.” (5)

The situation changes tremendously the moment we have a firm deadline. Think of the last day at work before going on vacation. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has experienced it, but we get an awful lot accomplished that last day. Why? Because we don’t divide our attention between tasks, we eliminate distractions, and we’re 100% focused on getting done what needs to get done.

“This complete elimination of distractions is the only way I (Clear) know to get into deep, focused work and avoid fragmented sessions where you’re merely doing half-work.”(6)

But working fully engaged, focused and committed isn’t always easy because we are so used to splitting our attention.

Some days I find it hard, and I have to remind myself to focus and finish the task at hand, only the task at hand and nothing else. To make it easier I turn off my phone, close my email app and set a timer for approximately 30-45 minutes. During this time I’m not allowed to do anything but work on the task I set for myself. I’m not even allowed to go to the bathroom or get a coffee. After these 30-45 minutes I’m allowed to take a short break, but quite often I just keep working and finish what I’ve started. I only take a short five-minute break when I feel stuck or nature is calling. If you take a break, don’t check emails or look at any electronic device! The temptation to “quickly” answer a few emails is simply too great, and you’re back at square one.

Thankfully, some days it’s really easy, and the reward is a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction and/or some spare time to go for a walk or play with my cat.

Just imagine what it would mean for you to focus and commit your attention to the work at hand instead of allowing your mind to wander?

Give it a try. Just make sure that you focus your full attention on the right work aka “important work.” If you need a refresher on what defines important work, jump back to my blog Urgent – Busy – Important Work and read it here and you’re well on your way to beating this sneaky time and productivity thief.

As a reward use the “extra” time to meet with a friend, physically distanced of course, play with your kids, exercise, go for a walk, read a book, you name it. Or use the momentum and dive right into your next important task.

Let me know what you think. There is always room for a note in the comments below. See you next time,

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) James Clear, 3 Time Management Tips That Will Improve Your Health and Productivity

Focus Time

Posted on by Regine Albrecht

In a previous post I explained why multitasking is impairing your productivity and efficiency and suggested turning off notifications on your devices.

I know this may be easier said than done. We don’t want to miss important calls from a prospective customer or an urgent question from a team member. So, how to go about it?

Here are 3 steps that’ll help you work around this problem: 

  1. Ask yourself the question: What is the time of day with the least calls or disruptions? This could mean dealing with kids at home, answering calls from your team or customers, you name it.
  2. This time with the least disruptions is your focus time, time to work on your complex and important projects or tasks. Turn off notifications on all your devices or set them on flight mode, turn off everything that would distract you, and yes, that means TV and radio, and get to work.

Everything that will land in your inbox or on your voicemail will be attended to after your focus time.

  1. Last but not least, don’t allow anybody to “steal” this time from you (emergencies excluded of course). Inform your team, your colleagues, or your family that you’ll be offline for x-amount of time and available afterwards.

I know, it’s far more difficult with kids. But even with kids there are periods in your day during which they won’t need you. Maybe you have to be more flexible. Maybe you have to limit your focus time to 20 minutes instead of one hour. Whatever time you can carve out make sure you use it well.

Remember, there is no such thing as perfect, but there is always the best we can do.

Make Working from Home Work for You – Part 3: Habits that help you succeed

Posted on by Regine Albrecht

We made it to part 3 (here are part 1 and part 2), the part that is in fact a constant work in progress: developing and cultivating good (work) habits. Especially during very busy times or at times when motivation is a little low in supply, they can be a lifesaver.

According to the Oxford Dictionary a habit is “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.”

Since we’re focusing on good work habits, that’s exactly what we’d like to achieve. We aim for minimal effort to get something going or help us getting over a hump. Yes, I do realize that habits also have a dark side, but for the purpose of this blog let’s focus on the positive ones.

How do you go about cultivating good work habits? As the word “cultivating” implies, it takes time, effort and experimentation. You start off with a strategy or idea and over time you learn if it’s working for you or not. You may get tips from others, observe others how they do something or deal with a situation, or you read about it. In some cases, you’ll know right away what won’t work for you. Perfect. This saves you time, so don’t even bother. In other cases, you have to try to find out if this suggestion suits you, and tweak it a bit to make it yours.

What it actually comes down to is that you really have to get to know yourself, the flow of your day, situations that may throw you off, and all the other little sneaky things that keep you from doing what you should or need to do.

Cultivating good work habits isn’t a skill, it’s a practice.

Planning Your Day

Calendars – Planners

One of my most crucial habits is planning my day. My preferred way is to plan the next day the night before. Sometimes that doesn’t work, so I do it before I start my day in the office. I noticed, however, that when I do it the night before I get up in the morning and already have a plan. It just feels good to visualize the day ahead, know where I have to be when, and what I would like to have done by the end of it.

Insights & Actions

In one of my previous blogs I mentioned that at the end of most days I take a moment to check in and see what worked and what didn’t. I call it “Insights & Actions.” By doing so I discovered what my most productive environment looks like, when I’m getting things done, but also when I struggled to finish or do my work. I include these insights in my planning.

The Most Difficult Task

If I have something that I find difficult to do, I try to get it out of the way as early as possible in the day. Good-bye procrastination. By getting it done right away I feel good about having tackled a difficult task, but, maybe even more importantly, I also avoided allowing it to become a “bigger” problem, at least in my head. A win-win!

Calendar Miracle

I have also started using my calendar in a better way. Why do I mention this? Stay with me, I’ll explain. To keep track of my tasks I use Microsoft To Do. Each morning I go through “My Day” and check the things I plan on doing. That includes quick things like calling someone or checking on the status of something, but it also includes all my projects such as redesigning my website, doing research for and writing my next blog. What it doesn’t show is the amount of time I may need for the individual tasks. That was a BIG problem for me. The number of tasks I wanted to tackle per day was simply unrealistic. After I started blocking chunks of time in my calendar for the bigger projects, I got much better at estimating what I can accomplish each day. A tiny change with a huge impact.

Dressed for the Occasion

Dressed for the occasion

Be Ready

In order to be able to focus on your work, it is helpful to have everything ready before you start. Like a chef who prepares his workstation and has all ingredients handy before he starts cooking, putting everything in place for the work you intend to do avoids distractions. I’m talking about files, documents, notepaper, pen, something to drink, you name it. It’ll cost you precious time, for example, if you have to search for a specific document in the middle of your work. The same idea can be applied when you are finished with something. I still remember that I was turning my office upside down in search of a document I hadn’t filed away after a conference call. I had buried it under a pile of paper totally unrelated and it took me quite some time to dig it up again.

The Myth of Multitasking

Multitasking is an interesting concept, at least when used in connection with humans. Women are supposedly much better at it than men. Unfortunately, this is a myth. Multitasking is a concept from the computer world and should stay there. We, as humans, usually do a lousy job if we try. We either sacrifice our attention or the quality of our work if we attempt it. What does this have to do with good work habits? It’s simple. If you work on a complex task or need to focus on something a good work habit is to eliminate distractions.

Lack of Motivation

What can you do if you lack motivation? Do you need a break? Would calling a friend help you? You most likely know other solopreneurs or “home workers.” Go ahead, call someone and ask for a little pep-talk. If you can afford the time, do something else on your To Do list. I’m sure there is something on it that’ll kick you into gear again. Move your body, exercise, take a walk around the block, do your laundry, turn on music, do some jumping jacks.

A friend of mine rewards herself with a good book, a coffee, a movie, something fun after she has finished a specific task.

And sometimes you have no other choice but bite the bullet and do it, whether you feel like it or not. Sounds familiar? Then you may know Steven Pressfield’s book “The War of Art.” If you don’t know it, it is “A vital gem… a kick in the ass,” according to Esquire.

Batching

Before I come to the end, there is one more habit I’d like to mention: batching. Batch similar tasks. It’s much easier for the brain and needs less energy. As an example, don’t pay invoices or enter a payment each time you receive one. Wait until you have a couple, and do them all at once. If you have to make a bunch of calls, schedule a time to do them all. If you need to find images for your blog and/or newsletter… you get the idea.

Now let’s wrap this up for today. I mentioned a couple of habits you may consider trying out. If you do, be consistent. Give it some time (I’m not talking about days, I’m talking about weeks!). Ask yourself along the way, what works and why and what doesn’t and why. These answers will hold the information you’ll need to find and cultivate your own best habits.

A good time to look at your habits and routines is when you or your business undergo change. The questions to ask are: Do these routines or habits still serve and support me? Is there a better or easier way to do it?

And with this, I am turning this over to you. Do you have proven habits or routines you swear by? Please let us know.

Until next time,
Regine