Let’s face it, our attention is more divided than ever.

The average American office worker checks emails 74 times per day.

On average, we switch tasks every ten minutes.

Despite all the productivity tools, apps, and shared calendars, it’s harder than ever to carve out intentional time to focus.

Take, for example, a typical weekday morning working from home:

• Open up my laptop to read personal emails and newsletters
• Turn on a Spotify playlist
• Make a cup of coffee
• Answer a few texts from my wife and friends
• Go number 2 while doing the NYT crossword puzzle
• Check my debit/credit card balances to pay bills or make any adjustments necessary
• Respond to Slack messages from the night before
• Finally, get back to answering my work emails.

It’s no wonder it takes me so long to get into the zone and start tackling my To-Do list.

I’m blindly going from task to task, never fully present for any one of them.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) calls this phenomenon Time Confetti — taking meaningful moments of our lives and shredding them into increasingly tiny, useless pieces.

Emails, texts, and social media now make up a significant percentage of our daily time allowance.

It fragments our time into tiny pieces that we can’t enjoy.

According to a study from the University of California, when one is interrupted, it typically takes up to 23 minutes to return to the original task, and most people will do multiple intervening tasks before going back to their project.

Even if you aren’t a fanatical email checker, I suspect we all find ourselves switching from task to task far more frequently than we realize. How often have you checked your phone under the table when you’re out to dinner with friends?

As you read this, take a look at how many tabs you have open. How many notifications have you received on your phone in the last five minutes? Where else is your attention spread?

Attention Residue

Dr. Sophie Leroy of the University of Washington coined the concept Attention Residue — when part of our attention is focused on another task instead of being fully devoted to the current task that needs to be performed.

It’s difficult to answer a pressing work email with vigilance when you’re simultaneously worried if you worded that text to your spouse appropriately, paid this month’s rent, or remembered to reply to the funny meme your friend sent you on Instagram.

Entrepreneur Sahil Bloom (@SahilBloom) explains how the challenge is even more pronounced in a remote work world, where we are at home and thus free to roam the internet, have our chat apps open, and check our phones all while appearing to be focused on a Zoom call.

It doesn’t matter whether the task switch is “macro” (i.e. moving from one major task to the next) or “micro” (i.e. pausing one major task for a quick check on some minor task).

In other words, stopping to quickly check a text message is just as bad as jumping from meeting to meeting.

It’s hard to build momentum if you’re dividing your attention.

Author Cal Newport (@ProfCalNewport) — who writes about attention residue in his fantastic book Deep Work — says that by constantly shifting our attention, we are effectively putting ourselves in a “persistent state of self-imposed cognitive handicap.”

So what’s the solution?

Eliminate to Add

Many of the productivity gurus on the internet will tell you that to maximize the day, we must wake up at 5 a.m., journal for twenty minutes, exercise, meditate, and take the proper assortment of neurotropic supplements (I would embarrassingly throw myself in this camp…).

But compare that to the person who wakes up at 10 a.m. and starts working uninterrupted for four hours.

If we define productivity, it simply means getting more done per unit of time. People who move faster in life don’t actually move faster, they get more done per unit of time.

People approach the problem that they’re not getting enough done per unit of time, and they think “I should add more things that are not getting things done” to put themselves in the proper productive zone.

That doesn’t make sense, right?

Look first to eliminate the things that do not serve your purpose.

Focus is not about giving something more of your attention — it’s about giving everything else less.

Bruce Lee wisely said, “One does not accumulate, but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease.”

Information Fasting

Like our stomachs, our minds are hurt more often by overeating than by hunger.

Fasting from eating has been proven to provide beneficial rest for the digestive system, allowing it to recover and enhance its future function.

In the same way, Information Fasting from emails, texts, and social media (even just for a couple of hours) can provide your brain with beneficial rest from all the noise and distraction we’re constantly pouring into it.

The best productivity app on your phone is called Airplane Mode (use it).

Focus Work Blocks

I recently started using a 25-minute timer on my phone to focus solely on work (The Pomodoro Technique). In those 25 minutes, I can’t look at my phone or browse the internet. I can only do the task at hand. The first time I did it I was amazed at how quickly and how often my mind looked for another stimulus. Before the timer, I was spending my time mindlessly task-switching every 30 seconds. No wonder I couldn’t get anything done!

But that’s only 25 minutes. Try to schedule deliberate time to work on one thing in particular.

Put a three-hour calendar hold from 9 am—noon. You might use this time to work on a big project you told your boss you would have done next month. You could also use that time to clear out your entire inbox. It doesn’t matter what it is, but make those three hours sacred.

Don’t distract yourself with coffee breaks, IMs, checking LinkedIn, or making a phone call. See how much you can get done when you eliminate distractions and work toward a timed goal. Like the Pomodoro Technique, you can reward yourself with a coffee or ten minutes of guilt-free TikTok scrolling once the work block is over.

Take a Walk (or Breath)

Going for a walk (without my phone) has never failed to make me feel relaxed and refreshed. On a 15-minute walk, I give myself the space to actively think through all of the different things I need to do that day.

Take a look at some of the benefits a device-free walk can provide:

• Focusing on moving can distract from linear thinking, allowing the mind to wander to new ideas.
• A study from Stanford found that walking increases creative inspiration by an average of 60%
• Walking increases blood flow throughout the brain and body, which can positively impact creativity
• Being active can help with sleep, which can improve creativity and brain function

If you don’t have time (or weather) to get outside, try a few breathing exercises.

One of my favorite exercises is called the “physiological sigh” — a bottom-up stress management technique that can be used acutely to reduce stress or anxiety.

To practice the physiological sigh, receive an inhale, but before you can to the top, take another inhale. Then, expel all your air with an inhale.

You can also try “box breathing,” a technique that involves exhaling to a count of four, holding your breath for four seconds, inhaling at the same pace, and holding your breath for four seconds before exhaling again.

When I’m overwhelmed, I prefer a 10-minute round of Wim Hof breathing.

Uninterrupted Time for Leisure

It’s also just as important to schedule leisure time.

Whatever your preferred leisure activity is (drawing, gardening, playing music), make sure you find some time in your busy day to get to it — even if it’s only ten minutes.

For me, exercise is leisure, so I make it a habit to workout at the same time every day. That way, even if work is busy or I have a ton of things to do, I know that 6 am — 7:30 am is my scheduled leisure time. I don’t mess with that time because I know it’s going to give me the energy I need to start the day.

Also, give yourself time to unwind. I often will schedule a 15-minute break at 5 pm to lie down on the couch and read some pages from whatever book I’m reading. Once I’m done, I’ll feel rejuvenated to finish up my work day and start planning my time for tomorrow.

Batch Processing

Ok, focused work blocks and walking/breathing sound great, but what about all of those notifications? Those emails, Slack messages, and texts aren’t going to answer themselves right?

The answer here is simple: Batch processing.

Pick a few windows during the day when you will deeply focus on processing and replying to messages.

My former boss used to have a rule where he would only respond to Slack messages three times a day — in the morning when he opened up his laptop, right after lunchtime, and right before he left the office for the day. That might sound extreme to some, but it’s surprisingly more effective than whack-a-moling responses throughout the day.

This slowly trains your colleagues to not expect immediate responses from you on everything. This change might mean giving up your reputation as the “fast responder” in your social circles.

I used to pride myself on replying to every email quickly. It felt good when people thanked me for my quick response time, and it was difficult for me to abandon that.

That same former boss explained to me that I don’t need to respond to every IM or email the minute I get it. If something is truly urgent, most people will call you if there is a real problem.

Now I protect my time religiously. Rather than volleying back responses, I can save all of my responses and batch them all at once. It gives me the power to dictate how my time is allocated, and it also gives the person on the other end the reassurance that their need will be responded to accordingly — maybe not right away, but within a couple of hours at the most.

Conclusion

Becoming more protective of your time may sound uncomfortable if you’re someone who is used to going above and beyond for your friends, family, or colleagues. However, when you take direct control over your schedule, you can be more engaged and people will take notice.

The more control you have over your attention, the more control you have over your future.

— James Clear

Be strict you are with the things you grant attention to. Your phone was designed by experts to suck your attention and keep you on their app for as long as they can.

Don’t let them win.

Be intentional with your time.

Not everyone has the luxury to dictate their schedule due to the nature of their career, but you do have control over how you allocate your attention.

Choose wisely.

— KB