Did you know that after each interruption it takes about 20 minutes before you are back at the same ‘depth’? An interruption, even from your phone, disrupts your concentration to such an extent that it takes a while before you regain focus. And to think that we are disturbed on average every 3 minutes and can therefore rarely achieve full focus.
Last March I attended a lecture by Mark Tighelaar (known, among other things, from the book Focus ON/OFF). He closed the kick-off meeting of the month of digital fitness off. He compared it to an airplane taking off. Fuel consumption in the first phase (take-off) is quite high, but once at altitude at a steady speed, consumption decreases again.
The problem, he indicated, is that we never reach optimal altitude and cruise speed. We keep coming back to the runway all the time, so to speak, and therefore consume an enormous amount of (cognitive) energy. Even a vibration from your phone can make you lose your concentration (putting your phone away and putting it on silent is advisable).
Once in that deep concentration (flow), time seems to fly without costing any energy. Over time, consumption increases again and you know it is time to stop.
Like a football match
In my book I describe that as a football match. People work best when they can work undisturbed for somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes, after which we need a short break (<15 min) om weer fit aan de 2e helft te beginnen. Na elke wedstrijd hanteer je een langere pauze (>15 min), in which you do more than stretch your legs, grab a cup of tea or coffee and go to the toilet.
After 3 football matches the injection is over. The best thing you can do is stop working. You may feel like you can do more on Monday, but this will ultimately hold you back during the week. This applies to both cognitive and physically demanding work.
This knew Adam Smith al. He wrote: “A man who works so moderately that he can work constantly not only keeps his health the longest, but does the greatest amount of work during the year.” Frederick Taylor mentioned a working day that you can also handle the next day ‘a good days work’.
From work brain to play brain
So it is not so much about how long you can work, but how effective you are in the moments when you are actually working with concentration. It is important that we alternate effort with relaxation. This is important for knowledge and screen workers because it takes you from your active mode network (AMD) to your default mode network (DMN). You can safely say that your work brain goes to your play brain. In your play brain you are much more creative, you can put things into perspective and often come up with solutions.
Do you want to give people more structural space to work on a subject for a longer period of time and not be distracted by appointments? Meetings continue to be the number one time and energy waster. Did you know? 3 to 4 meeting-free days results in a productivity increase of 73/74%? Micromanagement also decreases and independence and autonomy increase. So there is more to be said for it than just from a productivity perspective.
Meetings are always scheduled when it is inconvenient. You take this into account in advance (stopping in time, because if you physically have to move there) and afterwards (processing what has been said and taking a break to start something new) or continue where you left off.
This often makes us busy, but also quite ineffective. Cal Newport calls this pseudoproductivity. People don’t get the chance to sit on a subject longer and fully immerse themselves in it.
Tips for dealing with meetings differently
After reading the book Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, I expanded those moments and twice a year I have a month (sometimes 2) without appointments. Mine Calendly is then blocked. I now do that in December, but also in July and August.
Bonus tip: my Calendly doesn’t plan more than 1 month in advance. If something can wait a month, it is not a priority and the consultation is not important enough. Setting up a small threshold helps to prevent your agenda from being filled up with appointments with limited added value. Sounds a bit rude, but from a business perspective it turns out to ensure a higher quality of agreements and a higher ‘conversion’.
I previously wrote about organizing your work asynchronously as much as possible, and (online) meetings are of course anything but that. Do you think a month is too much or too long and do you think the risk of losing clients is too great? You can always start small. These are steps you can take to not only make your working week nicer and better, but also to actually become more ‘productive’.
Other tips:
No meetings before 12:00
If you know that people are most concentrated in the morning, save the thinking for the relative calm of the morning and plan meetings only in the afternoon.
1 meeting-free day per week
Put this in your agenda in advance. You can easily block this a year in advance. Then people can take that into account and it does not have to be Monday by default (although that is possible).
It is a way to start the week quietly, to be able to deal with things from the previous week and not to lag behind. The advantage of not scheduling appointments on Monday (morning) is that people also experience more rest and less stress on Sunday evening.
Meeting-free weeks
Utrecht University introduces a meeting-free week several times a year. A week in which all employees can work undisturbed on projects without being distracted (or having to take into account) meetings. Take advantage of the regular holiday periods so that people (with children) do not feel that they are missing out on anything and can plan their holiday with peace of mind.
If you are successful, you will introduce 1 meeting-free week every month and who knows, you may also block your agenda for a month at the end of 2025 so that you can work undisturbed.
Source: www.frankwatching.com
