If you do any type of creative or thought work, or even if you’re just trying to stay on task, it’s crucial to limit your interruptions.
Inevitably you’ll bump up against people who think you’re rude or unaccommodating. They may not understand the rigid rules you put in place to protect your time.
After all, they just need 2 minutes of your time.
Here’s what you should know — and tell those people: it’s not just 2 minutes.
The Cost of Interruptions
A study by Gloria Mark at Irvine found that it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain focus after an interruption, even if the interruption was only a minute long.
That means that a “2-minute” interruption is really a 25+ minute interruption.
That’s a different calculation, right?
The Cost Beyond Time
But time isn’t the only cost of the interruption. Theres also an energetic cost.
According to Mark, the research showed that attention distraction can lead to higher stress, a bad mood, and lower productivity.
That starts to create a negative spiral, especially for people with ADHD brains, because higher stress and bad mood make ADHD symptoms worse, which causes more distractability.
Self-Interruptions and Context Switching
This applies both to outside interruptions and self-directed interruptions.
The term “context switching” applies to situations when we switch away from one task to check email or social media for “just a minute,” to take a quick phone call, or handle something on an unrelated matter that seems urgent.
As Addy Osmani explains, context switching is more than just flipping from one task to another.
It’s more like asking your brain to suddenly speak a different language. You’re not just pausing task A to do task B; you’re asking your neurons to stop their current dance, change partners, and waltz to a completely different tune.
Here’s the kicker: when you jump from one task to another, your brain doesn’t fully come along for the ride.
A piece of your focus – let’s call it “attention residue” – is still chilling back there with the old task. It’s the mental equivalent of having too many apps open on your phone, each one sapping a bit of your battery and slowing down everything else.
Ultimately, each switch drains your cognitive battery and your cognitive works, making it harder to fully engage with the new task and turning multitasking into a game you’re set up to lose.
The more you switch between different tasks, the more residue you leave scattered in various places. The cumulative effect is like having all the faucets in your house leaking at once. You’re going to waste a lot of water that way.
The Extra Cost for People with ADHD
People with ADHD who already have limited bandwidth, simply can’t afford to have too many apps open in their brains at any one time. It not only drains cognitive bandwidth, it also increases physical fatigue levels.
The Solution: Protect Your Space
If you want to get meaningful work done, you must stand your ground to protect your precious bandwidth and energy.
Here are 3 suggestions for protecting your time, energy, and cognitive bandwidth:
- Set no-interruption time and hold firm to it
- Designate specific times for interruptions or office hours
- Put your phone on do not disturb or keep it in another room while you’re working.
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