Unlock the Power of Focus Time

Ever get the feeling that your calendar is running your life? That your meetings are preventing you from getting important work done? Do you crave getting into a flow state?

You need more focus time.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina surveyed 182 senior managers in various industries: 65% said meetings keep them from completing their work. While there was a 20% decrease in the average length of meetings during the pandemic, the number of meetings attended by employees on average rose by 13.5%. Add the distraction of inbound Slack messages and emails and it feels like there is no time to get things done.

We all feel the effects of too many meetings but it can be hard to quantify it for yourself and your team. Hypercontext exists to make time spent in meetings productive. To do that you need to structure your day to support your goals. If you are a manager that means looking at your team’s time as well.

What is focus time?

Focus time is a dedicated period of time (2+ hours) where you eliminate distractions to fully immerse yourself in a specific task or project. It has been shown to be a powerful tool for increasing productivity and achieving goals.

Focus time is a technique used to aid in achieving a “flow state” in workplaces. Csikzentmihalyi originally described nine main characteristics of flow in his seminal book on the topic.

Summarized, those characteristics are:

1. There are clear goals and immediate feedback: we know what needs to be done and how well we are doing.
2. Challenges are balanced with our skills: not too hard, not too easy.
3. Action and awareness are merged: one-pointedness of mind is focused on the task.
4. Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
5. Worry of failure is absent: we have control over the task.
6. Self-consciousness disappears: ego is set aside.
7. Time is distorted: minutes may seem like hours.
8. The activity becomes autotelic: it is an end in itself.
9. The experience is enjoyable: the secret to a happy life is to learn to get flow from as many things we do as possible.

Knowing the above I’m sure you can see why flow state, and therefore focus time, are so desired by employees and companies alike.

Why is focus time important?

Focus time is invaluable for reducing distractions and increasing productivity, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities. It is an essential part of any successful workflow.

Distractions can come in many forms. Notifications, chats, or email have a significant impact on productivity. Researchers found it takes over 23 minutes to fully regain focus after a distraction and employees reenter their task with 20% more frustration and 30% more stress. (U of Cali. Irv.)

Meanwhile, focus time can allow people to reach a state of “flow”, or a state of peak productivity. McKinsey found these “flow states” were 5x more productive and that workplaces could double org-wide productivity if in flow.

Further, the Flow Genome Project found flow states can lead to a 6-8x increase in creative problem solving. Psychology Today reports that flow states not only vastly increase a person’s ability to solve problems, they’ve shown problem sets that participants were only able to solve in flow (solution rates of 40% in flow and 0% not in flow).

What are the benefits of focus time at work?

Establishing and respecting focus time is essential for high performing teams as it minimizes context switching, decreases interruptions, and increases the length of time in flow.

Focus time increases productivity

Research suggests one of the main benefits of focus time is increased productivity due to the cost of distractions, interruptions, and multitasking.

When you eliminate distractions and focus on a single task, you are able to work more efficiently and get more done in less time. This is because your brain is able to fully engage with the task at hand and you are able to maintain your concentration for longer periods of time.

Additionally, focusing on a single task allows you to make better use of your time and avoid the constant switching of tasks, which can lead to mental fatigue and decreased productivity. “Context switching”, or switching from one task to another, can be incredibly costly in terms of time and energy. APA reports it can take up 40% of our productive time at work.

Focus time improves mood, engagement, stress & frustration

A Humbolt & University of California, Irvine study measured the impact of interruptions against NASA mental workload measures: mental workload, stress, frustration, time pressure, and effort.

Compared to tasks with no interruption, tasks with the same context interruption resulted in a 10.83% increase in mental workload, 18.86% increase in stress, 38.45% increase in frustration, 15.30% increase in time pressure, and 16.31% increase in effort.

For tasks with different context interruption, there was an 11.50% increase in mental workload, 32.48% increase in stress, 35.76% increase in frustration, 10.67% increase in time pressure, and 20.53% increase in effort.

This indicates that interruptions can have a serious impact on employee productivity, morale, and efficiency, leading to increased costs for businesses.