The Mindful Life™ Blog

Why Time Management Techniques Don’t Always Work at Work

mindful workplace Jan 29, 2025
Close-up of a woman checking her watch while sitting at a desk with a notebook, symbolizing the challenges of time management and workplace productivity.

A few years ago, time management was all the rage in business circles.  Suggestions ranged from how to have stand-up meetings to increase productivity to how to determine your top three tasks for each day. Many new resources and programs were implemented and while these were all great resources, even the best time management techniques in the world can’t be effective if we aren’t managing our attention properly.

Harvard Business Review recently stated that “Digital Overload may be the defining problem of today’s workplace”.

Even though office birthday parties and water-cooler chatter can be distracting, the true contributor to what researcher, Linda Stone, calls “continuous partial attention”, is the way in which we are trying to keep up on massive amounts of daily digital data.  We’re following the pinging/dinging shiny objects in our inboxes, social feeds and DM’s instead of creating a brain environment where we can actually get something done.

If you feel like you’re struggling with some kind of adult onset of Attention Deficit Disorder – you’re not alone.  The average worker is interrupted or distracted every three minutes.  Studies at University of California, Irvine say that it then can take up to 23 minutes to get back on task – only to be distracted again 3 minutes later.  A task that should only take 20 minutes becomes monumentally more time consuming. Even while you’re reading this blog post, you probably have multiple notifications popping up about new text messages, new emails, new notifications or you’re actively trying to stifle the urge to check your phone one more time before really sinking into this activity in front of you. It’s no wonder that, at this pace, work takes us well into the evening hours.

Here are a few simple tools to create more focus at work:
  1. Airplane Mode
    Even if you’re not traveling, use your cell phone’s airplane mode feature to give yourself some much needed quiet time.  Designate at least one hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to focus on one project without any distractions.
  2. Pick Up the Phone and Call
    If you’re experiencing inbox overwhelm – use your phone in a new and novel way.  Call the person with whom you are corresponding and take 5 minutes to hash out whatever details need to be addressed in an actual conversation.  The Wall Street Journal reported on a 200-person healthcare company that decided to lessen email overload company wide just by encouraging employees to either call or walk across the room to discuss a situation rather than email about it.  You’ll not only get more done, but you’ll also feel more connected hearing a co-worker’s voice than receiving your millionth smiley emoji. Of course, be respectful of other people’s airplane mode time, too.
  3. 5-Minute Daily Mindful Breathing Habit
    Commit to a daily 5- minute practice and train your brain to come back to the task at hand over and over, again. Mindful breathing teaches us how to bring our attention back to the present moment when our minds wander off.  It increases our brains’ ability to focus and, in the age of digital distraction, it’s needed now more than ever. 
  4. Go Outside (without your phone)
    Long gone are the 15 minute “smoke breaks”, but give yourself an outdoor “brain break” instead.  Our prefrontal cortex burns up a lot of fuel in our day and needs some downtime.  10-15 minute breaks between tasks go a long way in recharging our batteries.  Getting some air outside, seeing new sights, and noticing new sounds all strengthen various parts of your brain that enable you to better focus when you’re back at your desk.
  5. Listen to Music
    If you need to have some kind of distraction while working, pick the one that actually improves focus rather than causing it to decline.  Calming music soothes the stress response, enabling your smart brain to take the lead.  If you work in an open office plan or noisier workplace, having your earbuds in can help signal to others that you’re in “airplane mode” and then you can save socializing for when you’re in the break room or on a  “brain break”.

Creating new habits will take some trial and error, so be patient with yourself.  Technology isn’t the problem, but our use of technology can definitely be problematic.  These tools will help you, as Daniel Goleman says, “manage our distractions, instead of letting them manage us.”