Ep. 301: Reclaiming Time and Focus (w/ Jordan Harbinger)
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
The Impact of Focus and Multitasking on Work and Productivity
Focusing on fewer tasks leads to sustainable work and increased productivity. Multitasking hinders innovation and quality as it disrupts the brain's attention frame transition. The brain takes time to switch between tasks, and when interrupted by constant context switching, cognitive distress and exhaustion occur. Managing emails by grouping them based on related tasks helps shift the cognitive frame, making the workload easier to handle. Constantly switching between tasks is comparable to an athlete taking tequila shots between matches, negatively impacting cognitive performance without realizing the consequences.
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