So how can you prevent the productivity loss from context switching? Here's a few strategies:
Make A To-Do-List Outside Your Head: Our brains follow a cognitive bias in which we fixate on incomplete or interrupted tasks. By writing down a to-do list you relieve yourself from the stress of having to remember everything.
Time blocking and task batching: divide your schedule into blocks, then assign a batch of tasks for each of them. So you can set blocks such as “email”, “meetings, “project x”, and “project y”. For example, instead of answering emails all day long, going back and forth to your inbox, reserve two hours in the morning to answer all of them. Then don’t touch your inbox for this action during the day, unless something urgent pops out.
Promote Thoughtful, Asynchronous Communication: Whenever you communicate professionally, the delay is considered a value of time.
Most matters don’t require quick responses, unlike emergencies. So you should train yourself to inculcate such behaviour in your workplace.
You should try this out and feel the difference by yourself.
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