Protect a few seconds of thinking
In one line
An interruption of about 2.8 seconds roughly doubled the next mistake. About 4.4 seconds roughly tripled it. Close the door, or turn notifications off.
What it costs
Free. A door, headphones, or a do-not-disturb sign.
What you get
Altmann et al. (2014) measured errors after brief interruptions in the lab. A field study (Mark et al., 2005) found it took about 25 minutes to return, with two other tasks in between.
How strong the evidence is
Source
Altmann, Trafton & Hambrick (2014). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Watch-outs
A door blocks people walking in. Opening another app yourself is a different interruption, and it needs notifications off as well. The 25 minutes come from a field study, not the lab experiment.
Adapted from HowToLiveBetter item 3-6.
Next habitRelated
Best valueTurn “I’ll do it” into “When X, I’ll do Y”
Write one line: “Tuesday at 8, when I sit at the desk, I write the opening.” Across 94 tests, people who wrote if-then plans reached their goals more often (d = 0.65).
Buckle up, front seat and back
Wearing a seat belt in the front seat cuts the risk of dying in a crash by more than 40%. The back seat counts too.
Face droops, one arm fails, speech slurs. Call now
Ask for a smile, both arms up, and a short sentence. If any of that fails, call 119 in Japan or 911 in the U.S. Don’t drive them yourself.