The Staggering Cost of Distractions

‍The Staggering Cost of Context-Switching

It feels harmless…

→ Quickly checking your email to respond to a client.

→ Jumping over to Slack to send a coworker a password.

→ Taking a mental break to scroll through Instagram.

But the cost to our productivity is actually quite staggering.

According to psychologist Gerald Weinberg, each extra task or ‘context’ you switch between eats up 20–80% of your overall productivity:

• Focusing on one task at a time = 100% of your productive time available
• Task switching between two tasks at a time = 40% of your productive time for each and 20% lost to context switching
• Task switching between three tasks at a time = 20% of your productive time for each and 40% lost to context switching

What does this mean?

It means that if you and your coworkers are constantly switching focus back and forth between an important project, email, and Slack, you’re operating at a fraction of your mental capacity.

Imagine the implications of reclaiming that extra 40% of productive time, across every member of your team.

Let’s reclaim a bit of your focus this week by tackling one of the biggest culprits…

Trying to Find Passwords Across Teams

We’ve all been there.

Your coffee is hot. Your headphones are in. Your focus music on. You’re ready to lock in and do some productive work between meetings.

You try to log in to the app or website you’re working in, but then you see it…

“2FA Authentication code sent to a number ending in 1234.”

Or…

“This password was changed 3 days ago.”

You send a message in Slack asking who got the code or who has the password, but no one responds. You wait a few minutes, checking your email and texts in the meantime. 30 minutes later, you get the code, but you lost 30 minutes in the process. Now you only have 45 minutes before your next meeting, and you have to rush to finish your task.

Here’s the problem.

Most teams do not have a streamlined system for managing passwords.

Setting up a simple system can save each member of your team productive hours every week.

I recommend using a tool like 1Password. It allows you to quickly and securely share important information across teams. It gives everyone the access they need to do their most important work without interruptions.

Here’s the key to success with 1Passowrd.

Build “password vaults” around specific roles within the organization.

For example, you could create a vault for marketing, finance, HR, and so forth. Whoever has access to a vault can utilize any entry in there, including the 2-step verification code. No more texts for 2-step codes! Anyone not in the vault has no access to the information within it.

This makes it easy to grant access according to the departments or people filling the corresponding roles.

When someone joins the company, you simply add them to the necessary vaults. When someone leaves the company, you can suspend or delete their account, and all of their access to every vault is immediately removed, making it super simple to lock people out of your stuff. It’s seamless.

Here’s your action item for this week:

Put a meeting on the calendar with your team to organize your passwords.

1. Set up an account on 1Password.
2. Create a “vault” for each team in your organization.
3. Hold a meeting to put all the passwords into 1Password.

You and your team deserve undistracted time to focus on your most important work.

Set up a system to make it possible.

If you're ready to take control of your digital world and want to know where to start, take our Quiz: How Organized Are You? to find your starting place.