Stress – Page 6 – mardihumphreys.com

Beyond the Standard

We’ve all been there. The project that was supposed to be simple turns into something bigger, harder, and more time consuming than you expected. You don’t just get things done. You do them to a higher standard. That extra effort can pay off, but it almost always takes more time and energy than you planned.

It’s the Law

One reason is Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” You give yourself a week to write a presentation, and somehow it takes a week, even if you could have done it in two days. Or you procrastinate until the last day, then scramble to finish. That’s where it gets tricky. How can you tell the difference between Parkinson’s Law slowing you down versus the simple reality that excellence takes longer? Continuing our example of preparing a pitch deck for a big client, if you only give yourself one afternoon, you’ll rush through it and probably copy a standard template. But if you want excellence, customizing the deck, tailoring the message, and practicing the delivery, it may take three full days. You may think you’re being slow, but you’re actually doing deep work. On the other hand, if you keep tweaking fonts and adding new slides all week long because you’re avoiding sending it, that’s Parkinson’s Law at work.

Rule of Thumb

Excellence feels hard, but it moves forward. Parkinson’s Law feels busy, but stuck. If you’re learning, improving, clarifying, or producing higher-quality work, then you’re likely on the excellence path. If you’re constantly polishing, stalling, or starting over without real progress, then you may be letting Parkinson’s Law slow you down.

Keep Moving Forward

Set shorter deadlines: Give yourself less time than you think you need. Not to rush, but to push for focus. If it really does need more time, you’ll find out quickly and can plan for it.

Break work into chunks – Instead of: finish the project, aim to: finish the outline by Tuesday, gather feedback by Friday, etc. This stops you from drifting.

Build in review time – If you plan a day or two to step back and review your work before final delivery, you get the benefits of excellence and the discipline of a deadline.

Watch for procrastination triggers – Be honest. Are you avoiding getting started because you’re afraid it won’t be perfect? Progress matters more than perfection. Starting gives you momentum.

Check in with others – Talk to colleagues or mentors about how long similar work usually takes. It’s a reality check to see if you’re being thorough or just spinning your wheels.

Embrace learning curves – Excellence means growing skills. It takes longer to do something well the first time. If you’re pushing beyond what you know, that’s a good thing. The next time you feel discouraged that excellence is taking so long, ask yourself: Am I making progress? Am I learning or improving? If yes, stay the course. If not, shorten the deadline, break the task down, and commit to shipping what’s good enough. Then improve on it next time.

How do you tell the difference between striving for excellence and spinning your wheels? Please share in the comments.

Financial Freedom

We are preparing to celebrate Independence Day here in America. Financial Independence is a goal for many of us. It can impact the jobs you take, how you choose to save your income, and how you decide to spend it. What does financial independence mean exactly? How much money do you need? How long will it take to achieve?

What Is It?

Financial independence means you don’t have to work to cover your basic living expenses. Your money through savings, investments, or passive income covers the essentials. You work because you want to, not because you have to. Financial security means you can weather a surprise expense like a car repair or a medical bill without spiraling into debt.

How Much Do You Need?

There’s no one-size-fits-all number, but there are some rules of thumb. A popular one is the “25x rule”: multiply your annual expenses by 25. That’s roughly how much you’d need to have saved and invested to consider yourself financially independent. For example, if you spend $50,000 a year, then you’d need about $1.25 million saved to live off a 4% withdrawal rate, which is generally considered sustainable. If your goal isn’t retirement but options, you don’t have to wait for that number. If you have a solid emergency fund (6-9 months of expenses), no high-interest debt, and some savings built up, you’re already gaining both financial freedom and decision-making power.

How Long Will It Take?

The more you earn and the less you spend, the faster you can save and invest and the fewer years you may need to work. But there’s a tradeoff. Chasing higher pay often comes with longer hours, more stress, and less time for life.

How Does It Affect Your Choices?

Which job you accept: Do you take the high-paying role with the long commute, or the one that pays less but lets you work from home three days a week?
How long you stay: You may put in three more years at a demanding job to hit your savings target, or leave early if the tradeoff stops being worth it.
What kind of work you pursue: You may take a risk on a startup, a nonprofit, or a new field entirely because your finances give you the freedom to.
The questions you ask: What’s the return on investment for staying late to impress your boss vs. using that time to build a side income or upskill?
Your priorities: Does this promotion align with your long-term goals, or just lock you into more stress for a bit more money?
Your values: You may decide it’s worth paying for conveniences (like grocery delivery or a house cleaner) so you can spend more time resting, learning, or building your next move.

What You Can Do?

Know your number: Calculate how much you spend annually and multiply by 25. That’s your financial independence target.
Audit your time: Track how much time you spend on work, commuting, side gigs, and rest. Is your time supporting your financial goals or working against them?
Automate your savings: Set up auto-transfers into a high-yield savings account or Roth IRA. Even $100 a month adds up.
Evaluate job offers holistically: Don’t just chase salary. Look at total compensation, health benefits, schedule flexibility, and burnout risk.
Think in seasons: It’s okay to sprint for a few years to build savings as long as you have a plan to rest, pivot, or reprioritize later.

What are you doing to secure your financial independence? Please share in the comments.

The Right Measure

If you constantly compare yourself to others, you chase a standard that shifts every time you get close. There’s always someone getting promoted faster, managing bigger projects, or getting more recognition than you. If you measure yourself by their successes, you’ll never feel like you’re enough.

And here’s the kicker: You likely judge yourself not by what others actually think, but by what you assume they think. You guess what your manager values. You assume your team sees you falling behind. You imagine that everyone else is operating at peak performance all the time. But that’s not real. And it’s not useful.

Flip Your Focus

The next time you compare yourself to a more successful coworker, try shifting your attention inward. Instead of asking, “Am I as successful as they are?” Ask yourself:

Am I better today than I was yesterday?
Did I learn something new?
Did I make a meaningful contribution?

That paradigm shift matters. Success is an external measure. It can be valuable information, but don’t let it define you. Use your success metrics like data. What are they telling you?

For example: Let’s say one of your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is the number of client accounts you manage. You’re under target by 10%. That doesn’t automatically mean you’re failing. Dig into it. Maybe you’ve been onboarding new clients. That work doesn’t count toward the metric but it still matters.

Use Your KPIs

Reframe the way you think about your KPIs. They aren’t a report card. They’re not a moral judgment. They’re tools. It’s easy to tie your identity to your outputs. But you don’t control every variable. You can’t make a customer sign a contract. You can’t force a stakeholder to give faster feedback. You can’t make a product ship before it’s ready.

But you can control your own actions: How many new leads did you contact today? How many blockers did you resolve on that project? How many updates did you send to keep others aligned? Those are behaviors you own. They compound. They create momentum.

When your KPIs aren’t where you want them, think about what needs to change. What’s missing or unclear? What habits or inputs can you adjust?

On the other hand, when they are where you want them to be, think about what’s working. Can you replicate it? Is this a system worth sharing with your team?

Your Progress

Instead of measuring success by comparing yourself to your coworkers, try measuring your progress. For example:

Do you have more connections than you did last month?
Did you reach out to more clients this week than last?
Did you lead a better meeting today than you did last week?

If so, you’re growing. That’s the measure that counts. Aim for getting 1% better every day. You get to decide what success looks like for you.

Your Future

Success is about the past. It’s what you did. But the past is over and you can’t change it without a DeLorean, a working flux capacitor, and plutonium. So, concentrate on today and tomorrow. You can’t control the future, but you can influence it. The way you manage your calendar today, the decisions you make in this meeting, the effort you bring to this email; all those actions shape what tomorrow will look like.

What is your measure of success? Please share in the comments.

Take the Time

You take time off work for a vacation because it’s a culturally acceptable reason to rest and restore your body. But what about your brain? If your mind is overloaded, your work suffers. In conversations about taking a mental health day, I’ve heard opinions running the gamut from eye rolls to enthusiasm. Of course, this made me curious.

Why Take a Mental Health Day?

It’s like resting a strained muscle. Pushing through the discomfort doesn’t make you tougher, it wears you down. If you’re feeling mentally exhausted, overwhelmed, or unmotivated, this shows up in your work through mistakes, slow responses, or irritability. Would you trust your job performance after three nights of bad sleep and three days of nonstop Zoom calls? If you catch yourself zoning out in meetings, dreading small tasks, or struggling to care about the outcome of your work, it’s time to step away and reset. How often you take one depends on your workload. Does it regularly drain you? Then maybe quarterly is a good cadence. Do you usually need a break after an intense project? Then schedule one for immediately after delivery. Create a personal system that accommodates the pace of your work and makes it sustainable.

How Do You Request One?

Some people I spoke with worried taking time off for mental health would make them appear unreliable or weak. The good news is more organizations recognize that productivity depends on sustainable work habits. Unlike calling in sick with the flu, a mental health day is best planned ahead. Choose a day that doesn’t interfere with deadlines, major events, or key meetings and give your manager as much notice as possible. Communicate clearly and keep the focus on coverage and continuity.

If your workplace is supportive: Be direct. For example say, “I’d like to take a mental health day next Friday. I’ll make sure everything is on track before I’m out, and I’ll loop in [Teammate] on anything that might come up.” After your manager approves it, coordinate coverage of your projects. Let coworkers know who to contact while you’re out and make sure that person has all the resources they need. Offer to return the favor when they take a day off.

If not: Be indirect. Label your request the term your company uses for flexible paid time off. Usually it’s called a personal day or a vacation day. You don’t have to explain how you intend to use it. For example say, “I’d like to request a personal day for Thursday. My workload is covered and I’ll be back Friday.”

What Should You Do on One?

Nothing: Turn off your laptop. Watch a show. Lie on the couch. Do not feel guilty.

Spend time with people you like: Meet a friend for coffee or lunch. Visit a sibling. Talk to someone who doesn’t expect work talk. Social connection lowers stress and boosts mood.

Roam if you want to: Take a long walk, go to a hot-yoga class, or bike around your neighborhood. The goal is to boost your energy not your fitness.

Something just for you: Read a book. Cook a slow meal. Run errands you’ve been avoiding. Clear clutter. Anything that restores your sense of control.

Volunteer: Spend an hour helping someone else. This could be anything from packing food at a local pantry to helping a student learn to read. There are many local nonprofits who need help.

What is your take on a mental health day? Please share in the comments.

Completion Anxiety

Are you unable to step away from work until every task is checked off your to-do list and every email answered? Do you often think, “I have all these things to do and I can’t get any one of them DONE.”? This relentless drive may be more than dedication. It could be Completion Anxiety (CA).

What Is CA?

Completion Anxiety is the persistent fear of not finishing tasks or not meeting set standards. It causes stress and impedes your productivity.

What Does It Feel Like?

Overwhelmed: You feel swamped by your number of tasks or nervous about your incomplete work.
Restless: Not completing every item on your daily to-do list makes you irritable at the end of the day.
Sick: You get frequent headaches at work or at lunch time you realize you’ve been clenching your muscles all morning.
Unfocused: You can’t concentrate on the task in front of you because you’re worried about all your other unfinished tasks. You are too paralyzed to do anything so you procrastinate.
Perfectionistic: You’re afraid your work is subpar so you try again, but striving for perfection results in missed deadlines.
Dodgy: You avoid tasks that give you stress but the unfinished work doesn’t go away it just accumulates.
Exhausted: The constant pressure you put on yourself to finish projects leaves you burned out and unmotivated.
Tense: Every ding of an email notification stresses you out because you’re nervous you either won’t respond promptly enough or it means another task has been added to your to-do list.

What Can You Do About It?

Confine: Define specific work hours and stick to them. At some point during the last half of your workday, identify tasks that can wait until the next workday. Striving for completion is commendable, but not at the expense of your well-being.
Prioritize: Which tasks are urgent? Which tasks are important? Work a lot on completing the urgent and a little on the important. Schedule time on your calendar to work more on the important later in the week.
Good Enough: Done is better than perfect. Remind yourself perfection isn’t always necessary. Shift your focus from getting every detail absolutely right to making steady progress toward delivering a competent and sufficient result.
Divide: Breaking tasks into smaller steps makes them more manageable and less daunting. Take breaks between completing one step and starting the next.
Celebrate: Recognize your achievements. Acknowledging your completed tasks builds confidence and reduces anxiety. The celebration can be as small as moving a task from your to-do list to your is-done list.
Limit: Allocate specific timeframes to each task to prevent overextending yourself. Sometimes you stare at a project for so long it stops making sense and you doubt yourself. Save your work and come back to it a little later with fresh eyes.
Feedback: Get your work to a minimum viable product then get your manager’s input. This should help reduce your tendency to overwork. Your manager decides when a task meets the required standards. If your work gives them all they need, move on to the next project. If not, clarify what else needs done and keep working on it.

How do you combat Completion Anxiety? Please share in the comments.

Wobbly Wealth

Financial security feels like a moving target. Variables like student loan payments, the cost of living, and the pressure to keep up with a certain lifestyle can quietly erode long-term financial stability. With layoffs hitting formerly stable industries, your job may leave you before you leave it. Are you earning a solid paycheck but still feel financially vulnerable? Maybe you’re making subtle mistakes that limit your future security. Here are some examples.

Overlooking Workplace Benefits

Many employers offer financial perks beyond salary, like 401(k) matching, health savings accounts (HSAs), and tuition reimbursement.

Why it’s dangerous: Ignoring these benefits means missing out on free money. A 401(k) match is essentially a guaranteed return on your savings, and HSAs provide tax advantages that lower your overall expenses.

Why it happens: You’re busy, and HR paperwork isn’t exciting. You assume these benefits aren’t significant or you think you’ll get around to it later.

How to avoid it:

Review – Check what benefits are available once a year. If you’re unsure, ask for help. A quick email to HR could mean thousands of extra dollars over time.
Prioritize employer-matching programs – If your company matches 401(k) contributions up to 5%, contribute at least that much. It’s free money.
One step to take now – Log into your benefits portal and confirm you’re maximizing employer-matching contributions.

Letting Your Emotions Drive Financial Decisions

It’s easy to justify splurging on an expensive vacation because your coworkers travel often. Emotional spending will quietly drain your long-term security.

Why it’s dangerous: Money is a tool, not a status symbol. Decisions driven by emotions often lead to overspending, poor investments, and unnecessary stress.

Why it happens: Social comparison is real, and financial decisions often feel personal. Without clear financial goals, it’s easy to react rather than plan.

How to avoid it:

Detach – Just because colleagues upgrade their cars or take luxury trips doesn’t mean you have to.
Set clear goals – Figure out what financial independence looks like for you and make decisions that align with your vision.
Pause – If a financial decision feels urgent or emotional, give yourself 24 hours to reconsider.
One step to take now – Review your last five discretionary purchases. Were they based on needs, long-term goals, or impulse? Adjust your behavior accordingly.

Taking on Too Much Debt

Some debt, like student loans or a mortgage, can be strategic. But excessive consumer debt will sabotage your financial progress.

Why it’s dangerous: Interest payments eat into future income, making it harder for you to save and invest. High debt loads also reduce financial flexibility if you’re laid off or have an expensive emergency.

Why it happens: You assume a higher income means you can afford higher expenses. Easy credit approval tempts you to finance purchases rather than save for them.

How to avoid it:

Differentiate between good and bad debt – A mortgage or business loan can be an investment. A car loan for a luxury vehicle is not.
Live below your means – Just because you qualify for a high credit limit doesn’t mean you should use it.
Pay off high-interest debt first – Prioritize credit card debt and other high-interest loans to free up future income.
One step to take now – Check your total monthly debt payments. If more than 30% of your income goes toward non-mortgage debt, create a plan to reduce it.

What do you do to secure your financial future? Please share in the comments.

Normalize Uncertainty

At work, some of the biggest stressors: Should you take a new job? Should you ask for a raise? Should you choose a different direction for this project? boil down to the same challenge: committing to one path and letting go of the others. That’s why it feels hard. If you’re still holding on to every possible option, you haven’t made a decision. And while keeping your options open feels safe, it keeps you stuck.

For Example: Let’s say you’re a marketing manager leading a product launch. You have three possible campaigns: one focused on social media, one on influencer partnerships, and one on email marketing. Instead of committing to one, you keep tweaking all three. The launch date creeps closer, but you don’t finalize a direction. The result? Your scattered approach dilutes the launch’s impact. If you don’t make the decision, reality will. Deadlines will rush your efforts or leadership will step in and decide for you. Either way, avoiding the decision doesn’t make things easier. It just adds stress.

Never Enough

No matter how much research you do before making a decision you’ll never have 100% certainty about the outcome. In his book, It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell with Tony Koltz, retired General Colin Powell suggested making decisions when you have 40–70% of the information you need. Because waiting longer often means missing the opportunity altogether. If you’re considering a job offer but waiting for absolute certainty it’s the right move, then the offer may expire or a competitor may take the role.

For Example: Let’s say you’re a senior data analyst debating whether to implement a new reporting system. You will never know all the possible outcomes in advance. But you can gather key details: cost, integration time, team workload, then make the best choice with the information you have.

Change Feels Hard, Indecision Feels Worse

One reason decisions feel difficult is because they involve change. Humans naturally resist change until the discomfort of staying the same outweighs the discomfort of doing something different.

For Example: Let’s say you stick to manual research instead of using AI to speed up data gathering because the switch feels overwhelming. Then you find your workload without AI increasing and your competitors who do use AI are moving faster. Suddenly you are behind and need to catch up. At that point, the pain of resisting AI becomes greater than the pain of adapting.

Avoiding a Decision IS a Decision

Not choosing is still choosing. If you don’t decide whether to ask for a raise, you’re deciding to keep your current salary. If you don’t choose between two career paths, you’re letting your current trajectory continue by default. When you actively make a choice, you take control. When you let decisions happen to you, then you’re at the mercy of circumstances.

Make the Decision then Make the Decision Work

Instead of fixating on whether you made the perfect decision, focus on moving forward. If you decide to take a job, focus on excelling at it. If you ask for a raise, be prepared to justify it with your accomplishments. If you choose a project direction, back it with execution, not second-guessing. That’s how progress happens.

How do you make decisions? Please share in the comments.

Get SMART

I’m a fan of S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals. They were introduced in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran in his article, “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives.” Forty-four years later, are they still effective?

Why S.M.A.R.T. Goals Still Matter

Focus: Without a clear objective, it’s easy to get distracted or overwhelmed. S.M.A.R.T. goals define what success looks like for you.
Motivation: A deadline creates urgency. When goals are specific and time-bound, you’re more likely to take action rather than procrastinate.
Measurability: If you can’t track it, you can’t improve it. Measurable goals ensure you recognize progress and adjust when needed.
Achievability: Setting goals that stretch you but are still possible prevents burnout and frustration.
Versatility: Whether you’re managing time, switching careers, or improving work-life integration, S.M.A.R.T. goals help you navigate challenges by providing structure and clarity. You don’t have to overhaul your entire approach overnight. Small, consistent steps will lead to big results over time. Let’s look at these three common situations and how S.M.A.R.T. goals get results.

Managing Your Workload

Do you struggle with an overwhelming number of tasks? A vague goal like “be more productive” doesn’t help. Instead, apply the S.M.A.R.T. method:

Specific – “Reduce the number of unfinished tasks at the end of each week by prioritizing three key tasks daily.”
Measurable – Use a spreadsheet (or a task management App) to track completed vs. pending tasks.
Achievable – Ensure the three tasks are realistic given your workload.
Relevant – Align your priorities with your role’s most important deliverables.
Time-bound – Set a four-week deadline to evaluate whether this approach is improving your productivity.
Immediate Action – Start tomorrow by identifying three priority tasks for the day and reviewing your progress at the end of the week.

Navigating a Career Transition

Are you aiming for a promotion or switching industries? A vague goal like “find a better job” doesn’t lead to results. Try this:

Specific – “Apply to 10 roles in my target field and schedule two networking conversations per month.”
Measurable – Keep track of your job search on a spreadsheet to monitor applications, interviews, and responses.
Achievable – Target companies where your skills match at least 70% of the job requirements.
Relevant – Ensure these steps align with your career aspirations.
Time-bound – Set a three-month deadline to secure interviews and reassess your strategy if needed.
Immediate Action – Spend 30 minutes today identifying job roles that align with your career goals and updating your LinkedIn profile.

Work-Life Integration

Does work spill into your personal time? Setting boundaries requires a concrete plan. A vague goal like “work less” doesn’t stop you from working less. Try making it a S.M.A.R.T goal:

Specific – “Log off by 6:30 PM at least four days a week and avoid checking emails after hours.”
Measurable – Use a time-tracking App to monitor your work hours.
Achievable – Start with four days a week instead of aiming for a full work-life overhaul at once.
Relevant – This goal aligns with maintaining mental well-being while still being effective at work.
Time-bound – Reassess in six weeks to see if you’re more recharged and productive.
Immediate Action – Set an end-of-day reminder on your calendar to log off at your designated time today.

What’s one goal you can refine into a S.M.A.R.T. goal today? Please share in the comments.

Wave Goodbye

You’ve spent years building your career, learning new skills, and proving yourself at work. Despite your efforts, promotions pass you by, your work goes unnoticed, and you struggle to find a sponsor who will advocate for you. Should you stay and keep grinding, or is it time to move on?

You have a steady paycheck so it’s tempting to stay put and the fear of wasting your past efforts can keep you stuck. There is a name for this fear. It’s called the sunk cost fallacy. You hesitate to quit because you’ve invested so heavily in this career. But the reality is your past investment is gone. The only decision that matters is whether your future investment of more time and effort is likely to pay off.

How To Know

Promotions: You’re consistently refused advancement even when you exceed expectations. You receive good performance reviews, but leadership passes you over for less experienced colleagues.

Sponsorship: No one in leadership advocates for you. Your requests for a seat at the table are denied. No one brings you up for high-visibility projects in rooms you are not in. Without internal support your career growth is limited.

Value: You take on high-impact projects, but your contributions are undervalued, dismissed, or worse, credited to someone else.

Progression: Your path to development is blocked. When you ask about career growth with the organization you get vague answers or are told to “be patient.”

Autopilot: A single bad year doesn’t mean it’s time to quit, but If you’re no longer challenged or learning, then you’re just wasting time.

How to Reframe

Mindset: Shift from feeling like a failure to believing that your sunk cost is the tuition you paid for future success.

Evergreen: Your experience is not wasted. If you change jobs or even your career path, then your skills, knowledge, and relationships will still benefit you.

Recover: You don’t have to earn back your investment in the same place. If you’re underpaid or undervalued, staying won’t magically fix that. You can earn lost money back in a better role.

How to Avoid

Goals: Set clear career goals. Think about what your next level is and evaluate whether your job is helping you get there.

Track: Keep a record of your achievements and impact. This is your “Atta Baby!” folder. It is the file you keep on your desktop with all the documentation of the praise, recognition, and thank you emails you receive. Its purpose is to help you advocate for promotions and negotiate future opportunities.

Assess: Every six months, ask yourself: Am I growing? Am I being recognized? Am I satisfied? If not, adjust your course before your trajectory feels stunted.

Plan: If you realize your job is a dead end, don’t quit impulsively. Strategically plan your exit.

How to Prepare

Network: Connect with industry peers, attend events, and reach out to former colleagues. The best opportunities often come through relationships, especially weak ties, not job boards.

Upskill: While you’re still employed take online courses, get certifications, or volunteer at a nonprofit organization where you can work on projects that build the skills you need for your next role.

Money: Build a financial cushion so you don’t feel pressured to take the first offer that comes along.

What have you done to move past your sunk costs? Please share in the comments.

Start Me Up

Last week while talking about how to deal with some possible repercussions when you set boundaries around your time at work, I made this statement: “The workplace rewards immediate responses and multitasking. (BTW, multitasking is a myth. Do NOT get me started.)” A few subscribers took that as a challenge and, well, here we are. It’s been five years since we talked about multitasking. Let’s revisit this topic and see what’s changed.

What Hasn’t Changed

Multitasking feels like you’re getting more done, but research shows the opposite. When you switch rapidly between tasks, your brain struggles to maintain focus, which not only degrades the quality of your work over time, but also negatively impacts your mental health.

The brain’s working memory is like a mental clipboard, temporarily storing information as you work. When you constantly switch tasks, you don’t give your brain enough time to process and properly store that information. Research from the American Psychological Association indicates constant interruptions reduce working memory capacity, ultimately impairing learning and the ability to retain crucial information.

For example, let’s say you’re updating an inventory report while also handling a customer’s question over the phone. Your fragmented attention means not only do you struggle to answer the customer’s question to their satisfaction, but you may mess up the inventory report too.

It isn’t just about errors. Multitasking has a significant impact on your physical and mental well-being. When you try to multitask throughout the day you experience higher levels of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, which raises your blood pressure. The cumulative stress from constant task switching can lead to chronic anxiety, reduced job satisfaction, and physical health issues.

So, it’s important to understand the trade-offs. While multitasking seems to boost your productivity, studies show the brain’s constant task switching actually results in slowing your productivity because it impedes your attention and comprehension. When you concentrate on one task at a time, you get more done, reduce errors, and improve the overall quality of your work.

What Has

Multitasking often involves you responding to notifications from email, instant messaging, and phone calls while working on a project. Some tech companies acknowledged this challenge and introduced tools designed specifically to help you focus. Apple’s Focus Mode, Windows 11’s Focus Assist, Slack’s “Do Not Disturb” settings, and Microsoft Teams’ quiet time features make it easier to protect your deep work sessions. These tools aren’t magic bullets. They require discipline. But when used consistently, they help create an environment where distractions are minimized allowing for more sustained concentration and better quality work. Even a short period of uninterrupted focus leads to measurable improvement in your efficiency and job satisfaction.

Strategies to Reduce Negative Impact

Eliminate: In addition to using focus-assisting tools, turn off non-essential notifications or set your workspace to “do not disturb” mode during critical work periods.

Prioritize: Start each workday by identifying the single most important task that will drive your work forward and do it. Make it non-negotiable.

Establish: Set expectations with colleagues about response times. For example, designate specific hours for checking emails rather than reacting immediately.

Adopt: Moving away from multitasking isn’t just about getting more work done. It’s about producing higher quality output while maintaining your mental and physical health. Adopting a monotasking mindset makes you more productive and your work environment less stressful.

What works for you? Please share in the comments.