How Long Does It Take to Get Back to Normal After a Distraction
It is important to be distracted from work from time to time. Taking breaks is one thing, but distraction is another. Breaks are purposeful and deliberate. Distractions will take you by surprise and completely derail your task. In fact, one study shows that after being interrupted, it takes about 25 minutes to get back on track.
We’ve shown you how distractions can cause errors . Even after you remove the interrupt, you are not operating at the power you were at before the distraction. In a study by the University of California, Irvine, researchers observed workers at work, studying their productivity. Here’s what study leader Gloria Mark told Fast Company about the findings:
You have to completely change your mindset, you need time to figure it out, and you need time to go back and remember where you were … We found that about 82 percent of all interrupted work resumes on the same day. But the bad news is, on average, it takes 23 minutes 15 seconds to get back to a task.
Given their findings, these seemingly small interruptions can actually add up throughout the day. Mark notes that this depends on the type of interrupt:
If the interrupt is relevant to the topic of the current task, then this is useful. If you are working on task A and someone walks in and interrupts you for that particular task, people report that this is very positive and helps them think about task A.
… If the breaks are short, they usually aren’t that bad. Imagine that you are working on this article and someone walks in and says, “Now, can you sign this form?” You sign it, it’s a very minor task, and you go back to your work. Any automatic task that doesn’t require a lot of thought would not be a major violation.
But let’s say you’re writing this article and stop to chat with a colleague about the latest episode of True Detective . This is a long, unrelated interrupt and may take some time to recover from.
Again, it is helpful and productive to leave work and take breaks sometimes. It energizes you. But you want to stay focused when you are working. Find out more about what Mark has to say about distractions in the link below.
EMPLOYEE INTERRUPTED: COST OF TASK SWITCHING | Fast company via Business Insider