TIME OPERATORS

Library/Leak 15

Context switching and fragmented attention

Attention fragmented by interruptions, notifications, or a schedule with no protected blocks. The cost is not the interruption's length but the roughly 23 minutes of refocus it costs afterwards.

SubtractEliminateContext switchingB · weeks

How you know you have it

How many uninterrupted blocks longer than 90 minutes do you actually get in a week? What breaks them?

What kind of leak it is

A touch leak — it costs interruptions of you

Does it need your judgment?

Usually not — this is mechanical.

A mechanical touch is an automation candidate: nothing is being decided, so a machine or a rule can hold it.

How to measure it

interruptions × 23 minutes of refocus, not the interruption's own length

Annualized the same way everywhere: duration × frequency × people × 52.

Typical range — illustrative

the Calendar Audit already measures fragmentation from the calendar; this counts the interruptions the calendar cannot see

An order of magnitude to prime your eye, not a statistic and not a claim about anyone's result. The only number that matters is the one you measure.

The move — Eliminate

Subtract interruption sources (notifications, open-door defaults) and protect specific blocks.

Where it lands in a Time P&L

Context switching

How long a fix takes

B · weeks

What to do about it

Tools that fix this

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