My office phone rang at 4pm on a Friday—my CEO.

“Where have you been? I’ve been calling your cellphone for hours!” he exclaimed.

“I’m in the office—working.”

“Why don’t have your cellphone turned on?”

“Rod, if I’m not at work, or on the road, I’m home. But when I’m at work, I don’t have my cellphone on most of the time. People know how to reach me. It’s pretty simple.”

Simplify. Simplify. That’s the advice from William Strunk and E.B. White in their editing tome, “The Elements of Style.” It’s good advice that works in and out of the office. More people should take it.

According to a recent article by Korn Ferry (the consulting firm), we’re in a crisis of concentration. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California-Irvine, has been observing employees at work for nearly 20 years. In 2004, she found that people worked for an average of two and a half minutes before switching tasks, whether from an email to a spreadsheet to an office conversation. By 2012, that time was down to 75 seconds. Today, workers spend 47 seconds on a task before shifting focus.

What’s worse, Mark found that when employees get interrupted, it takes them about 25 minutes to return to the original task—a phenomenon known as the “switch cost effect.” According to an employee survey conducted by Asana, 33% of respondents said their attention spans were shorter than a year ago.

But don’t blame this crisis on emails or pesty bosses. According to Korn Ferry, neuroergonomics researchers say our cognitive functioning is also under attack from disparate enemies like sleep deprivation, air pollution and, of course, social media. And even if we do manage to avoid Instagram, X and TikTok, we become mentally exhausted in the process. What helps? Limiting concentrated focus to three hours; scheduling uninterrupted blocks of 60-90 minutes; practicing relaxation techniques; getting enough sleep and even reading a physical book or, may I suggest, a magazine. You can start by reading this issue of Happi, which includes insights on formulation, sourcing, product launches and much more.

Wellness, whether mental, physical or spiritual, is top-of-mind these days. Which is why we’re holding a Wellness Conference & Tabletop Exhibition on November 3. Join us! www.happiwellnessconference.com

Tom Branna
Chief Content Officer
[email protected]