The Sunday scaries, clinging to the idea of a future vacation, multi-tasking to complete the never-ending to-do list. All of these are common aspects of working life. And, in the midst of it, you may feel there’s never enough time to do all you want to do, at work and at home.
What is the time-scarcity mindset?
Social scientists summarize these experiences by calling it a time scarcity mindset — the persistent sense that there’s too much to do and too little time to do it [1] . This mindset can be the root cause of burnout, dissatisfaction, and overall mental fatigue at work, and when unattended to, it can pervasive in all areas of life.
There are other common aspects of a time-scarcity mindset. That might include being regularly distracted by incoming emails or messages, having competing priorities that all need “immediate” attention, and having minimal separation between work and home. Although none of these are particularly harmful on their own, they compound into bad habits and persistent mental fatigue. In particular, software development requires a lot of mental energy and focus to solve complex problems. This type of work compounded with frequent distractions takes a greater toll on the mind.
Being less distracted, setting better work boundaries, and having better habits are all things we know we need, but putting in the work to break these habits is another story altogether. Especially when you’re in the midst of it, it can be hard to identify root issues and take steps towards change.
Recently, I read the book Deep Work by Cal Newport. It gave me insights into how to build better work habits and fight this feeling of time scarcity. I resonated with the bad work habits that he described in the book and realized that they were sapping my energy and focus at work. I frequently struggle with this time-scarcity mindset, and with what I learned, I implemented these two small habits to fight it.
Fight the “just check” habit.
One aspect of time scarcity is not managing distractions. Over time, distractions erode our attention span and slow down our ability to make meaningful progress on our work. In his book, Newport describes the consequences of “attention residue,” which he defines as the lingering mental effects of frequent task-switching [2] . To illustrate this, a common habit at work is to “just check.” You might briefly interrupt your work to check your inbox or notifications. Although this habit may feel like an innocuous one, context switching even for a moment can cause you to lose the thread of a deeper thought. Also, because of lingering “attention residue,” it is harder afterward to regain that deeper thought after the interruption. This “just check” habit results in more shallow work and, ultimately, more brain fatigue from frequent context-switching.
To fight this “just check” habit, I’ve started using a more robust schedule on my phone’s “Do Not Disturb” mode and moving my phone out of view when I’m at my desk. Especially when I’m digging into a more involved task, uninterrupted time allows me to focus more singularly, and if my phone is out of sight, it is also out of mind. Additionally, it reinforces the habit of undistracted deep work by reducing unwanted distractions and improving my capacity for attention. Both these habits force me to set better boundaries with my phone notifications. They allow me to control interruptions, rather than letting interruptions control me. By letting myself sink deeply into a singular task, I’m more satisfied with my efforts, more motivated to tackle work, and less burdened by “attention residue.”
Schedule tasks on my to-do list.
Part of the struggle with a time-scarcity mindset is feeling there are competing priorities that all need “immediate” attention. As contrary as it is to a fast-paced culture, this sense of constant urgency leads to worsened productivity and outputs. For example, software development requires concentration to produce complex thoughts and solutions for problems. If attention is constantly divided, the ability to creatively problem-solve will be diminished because our minds have only been allowed to skim the surface of deeper thoughts. Besides notifications, another form of distraction is a never-ending to-do list that feels pressing and consumes a lot of brain space.
As someone who is often forgetful and has thoughts running a million directions, having a running list of future tasks helps me to keep track of what needs to get done. However, as such lists tend to, my list can easily get out of hand. Even tasks that I can’t currently act upon end up my list, and this bloated list leads to a feeling of being overwhelmed. In addition, it often feels like I’m constantly about to drop the ball with my work and home responsibilities because the expectations are unrealistic.
To mitigate these feelings, I’ve started scheduling tasks on my list, especially when I know there won’t be time on a weekday to do it. When I add the item to my list, I look at my calendar to see when this will realistically get done and then add a time and a date to it. If any day gets too bloated with tasks, I re-schedule any tasks that are not time-sensitive. Although simple, scheduling my tasks challenges my sense of urgency with my to-do list, and when at work, I feel less distracted by my tasks outside of work.
Understand the roots of time scarcity.
Ultimately, we must coax high performance and meaningful work out of ourselves, especially with many distractions and interruptions vying for our attention. Although our minds have a great capacity to think deeply, they’re also not able to indefinitely execute and output work without consequences, and acknowledging this should give us pause.
By understanding the roots of time scarcity and applying practical strategies to address it, we can begin to shift our experience of time — from one of stress and feeling overwhelmed to one of depth and balance.
Footnotes
1. Vedantam, Shankar host. “You 2.0: Taking Control of Your Time.” Hidden Brain, 26 Aug. 2024. https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/taking-control-of-your-time/
2. Vedantam, Shankar host. “”Work 2.0: Life, Interrupted.” Hidden Brain, 1 Dec. 2017. https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/life-interrupted/