Attention Residue: How It Hurts Work Performance and How To Combat It

In a normal 9-5 office setting, people work in an environment full of potential distraction. While many suspect that such distraction is detracting from their work quality, it's possible some don't know the extent to which it can degrade results. And in these modern times, distractions range from work-related to personal to social media.

To reference my own personal experience, I cannot focus on a task if anyone within earshot is talking, and in particular, people have walked right up to my desk and started talking about something. There are only so many times you can politely ask them to wait until you are done, and in some cases, the person's position in the company and/or personality make it even less plausible to ask them to put the request on hold.

You could make the point that urgent matters would be the exception to the rule, and I would agree. However, the definition of "urgent" can be abused to advance someone's agenda at the cost of your own mental reserves.

The term "attention residue" was first coined in 2009 by Sophie Leroy in a paper titled "Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks" (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002, 2009). The quick definition of this term is: a delay in the mind to switch from one task to another. This definition is expanded by Leroy thus:

"[P]eople need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another. Yet, results indicate it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task and their subsequent task performance suffers."

Put another way, when you are forced to shift attention from your current task to a new one, some attention is left on the previous task, i.e. "residue". Over a day of work, this may quickly drain your mental reserves and make you less effective in your work.

To use a computer analogy, your brain must "shut down" on your current task and "start up" on the new task. Both of these operations can be resource-heavy, and having to do this multiple times in one day is a tall order in and of itself.

Ideally, companies would be aware of issues such as these and help their employees work around issues. However, in the absence of outside assistance, there are actions you can take to help alleviate this attention residue on your own.

First suggestion: use blocks of time to focus on similar-type tasks. For example, have a block of time to respond to email, a block of time for meetings, and a block of time for your personal workload.

There are two advantages to this method. First, your brain is allowed to complete work on the task in front of it, which removes most residue. Second, even if you do not finish, when you get to the end of a time block, you know the end is coming, and can find a stopping point. You can also take notes as to where you were.

If you take a further step and inform your coworkers of your schedule, you can also help both yourself to stay focused and them to know when to send requests so they will get quick attention.

Second suggestion: use a breadcrumb trail. When your attention is suddenly demanded in a new direction, take a few moments to write down what is on your mind. These notes should be brief; not so brief as to be cryptic, but also not so long as to take a long time to make the note. This allows you to at least clean out some of the attention residue before you move on to the new task, and allows you to pick up where you left off later.

Using either of these suggestions or ideas of your own to help alleviate attention residue will greatly increase your effectiveness at work. Ideally, workplaces would help employees focus on their work, but in the absence of that, these suggestions may help prevent mental fatigue during a multitasking work environment.

Other resources:

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Cal Newport, 2016
• Finish What You Start: The Art of Following Through, Taking Action, Executing, & Self-Discipline - Peter Hollins, 2018

Sources for this article:

• "Conquering Attention Residue" - Mariel Tishma, Chief Learning Officer (https://www.chieflearningofficer.com/2018/03/02/conquering-attention-residue/, 2018)
• "Something Called ‘Attention Residue’ Is Ruining Your Concentration" - Tanya Basu, The Cut (https://www.thecut.com/2016/01/attention-residue-is-ruining-your-concentration.html, 2016)
• "Attention residue: Why focusing on multiple tasks can kill your work performance" - Sarah Berry, The Sydney Morning Herald (https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/attention-residue-why-focusing-on-multiple-tasks-can-kill-your-work-performance-20160127-gmet34.html, 2016)