Batch the Shallow Work
Shallow work gets a timeslot, not all of my timeslots.
List every shallow task currently hanging over you — emails, scheduling, admin, quick replies, form-filling. Block one 45-minute window for all of them. Do not scatter them through your day. Protect every other hour for work that requires actual thought.
Small tasks keep interrupting focused work because they feel urgent and quick.
A genuinely time-sensitive shallow task requires an immediate response.
Why it works
Each small task carries a context-switch cost that far exceeds the task itself. Batching pays the switching cost once instead of twenty times.
Shallow work — email, scheduling, admin — is logistically necessary but doesn’t create new value. The problem is the way scattered throughout your day, each small task carries a context-switch tax far exceeding the task itself. Every email check drags attention residue into whatever you do next. Batching changes your entire day’s texture: instead of constant low-grade switching, you get clean blocks of uninterrupted cognition punctuated by one designated shallow window. The 45-minute constraint adds a second mechanism — when the window is finite, you process shallow tasks faster because work expands to fill available time. Box it tight and it stays tight.