There’s a piece of productivity advice I used to swear by: “If a task takes less than five minutes to complete, do it immediately it lands on your desk and move on.”
I believed in it so strongly that I often shared it with others because the logic made sense. These small tasks, if ignored, would stack up into a chaotic to-do list by the end of the day/ week so knocking them out quickly was the smart, efficient thing to do.
It felt like a productivity cheat code. Emails, approvals, quick fixes, new message on WhatsApp, I’d knock them out on the spot the moment they came in as long as I could gauge it won’t take long to attend to, and move on.
Except I wasn’t really moving on.
Over time, I noticed I was ending my days mentally exhausted and scattered, even if I’d technically “gotten a lot done.” The five-minute tasks weren’t helping me move forward, they were constantly pulling me sideways. I thought I was being efficient but in reality, I was burning out from the constant context-switching and interruptions.
What I’ve come to realize is that even the smallest tasks come at a cost. Not in time, but in attention. Every time we pause our focus to respond to something else, we fragment our concentration and our wonderful brains aren’t wired to switch contexts that quickly without consequences. Constant multitasking reduces efficiency and increases mental fatigue.
Now, instead of doing 5-minute tasks immediately they land on my desk, I note them down, collect them as they come, and block out a specific hour or more during my day to handle them all at once.
Pro Tip for Managing Overwhelming Email & WhatsApp Messages.
Case-Specific. Not for everyone.
- Allocate dedicated time blocks specifically for attending to messages
- Disable your internet connection to prevent new incoming ones
- Respond to all pending messages in one focused session
- Schedule calls to resolve recurring issues
- Re-enable your internet connection
- Rinse & repeat
This single shift has improved not just my output, but my peace of mind and stopped my after work headache and fatigues. I’m more focused when doing deep work, and I’m faster at clearing the small stuff when I batch them together. It’s a win-win. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out!
In the modern workplace where we glorify being busy and confuse activity with productivity, true productivity comes from being intentional. That means guarding your attention fiercely, reducing context-switching, and giving your mind the space to fully engage with one important thing at a time.
So, If I’ve ever given you this advise in the past, take note. I no longer practice it myself.
Cheers!
