Attention Tax

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about interruptions at work; not just obvious interruptions like phone calls, Teams messages, or someone asking “got a minute?” (although they can be a pain too), but the hidden cost that comes after the interruption.

I think most workplaces still treat interruptions as a simple time problem, where if somebody interrupts you for 10 minutes, then supposedly you've lost 10 minutes of work.

But that isn’t really how it works is it. Well not for me anyway!

You'll notice it especially if you’re doing deeper work ... writing, planning, problem solving, analysing data, designing something, trying to properly think something through ... the interruption itself is only part of the damage.

There’s also the refocus time afterwards.

You have to mentally reload the task back into your brain. Remember where you were. Rebuild the momentum. Re-enter the thought process you were already halfway through before somebody derailed it.

Sometimes a 2 minute interruption can cost 20 minutes of useful thinking.

I’ve started thinking of this as an “Attention Tax”.

Every interruption taxes your concentration a little bit. One interruption is manageable. Ten in a day starts fragmenting your thinking completely.

And I think this is partly why some days feel mentally exhausting even if you’ve technically “done loads”, you haven’t spent the day doing productive work, you’ve spent the day rebuilding momentum over and over again.

Modern workplaces almost seem designed around interruption now.

Side note: I remember when I started by career in British Telecom in 1987, been told that when it was still the civil service, managers had flags attached to their intrays, and if a red flag was showing, you couldn't talk to them ... I sometimes wish I had that here. 

Emails. Teams notifications. Meetings. “Quick questions”. Artificial urgency. Constant deadline pressure.

We also seem to reward responsiveness, it's deemed to be a good things if you accept the interruption and rude if you don't, but I’m not convinced we reward depth anymore.

I touched on some of this already in my post about why I hate deadlines, but I think there’s probably a bigger idea buried in all this somewhere.

This is definitely a seed post for now. I think there’s more to explore here.

I Hate Deadlines

I honestly don't think there are enough negative words to get across how much I hate deadlines.

Especially short deadlines. Usually I get these at work when someone else hasn't passed a task to me as early as they could have done, or they’ve overpromised on a delivery, usually to a customer, or someone else hasn't done something so it suddenly falls to me.

These last-minute or urgent tasks seem to be getting more and more common. They can, and often do, leave me feeling completely drained. I can go home physically and mentally exhausted, with no energy to do anything personally fulfilling.

Now don't get me wrong, sometimes these last-minute tasks can be a challenge, and that can actually be exciting. I love that side of my role. I've moved away from a strategic role to a more tactical one, so I do enjoy these sorts of tasks ... just not too many urgent ones in the same week.

Anyway, my conclusion through all this is that I hate deadlines. I know we need them, but only when they are used properly.

I remember being told many years ago that deadlines should really only be used when something genuinely bad will happen if you miss them. Not just because someone says, “I sent you an email last week, have you done it yet?” “No.” “Well, could you look at it today for me please?” ... why? Just because you asked me to do something ast week and I haven't yet, well perhaps in the list of tasks I have to complete, YOUR task isn't important!

And don't even get me started on the term "ASAP". That word should be banned because almost everyone uses it wrongly.

I actually find deadlines work best when they are external and carry real consequences. If you miss them, you damage the reputation of the business, lose income, or severely embarrass both the business and yourself. Again though, not when someone else has overpromised something to a customer or supplier.

Do you also find that deadlines are often set arbitrarily by people with very little technical context, or by people who don't really understand your role and what's involved? I do!

I tend to find that a task takes as long as it takes. Setting an arbitrary deadline, especially a tight one, usually just means the work won't be as good.

As part of my thinking (or ranting) about time and time management at work, I've also written about what I'm currently calling Attention Tax.

ASAP … is that really what you want?

I really struggle with the term “ASAP”.

People use it all the time in (so called) professional environments, but it does not tell me anything useful. It sounds urgent, but it gives me no clear direction on your timescales and I end up guessing what you mean, and that might mean that I miss your deadline.

If you work with me, it is worth knowing this. The term winds me up so much, mainly because most of the time it is being used to mean something else.

The issue is simple. “ASAP” stands for “as soon as possible”, which really means I will get to it when my current workload allows. If I am fully booked until Thursday, then Friday morning is the earliest I can realistically do it.

That is not me being awkward. That is just how time works.

The problem is that most people do not use it that way. When someone writes “ASAP”, what they usually mean is “I need this now”. They are trying to show urgency, but they are doing it without giving a proper deadline, proper instructions.

That is where it falls apart.

If you want something done quickly, you need to be clear about when you need it. Without that, I have to make a judgement call. I have to weigh it up against everything else I am doing, and I might get that call wrong.

There is also a knock-on effect. If something genuinely urgent comes in after your request, it will take priority. Your task then moves back, because it was never tied to a clear time in the first place.

So the word meant to speed things up can actually slow them down.

There is a straightforward fix.

Say what you mean.

If you need something by a certain time, write the time. If it is urgent, say how urgent it is in a way that I can act on.

“Send me those files ASAP” becomes “Send me those files by 4pm today.”

“I need a reply ASAP” becomes “Please reply by midday tomorrow so I can finish this.”

“ASAP please” becomes “This is high priority. Can you do this in the next two hours?”

Now I know where it fits. I can plan properly, and you are more likely to get what you need.

If you really do mean “whenever you can fit it in”, then fine, say “ASAP”. Just be aware that it might not be today, or even this week.

If there is a deadline, say it.

Being clear is not a small thing. It shows respect for other people’s time, it removes guesswork, and it keeps work moving.

“ASAP” is not clear. It is vague, and vague is where problems start.

You can also read about why I hate deadlines! 

Why Everyone Thinks They Can Do Marketing

…and why most of them are kidding themselves

Somewhere along the way, marketing got mistaken for “posting stuff online.” or a simple email out to all your customers meant that you've launched a product ... all this is social medias fault, it made marketing (or promotion) feel accessible to all, tools made it feel easy, and now it seems like anyone with a login thinks they’ve cracked it.

Blame the platforms. Blame Canva. Blame AI tools like ChatGPT and the rest of them. You can knock up something that looks decent in minutes, so it feels like the hard part’s done before you’ve even started thinking.

Write something. Generate an image. Add a hashtag. Post something. Sit back and wait for the sales to roll in.

That’s the expectation. That’s also where it starts going wrong.

The tools are easy. The thinking isn’t.

The problem isn’t the tools. They’re brilliant for what they do. But they don’t replace thinking, and they don’t build a strategy for you.

Without a plan, you’re just making noise. You’re putting things out there without any real direction, and hoping something sticks.

I’ve seen it more times than I can count. Nice-looking posts, clean design, plenty of activity… and absolutely nothing coming back from it. No engagement, no leads, no sales.

Non-marketing folk clammer for Followers and Engagement - it's all bullshit. I tell anyone that starts working with me in marketing that if only one person follows me, and they are a journalist, and they engage with everything i do, I would be VERY happy. 

Once you actually step back and work out who you’re talking to, what you’re trying to say, and why it matters, things start to move. It’s never the font or the colours. It’s always the thinking behind it.

Social media didn’t create marketers. It created confidence.

One post does well and suddenly someone’s a marketing expert. You see it everywhere now, especially on social media. I've had a couple of Tik-Tok posts go viral, I'm no fecking expert on the platform, I have very little idea what I'm doing on it - but sometimes you get lucky.

A meme lands, something gets shared a few times, and next thing they’re selling “growth strategies” in their bio. It looks convincing on the surface, but there’s usually not much underneath it.

Posting content is not marketing. Marketing is understanding why people buy, what stops them buying, and what makes them trust you over someone else.

Likes might feel good, but they don’t pay the bills. Revenue does.

AI has made this worse, not better

This is the bit a lot of people won’t say out loud. AI hasn’t made everyone better at marketing, it’s just made everyone faster at producing, at best, very average content.

Most people don’t know what to ask, so they get surface-level answers back. Slightly off, slightly generic, and usually missing the point… but written well enough that it feels right.

And that’s the danger. Because it sounds good, people assume it is good, and out it goes.

AI is only as good as the prompt behind it. If you don’t understand marketing, you won’t spot when the answer’s wrong. You’ll just publish it and wonder why nothing happens.

That’s why so much AI content looks the part but doesn’t deliver. It’s been written without any real understanding behind it.

Marketing is slow. That’s the part nobody likes

There’s this idea that marketing should deliver instant results. Run something today, see the spike tomorrow.

In reality, it’s slower and a lot less glamorous. It’s testing, tweaking, reviewing, and going again. Over and over.

Some of it’s creative, sure. But a big chunk of it is looking at what didn’t work, digging into the numbers, and figuring out why. God I love the numbers stuff.

That’s where the real progress comes from. Not the “publish” button.

What you actually need (and what most people skip)

When you strip it back, proper marketing comes down to a few core things. None of them are particularly flashy, but all of them matter.

You need to know who you’re talking to. Not “everyone” or “anyone who might buy”, but actual people with specific needs and problems.

You need to understand how you’re different. And no, “we care more” isn’t a strategy. Everyone says that.

You need messaging that lands. Something that makes people stop and think, “that’s exactly what I need.”

And you need data. What’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change. If you’re not measuring it, you’re guessing.

You’re probably not going viral

It’s worth saying this plainly. Going viral is not a strategy. It’s luck. I know - it happened to me.

I just love it when Sales asks me to create a post or video that will go viral, I'm sure my face gives away the fact that they have just admitted they know nothing about marketing :-) 

I admit, it happens to some, but most businesses grow through consistent, steady improvements. Better targeting, clearer messaging, smarter decisions.

It’s not flashy, but it works. And it lasts.

It’s not about pretty posts

People love the creative side of marketing. The visuals, the layouts, the clever copy. And yes, that stuff matters.

But if it doesn’t perform, it doesn’t matter how good it looks. You need to know who clicked, who converted, and who came back.

Without that, you’re just decorating the internet and hoping for the best.

A quick reality check

I’ve been doing this for 35-ish years. I know what the feck I’m talking about.

Knowing how to use a platform doesn’t make you a marketer. And your cousin’s aunty spending two weeks in a marketing office doesn’t count as experience either.

This is a craft. It takes time to learn, and even longer to get properly good at.

The reality

Marketing is easy to start, and that’s the problem. It gives the impression anyone can do it well.

They can’t. It’s strategy, psychology, data, and execution all working together. Miss one of those, and the whole thing weakens.

The tools have opened the door. Knowing what to do once you’re through it… that’s the difference.