Our culture screams that “constant collaboration” is required to do your job. The truth, however, is a little different.

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While giving a talk on productivity last week, I made a recommendation that ended up being fairly controversial, earning a few “boos” and lots of head shaking from the audience.

Here was my crazy advice – “Turn the chat feature off in MS Teams while working on anything that requires even the slightest bit of concentration.”

Interested in learning more about the room’s response, I asked a simple question – “Raise your hand if you enjoy being interrupted.”

Not one hand went for the ceiling.

Guess what? They were all lying.

The truth is, unless we’re facing stressful, immediate deadlines, we all crave interruptions.   

The reason we love checking a notification (email/text/etc.) or answering a question from a coworker is that these distractions cause our brains to release a neurotransmitter called dopamine. This “feel good” hormone gives you a momentary sense of pleasure.

And once you get it, you want more.

Unfortunately, one quick glance at the phone/email/etc. can quickly lead to 15 minutes of scrolling.

Keep this in mind the next time you try and convince others that constant “collaboration” is necessary to do your job.

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—CJ McClanahan

Speaker | Advisor | Recovering Overachiever

CJ McClanahan