A LITTLE DISTRACTION
THIS ONE SMALL THING IS KILLING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY
Distractions in your workplace destroy your productivity, regardless of where you actually work. But here’s the kicker: Some distractions don’t always register as distractions because they’re often minor, like a knock at the door or a conversation you can hear from two cubicles over. However, even when a distraction doesn’t feel like a distraction, it still kills your productivity. But one distraction in particular can absolutely ruin productivity. It isn’t as obvious as an unexpected phone call or a meeting that could have been an email. It’s a small, normal part of our everyday lives: the notification . We get notifications on our phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and even our smartwatches. Notifications are everywhere, and we’re conditioned to accept them.
When an email, text, or other random notification distracts you, it completely diverts attention away from what you were doing. If it’s spam, you may delete the email. Or, if you need to respond, it might take a few minutes or more. You may spend anywhere between 20 seconds to 20 minutes on any given email. However, this isn’t where time is lost. If you’re responding to a customer email, for instance, that is part of your productivity. The time is lost when you attempt to get back to what you were doing before checking your notifications. A University of California, Irvine study found that it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to your task after every distraction, not just email. Over the course of a day, that adds up to a significant amount of wasted time. How do you overcome this? Your best bet is to turn off notifications. Most devices let you customize your notifications so you can turn them off during working hours. Here’s another quick tip: Set aside time during the day to check emails, texts, and other messages. You will significantly reduce the amount of time spent trying to refocus on the important tasks at hand.
Take email, for example. You’re likely in the habit of checking email periodically — or whenever you get a notification. It can feel natural to quickly check your email and then get back to what you were doing. Except that never happens.
What the New Treasury Secretary Could Mean for Our Futures JANET YELLEN AND YOUR RETIREMENT
On Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, Janet Yellen became the first woman to head the U.S. treasury department. Yellen brings with her an extensive history of economic knowledge, having previously served as the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve from 2014–2018, as the former chair on an economic council under former President Bill Clinton, and as a former professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
This could have various effects on all facets of retirement. For retirees, it could offer welcome hope that Social Security will continue to boost their monthly income each month. For workers who want to save more for retirement, possible options could be a welcome sign of more savings plans. However, Yellen also has a fluctuating pandemic economy to contend with. That could complicate future efforts to focus on retirement. In particular, Social Security’s ticking clock was likely accelerated by the pandemic, MarketWatch reported. This is where Yellen’s background, education, and beliefs could be beneficial. Yellen is what’s known as a Keynesian economist, which means she interprets the economy in terms of how it affects employment, product output, and inflation. She also focused more on unemployment than inflation or increasing interest rates when she was at the Federal Reserve. For now, there is little we can know about the impact Yellen will have on the economy and retirees’ futures. Regardless, your team at Patriot Wealth will continue to fight for your needs. If you have a question about how governmental changes could influence your retirement plan, please call us today.
But it’s not her accolades that should interest retirees.
Yellen has promised to focus on retirees and address the Social Security crisis during her tenure as treasury secretary. In particular, one of Yellen’s primary goals is to ensure that it’s easier for middle-income families to save for retirement. Alessandra Malito of MarketWatch wrote that Yellen “mentioned offering tax incentives for small businesses wanting to start retirement programs, bolstering the Social Security system, giving workers without 401(k) plans access to an ‘automatic 401(k)’ and balancing tax benefits for all income levels” during her confirmation hearing. Social Security, which is set to run out of money by 2035, is also on Yellen’s radar. She detailed plans to work with government officials to prioritize this issue.
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