How One Simple Habit Gave Me More Time in My Day
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
For years, I tried to “manage my time.”
Color-coded calendars. Notebooks - analog and digital. Pomodoro method etc. All of it promised to optimize my life.
And still… my days felt scattered.
I would start in one place and end in five others. An email would turn into a pricing debate. A pricing debate would turn into a data cleanup project. A data cleanup project would
remind me of a conversation I needed to have. By 3 p.m., I felt busy and behind at the same time.
I told myself I needed better discipline.
What I actually needed was better transitions.
How to Get More Time in My Day?
Unlearn: “I’m Good at Multitasking.”
It took me a long time to digest the idea that multitasking is a tax!
Dr. Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine have shown that every time we switch tasks, our brain pays a switching cost. Even brief interruptions increase stress and reduce accuracy. Other studies estimate it can take 20+ minutes to fully refocus after a distraction.
We think we’re being efficient because we’re moving fast.
But cognitively, we’re reopening mental tabs.
And every open tab consumes energy. Your day falls apart because you keep switching rooms without closing the door behind you.
The Real Upgrade: Manage Attention Transitions
You won't be successful if you manage time because we are terrible at that. You will be successful with a simple upgrade.
The upgrade is managing attention transitions.
From “I’ll just bounce between things.”
To “I’ll finish the loop before I switch.”
Open loops steal a little mental energy. Closing loops gives you that energy back.
The 30-Second Door Close
Here’s the rule that has changed my workflow (I still fall off the wagon at times but hey at least I am aware!).
Before I move to the next task, I take 30 seconds and close the door.
Not finish the project. Close the door.
That means I write the next step in one sentence. You can do this in other ways:
Drop a quick note: “Waiting on ____.”
Rename the file so it’s easy to find later.
Put it on a list with a clear tag: DO. DECIDE. DELEGATE.
That’s it.
The goal is cognitive closure.
Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik identified what’s now known as the Zeigarnik Effect: unfinished tasks stick in our memory more than finished ones. That mental stickiness creates tension. When you define the next step, your brain relaxes. It stops trying to “hold” the task.
You haven’t finished the work.
You’ve finished the transition.
The Doorknob Rule (Make It Slightly Fun)
I call this the Doorknob Rule.
Pretend every task is a room.
You’re allowed to leave.
But you have to touch the doorknob on the way out.
The doorknob = one clear next step.
No doorknob, no leaving.
It is simple. That’s the point. Complex systems fail under stress. Simple rules survive.
Where This Shows Up in Real Life
I see this pattern everywhere. And I am sure you will too!
We leave conversations half-closed. We exit documents without context. We jump to the next priority without telling our future self what to do next.
Then tomorrow arrives, and we waste 10 minutes trying to remember:
Where was I? What was I doing? Why did this matter?
That friction compounds.
At scale, it will cause burnout.
Try It Today
Choose one moment where you usually get derailed:
After a meeting
After lunch
After responding to a tense email
After a Slack thread explodes
At that exact moment, pause.
Do a 30-second door close before you move on.
Write the next step. Tag it clearly. Or note what you’re waiting on.
Then switch.
Notice how different it feels when you return later.
The Reset Question
Before you leave any task, ask:
What tiny action would make it effortless to pick this back up later?
Just reducing the friction of coming back.
I spent years thinking I needed more willpower.
I actually needed to stop walking out of rooms without touching the doorknob.
It can still get chaotic at times but at least I can center myself and launch again with intention.
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