You’re doing all the things. The calendar is full, the to-do list is moving, and yet—you’re still feeling overwhelmed, scattered, and completely drained. Sound familiar? You might be paying the Divided Attention Tax without even realizing it.

In this episode, I’m unpacking what the Divided Attention Tax really is, how it shows up in your day-to-day life, and most importantly, what it’s quietly costing you—both in time and energy. From multitasking to mental overload to nonstop context switching, we’re talking through the hidden habits that are zapping your focus and leaving you feeling tapped out… even when everything technically gets done.

If you’ve ever caught yourself jumping from task to task, constantly thinking through a mental checklist, or wondering why you’re so tired all the time—this episode will help you finally name it, understand it, and take control of it.

In This Episode, We’ll Explore:

• The four ways divided attention sneaks into your day
• How task switching, context switching, and multitasking affect your brain
• The real reason you feel exhausted even when your list is complete
• What you can start doing today to reclaim your time and energy

Listen to the episode here!

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I’d be honored and grateful if you would head over to iTunes to leave a review and let other female entrepreneurs know what you learned! While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Why does it feel like we're constantly doing all the things but never getting caught up? Enter the divided attention tax. Today I'm gonna be unpacking the toll of being pulled in too many directions at once, both physically and mentally, and how it's quietly draining both your time and energy. But most importantly, at the end, we're gonna be talking about what can we do to change this narrative? 

[00:00:34] Alright friends, welcome back to Work-Life Harmony. Now, given that the tax season is upon us here in the States, I thought this would be a great time to talk about the divided attention tax.  

[00:00:47] Now I wanna kick things off with a little backstory on kind of why I decided to talk about this divided attention tax. I was recently contacted by a student here in the top program. I've known her for many years, and she reached out and she's like, I'm kind of confused. I can't figure out what's going on. 

[00:01:04] she said, I'm, doing my weekly planning. It's going great. Everything's getting done, but I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted. And the minute she shared that, I instantly was like, Hmm, pretty sure I know what's going on, but I wanna double check. So we connected real quick on the phone. 

[00:01:28] I said, talk me through what your weekly plan looks like. And as soon as she did. I was like, yep. This is a perfect example of one of the divided attention tax situations that can arise. And in her particular situation, it was because she was context switching a little bit too much. And we're gonna dive into that a little bit today. 

[00:01:53] But first let's kick things off by even having the conversation around what. Is the divided attention tax? What am I talking about now? No, this is not a actual bill that you get in the mail, but I promise you you're paying for it and you're paying for it in both time and energy. So the divided attention tax is essentially this. 

[00:02:15] It is kind of the cost, if you will, of either multitasking. Switching between tasks without actually finishing them. Right? So here's a subtle difference, like multitasking, right? Doing multiple things at once or rapid fire switching between tasks without completing them. The third example of divided attention tax is the one I was just talking about where your context switching too much. 

[00:02:43] And then the fourth one is just where you can't shut your mind off. Your mind is constantly rolling even when you're trying to be present in something else. All right, and we're gonna be talking through each of these in more detail here today. Now the cost that I'm talking about. Comes in one of two forms. 

[00:03:01] You either pay for it in the form of time, meaning you are spending time in ways that are not of value to you. All right? Now, the second way we can pay for it is in energy stores. Kind of back to the example I shared where she was like, I'm exhausted and overwhelmed. She wasn't paying for it in the form of time everything was getting done, but energy-wise, mentally wise, she was paying for it. 

[00:03:26] There. Now here's the good thing to understand. This isn't like there's, there's nothing wrong with you. It's not that you're doing things incorrectly. What's happening is we are just overwhelmed and overstimulated today, right? We have things coming at us all day long, and the vast majority of the people are paying this divided attention tax. 

[00:03:48] Alright? So you are not alone, I promise you. You're in good company. But the good news is it doesn't have to be that way. So let's kind of talk through those examples that I just gave, those four types of doing it and talk through what does it look like, how does this actually show up for you in your life? 

[00:04:03] So let's talk about multitasking first. I think we all know what multitasking is, right? It just simply means you're doing more than one task at the same time. In its essence, it's very easy. Now, there are times where multitasking isn't bad. 

[00:04:21] A perfect example. And I use this one a lot. I am often listening to a book on tape or a pod book on tape. That's how old I am. I'm often listening to an audio book. Or a podcast when I'm like doing chores around the house or folding laundry or cleaning, my brain doesn't have to be focused on the cleaning task. 

[00:04:38] My brain is focused on what I'm listening to. So if your brain is only having one real area of focus, that's actually not a bad use of multitasking. The type of multitasking I'm talking about where you're actually gonna pay that tax is when your brain is trying to concentrate on two things at the same time, right? 

[00:04:57] For example, you're typing an email, but then someone is asking you a question and you're trying to answer their question, but type the email at the same time. Have you ever found yourself. Typing out the words that you're speaking to someone, right? That's that will happen to me if I try to multitask. All right, so that's what the multitasking looks like Now, the switching between tasks, all right. 

[00:05:23] What I mean by this is maybe back to that email example. You're in the middle of typing an email out. But then your phone rings, so you stop what you're doing with the email, and then you answer the phone and you have that phone call. Then you try and come back to finishing the email. So in this example, we're not multitasking, but partway through one task, we're switching gears and jumping to another task. 

[00:05:50] And then trying to come back to the task at hand. All right. Or, you know, another example, kind of more on a personal level. Maybe you're in conversation with your significant other trying to sort something out, and then your kid comes in and asks a question, and now that conversation's derailed, you answer that, and then you're looking at each other like, what were we just talking about? 

[00:06:06] Right? That's constantly switching back and forth between tasks that aren't getting completed. Now, the third one is the one that I knew. when my top student reached out, I was like, I bet this is what's going on. And this is what I call context switching. This is not the same thing as the switching between tasks, right? 

[00:06:29] And that example, the switching between tasks I was saying, we were working on a task, it wasn't complete. Switching to another one, trying to come back and finish it up. Context switching is different. This is when, let's say you play a lot of roles in your life. All right, so, and I'm gonna share the example of our student here. 

[00:06:50] So she runs a business, she also homeschools but then she also has, you know, personal time for herself as well. And the homeschooling isn't even just one role because if your kids are at very different ages, there's going to be almost like. Homeschool for this child versus homeschool for child number two, right? 

[00:07:09] Or however many you have. So she was juggling all of those roles. And what happens is if you do context switching, which means you're jumping back and forth between all the different roles that you play. Rapid fire all day long, you're gonna pay a tremendous task in the form of a mental one. So when we were really digging into her schedule, it was like, okay, well I'm working with, you know, child one for 30 minutes and totally shifting gears for child two for 15 minutes. 

[00:07:39] Then jumping in and having a work block for an hour, then coming back and do, you know, back to homeschool here, but then to work block here, then exercise time for myself. So yes, everything was getting done, but that context switching is. Unbelievably exhausting. All right, so that's, that's that third one. 

[00:07:57] And then the fourth one that I talked about is the constant mental checklist. Or think of like, if you've ever been in Times Square, like you see that big tick or tape, you know, going along that just going nonstop in your head. It never shuts down. If you find that anytime you're in a quiet space, like maybe you're out for a walk or you're, you're driving alone or you're lying in bed, or you're. 

[00:08:21] In the shower, right? And that mental list of, I gotta remember this. I gotta remember this. What about that? God, when is so-and-so's? Next well check appointment. When was the last time I went to the dentist? Right? If that little dialogue is constantly going, whenever you're just like trying to be still. 

[00:08:39] That is another form of the divided tax. A divided attention tax. All right, so those are kind of the four different types and what they look like. So now let's dive into what is the actual cost to you. Of each of these types. Meaning is it a time cost or is it a mental energy? Exhaustion cost. So let's go. 

[00:09:03] First looking at the very first one we talked about, which is the constant I. Task switching, right? You are in the middle of one task and then or I'm sorry. Let's talk first about multitasking, right? Where you're doing lots trying to do multiple things at the same time. What's going to happen here is that you're going to have mental fatigue because your brain's working double time, right? 

[00:09:27] But you are also going to lose time because when you are multitasking, things will often not be of high quality. So you often have to go back and redo it, and they take longer because you're not giving it singular focus. All right? So you're gonna pay both of those taxes when you are doing multitasking. 

[00:09:49] Now, let's talk about the switching back and forth. You're not multitasking, but you're jumping in and out of different tasks. Right now there are tons of different studies out here that all come up with their different numbers. But there's all sorts of theory and brain science and all sorts of data out there telling you how long, let's say you're in the middle of writing an email, the phone rings, you're like, oh, I gotta answer that. 

[00:10:11] So you answer the phone call and then when the phone call's over, you sit back down to get back into that email. I. Again, some people will say, oh, it takes you three minutes to get back In. Other reports have said it can take over 20 minutes to get back into the frame of mind. And then another one that I was reading the other day says 12 minutes. 

[00:10:29] So let's just take the average of kind of all the different data points out there, and let's say it is actually 12 minutes for you to get back into the full flow and mindset that you were in before you switched gears with your task. Right? This is gonna be a total. Time tax. So if you're writing an email and then you stop what you're doing to answer that phone call, and then you come back to the email, you've essentially lost 12 minutes of flow work. 

[00:10:56] So every single time you're switching tasks when the previous one wasn't complete, you're paying a tax of 12 minutes. That adds up friends a lot in the course of a given day. Right now, let's move on to that context switching one, where you're going back and forth between the roles that you're doing. Now, this one there can be a time tax in here, but the biggest tax that you're going to pay is the complete mental. 

[00:11:28] Fatigue. You're also going to be in decision fatigue mode because when we're shifting roles in and out and in and out, usually we're kinda like, okay, wait, what am I doing? Like we're constantly in that asking questions of ourselves, place. That leads to decision fatigue. And this is why when I was working with her, I kept, you know, we, when we dug into this, I'm like, here's why you're overwhelmed. 

[00:11:52] Right? It's the constant context switching. So even she said, the stuff's getting done, but I am tapped out. Right? That is the tax that you're gonna pay. Now when, when we are in that fourth one where we've got the constant mental list running in our head all day long, right? What's actually happening here is that we are losing our ability to be creative. 

[00:12:20] Let me explain how this works. think back like what were you doing the last time you had like a great idea or solved this amazing problem or thought of something you were really excited about? Chances are you didn't have a mental ticker tape running in your head, right? You weren't in mental list making mode. 

[00:12:40] Your brain was quiet. You weren't thinking about anything in particular. This is what we need that space in order to be creative. I kind of like to think of the analogy of a really fast moving river. If a river's going really, really fast downstream, it's gonna be hard to walk upstream, right? You're in constant output. 

[00:13:02] Well, if your brain is constantly outputting and thinking, and churning, and churning, those creative ideas that might be trying to come in are not gonna have the space to do that. And that ultimately leads to slower reaction time, decreased creativity, and poor sleep. Are you making those lists at 2:00 AM in the morning and all of that is gonna hit mental fatigue. 

[00:13:29] And when we are that fatigued, everything's gonna take longer. So we're paying both taxes in that one. The mental energy and the time. Now, you may be in a situation where you're in one of those four things, right? Maybe you're a multitasker. Maybe you constantly are not finishing tasks and ping ponging back and forth. 

[00:13:47] Maybe you're context switching too much, or maybe you just can't shut your brain off. Or if you're like a lot of women I meet, you're like, I've got all four of those. Megan. So let's talk about some things that you can do today to start to minimize. That tax payment, right? Ultimately, meaning we're gonna regain some time and we're gonna regain some mental energy. 

[00:14:08] first and foremost, and you knew I was gonna say this, is that this is why planning is so important. Not our days, not our moments, but our actual weeks. And here's why. This helps reduce that tax when you can see. Your path from A to B. Meaning how am I getting through this week and how am I making sure everything that needs to get done is actually getting done? 

[00:14:31] When you can see it, it calms that anxiety. Alright? Creating plans allows you to intentionally, I. Minimize context switching. And allows you to stop multitasking because instead of going, I gotta do it all at once, your plan will show you, no, we're doing this right now, we're gonna do this later. 

[00:14:53] We're gonna do this in two days. All right, so planning is going to help with both the context switching and the multitasking. another amazing thing you can do today to help minimize that task switching. Remember the one where I said it can take up to 12 minutes to get back in flow is put boundaries in place, especially with your technology to minimize interruptions. 

[00:15:18] This is why I always tell everyone, turn off all notifications on your devices. They should not flash at you. They should not make noises at you so that you can get into a flow state into really good focused mode. Being fully present without being interrupted every two minutes, right? If you have a little visual thing come up every time an email comes through. 

[00:15:40] Even if you don't answer it, just the fact of seeing it takes you out of the full present state that you were in. Alright. Now you can minimize physical interruptions by putting boundaries in place for that as well, right? I know when I worked in an office setting, I had, I told everyone I worked with, if my door is shut, that means I'm in like hyper focus mode. 

[00:16:06] Ask yourself, is this worth interrupting? Whereas if my door is open, that means come on in. So I could schedule hyper-focused work time throughout my day. Here in my house, my family knows same thing. If my office door is closed, don't interrupt. Before I had doors, I hung a little sign on the back of my chair. 

[00:16:23] All right, so put boundaries in place to minimize interruptions that might cause you to bounce back and forth between your tasks. Now another one here is, this is something that has helped me when I am trying to minimize the noise in my head. And you can't do it with every type of task that you may be working on, but if I'm just trying to kind of be still, if you will I will put music on. 

[00:16:52] Or sometimes even just put on something to audibly listen to that stops the little voices in my head. So I'll notice if I'm heading out on a walk and my mind is just in like list making mode and how am I gonna do this and all of that, I'll either put music on or an entertaining podcast because now I'm listening and just listening for enjoyment and it quiets that mental list. 

[00:17:18] And then oftentimes I'll, I'll come up with a great idea. Even though I was listening to something it was quieting, it was allowing my brain to receive input instead of just constantly pumping out output. And then my final tip to you is this, learn how to say no to requests of your time without giving a reason why. 

[00:17:43] where does this fall in with the multitasking context? Switching list making mode, right? All the stuff that we were talking about. Well, a lot of us get in this state because we simply have too much on our plate. If you are trying to get 30 hours of work done in 10 available hours. Right. 

[00:18:06] There's a sign there that there are some things that you're going to need to take off your plate, meaning truly transfer ownership of it, and it means that you are gonna need to learn what to start saying no to. And for women in particular, we often are uncomfortable saying no because we feel like we need to give a reason why. 

[00:18:25] And if we don't think they're gonna like or agree with our reason, like, well then I'm just gonna say yes. So remember, you don't owe anyone an explanation as to why you are saying no. this whole idea of the divided attention tax, this is ultimately what we are after, completely eliminating in the entire time management framework that I teach in my signature program, the top program. 

[00:18:50] Now, I've given you some strategies here today that you can 100% start implementing and a lot of this is, I want you to have that awareness of are you multitasking? Are you constantly being interrupted and switching between tasks? Are you context switching too much? Can you shut your brain off? Right? 

[00:19:10] And sometimes even having the awareness of it is like, oh, okay, now that I see it, let's see which of those things I can start implementing that we talked about here. Right? Do you wanna start doing some better planning? Do you need to mini, like turn off notifications? Do you need to put some good boundaries in place for yourself? 

[00:19:29] Do you need to feel comfortable saying no more? And if you want to learn more about the entire time management framework, feel free to head over to the top program.com and learn more about what the Top program can do for you as well. And here in our tax season in the States at the time I'm recording this, let's all set a goal to minimize our divided attention tax bill this year.