Key Takeaways:

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▶️ Constant interruptions and insisting on multitasking are negatively affecting every employee’s daily productivity and reduce it by almost half.

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▶️ This way of managing teams is costing the U.S. companies hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.

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▶️ To resolve this problem and cut your organization’s costs, you should consider implementing a time and productivity management method such as the Spotlight Method on the company level.

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▶️ A scalable time-tracking system such as Insightful can help you boost the positive effects of the Spotlight Method, further improving your employee productivity and cost reduction.

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Read time: 5 minutes

Multitasking used to be a boasting matter. It was expected from every level employee and everyone firmly believed in it.

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This fad is starting to fade. An increasing number of employers are realizing that task switching costs.

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Gloria Mark, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, says the average worker is interrupted every 11 minutes. According to her, it takes about 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption.

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The American Psychological Association found that switching tasks lowers productivity by 40%. 

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What it all comes down to, according to Basex research, is that the U.S. economy annually loses around $588 billion in lost productivity due to interruptions and information overload.

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Does your company have money to spare on multitasking?

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There is a simple method that may enable your employees to better manage their time and exponentially increase their focus and productivity, ultimately improving the company’s financial competitiveness.

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This article outlines the ins and outs of the Spotlight Method and explains how Insightful, an employee time tracker app, can help you mitigate its downsides for an additional productivity boost.

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What Is the Spotlight Method?

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The Spotlight Method is an approach to time management. It involves blocking longer periods for a task that needs your full attention. It can be considered a Pomodoro alternative perfect for those people who need longer periods to focus.

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During this dedicated time, you should focus only on one task without any interruptions or multitasking. In a sense, your focus is fixed on one task like the spotlight is fixed on a protagonist on a stage.

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By applying this method, you enter the state of deep work and increase your concentration and productivity. This undivided attention allows you to efficiently manage complex tasks and reach goals in a timely manner.

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Origins of the Idea

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This time management method is based on the concept of directed focus and rooted in the practices of mindfulness and behavioral psychology.

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It relies on the principles of meditation and conscious awareness, which are known for their positive effect on focus.

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The Spotlight Method was developed to help people tackle the challenges characteristic of the digital work environment. These are primarily cognitive overload and attention fragmentation. By encouraging a mindful approach to assignments, this approach promotes productivity and improves engagement.

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Benefits of the Spotlight Method

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The Spotlight Method primarily improves focus, but it also enhances:

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✅ Task Prioritization: This time management method requires doing one assignment at a time. This is how it pushes both the managers and employees to constantly reassess priorities and dedicate their time to the most urgent tasks.

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✅ Employee Productivity: By blocking time for one task and keeping distractions at bay, your employees can reach maximum focus. That enables them to go into deep work, achieve heightened productivity, and get innovative ideas.

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✅ Time Waste Reduction: The Spotlight Method stimulates employees to have a structured schedule throughout the workday. Deliberately dedicating blocks of time to more complex tasks also makes it easier to avoid procrastination.

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✅ Stress Management: One of the major stress triggers involves delays of important tasks and the feeling you have not accomplished enough. The Spotlight Method enables your employees to achieve better results and improved productivity making them feel a sense of accomplishment. This consequently reduces the stress associated with time waste and project delays.

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How to Implement the Spotlight Method—A Step-by-Step Guide

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Here are the most effective steps to follow when implementing the Spotlight Method within your team:

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1. Explain the Principle to Your Employees

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Before you set out to implement the Spotlight Method, make sure you explain to your team how it works. Share with them all the benefits of the method and the reasons for implementation.

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Remember to reassure your staff that the goal is to help them focus and reduce daily stress. Be clear that the company will strive to adjust the method to the needs of every team and individual.

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2. Work on Prioritizing the Tasks

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Every employee should be included in the prioritization process as they are the ones who know the most about their tasks.

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Managers need to be hands-on in this process as well. They may have some information about the task urgency that the employee doesn’t have access to.

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This step enables the proper implementation of the whole method.

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3. Assign Time Blocks to the Most Urgent Tasks

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This step also heavily relies on the employee’s estimation as well as the company’s track of the previous similar tasks. Remind your teams to take into consideration every unique feature of the task at hand, as well as its complexity.

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The blocks of time should leave enough room for other tasks and also for deep focus on the priority task.

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4. Handle Distractions

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This might be the trickiest step of all, especially if your organization has been big on multitasking so far.

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In any case, your team will need some adjustment time, so let them know this is expected and normal.

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Encourage all team members to mute notifications and postpone email checks during their focused work times. Consider establishing no-meeting days to create an environment that’s more conducive to deep work.

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You can even set up a universal indicator that someone is in their deep work phase. It can be a status on your instant messaging app (Slack, Teams, etc), or an automatic reply saying the person is not available.

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5. Evaluate the Spotlight Method Efficiency

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To get the best results from the Spotlight Method, you need to set up evaluation checkpoints with your team. Decide how long your periods between checkpoints will be. Make sure you leave enough room to collect valuable performance data.

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After every period, go through what worked for every team member and the process improvements each of them suggests.

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This way you will be able to adjust the method to the exact needs of your organization.

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Who Can Benefit from the Spotlight Method?

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The Spotlight Method is a time and productivity management technique that can help many people in different spheres of life. It’s great for people who work in demanding positions that involve numerous responsibilities. This covers lower-level employees, higher-level executives, entrepreneurs, etc. Relying on the Spotlight Method can give these individuals the structure they need to prioritize and handle demanding tasks on time.

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Creative professionals also need quiet time to develop new ideas; the Spotlight Method can help them work and create without distractions.

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The Spotlight Method Issues—Resolve Them with Insightful

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As every time management technique, the Spotlight Method comes with several issues. Yet, these problems can be easily resolved if you rely on a versatile time-tracking and remote computer monitoring software such as Insightful.

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Here are the issues that most frequently come up when implementing the Spotlight Method and how to efficiently resolve them:

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🔴 Assigning Time to Tasks

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Assigning time to different tasks can be tricky. Employees might not be very good at time allocation and your company might not have an appropriate time-tracking system in place.

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With the Insightful work timer app, your employees don’t have to go back and forth every time they move their focus from one project to another. This tool switches the task and project automatically. That way you get a clear picture of exactly how much time was invested into each task of each project. The collected data helps you accurately make any time estimations you need, including the daily time allocation per task.

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🔴 Employee Accountability

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For the Spotlight Method to work, your employees must have the self-discipline to resist distractions and dedicate their full attention to the task at hand. This is not always the case. Sometimes, the environment is too distracting. Other times, the employee simply needs a form of extrinsic motivation.

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So, how to monitor employees' computer activity?

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Insightful PC system monitoring software is great for tracking computers and can record active and idle times on your employees' workstations throughout the day. This tool package also contains internet monitoring software for business, so it can record all the websites and apps your employee uses.

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Transparency about the level of monitoring your Insightful account allows will surely give a boost to their dedication. With Insightful employee monitoring software, work from home is no different than working from the office in a sense of employee accountability.

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🔴 Risk of Feeling Out of Your Depth

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When moving into a new style of work, it can take some time to adapt and see the real effects of the change. Some of your employees might also need additional support when adopting the new productivity method. This can be overwhelming and considered a form of burnout.

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Insightful’s user activity monitoring software, can easily pinpoint and notify you about the early signs of burnout. These can be prolonged idle periods or decreased productivity of an employee. Thanks to this data you can approach the employees who seem to be struggling and offer additional help and support. If you help them adapt to the new method more, they might reach peak productivity faster than they would do on their own.

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Concerned about the cost? Don’t be! Insightful is one of the most affordable time tracking tools on the market. Considering the costs of multitasking and distractions—you stand to gain considerably. Consider it an investment in your team’s productivity. Also, you can try Insightful free before committing. 

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Help your employees manage their time more efficiently and maximize their productivity with the Spotlight Method and Insightful time monitoring app. Start your free trial now and reach your goals fast!