Writing in The Guardian, Harriet Griffey examines how constant interruptions from emails, smartphones, and apps diminish our ability to concentrate and reduce productivity. While people can adapt to frequent task-switching in the short term, the associated stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol can create an addiction to digital stimulation. Over time, this can interfere with serotonin and dopamine, disrupting sleep and contributing to anxiety and depression. Griffey recommends several techniques to rebuild concentration, including deliberately reducing exposure to distractions, engaging in single activities for extended periods, applying the “five more rule” to push past frustration, using mental exercises to clear the mind, and prioritizing adequate sleep.

Although the “paradox of choice” suggests that too many options can reduce consumer satisfaction, this study finds that the optimal number of options depends on the nature of the purchase. Consumers tend to prefer larger assortments when a purchase is motivated by pleasure rather than utility. In these cases, people are more likely to believe they have unique preferences and therefore expect to evaluate more options before selecting a suitable product. The findings suggest that retailers can benefit from tailoring product range and layout to context, such as offering wider assortments in locations associated with pleasure purchases. Removing low-selling pleasure-related products may inadvertently reduce overall sales.

There are three common ways to answer difficult questions in situations such as interviews or negotiations: answering honestly, declining to answer, or lying. Answering honestly can build trust but may carry an economic cost in some situations, such as disclosing salary. Declining to answer tends to reduce perceptions of likability and trust, while lying is risky if discovered. This study examined an alternative approach known as deflection, which involves responding to a direct question with another question that shifts focus back to the interrogator. Across eight experiments, deflection was found to be more effective than lying or refusing to answer and, in some cases, led to better economic and interpersonal outcomes than honest disclosure. Deflection was most effective when responses were on topic and humorous.

This study suggests that having too many deadlines causes people to perceive that they have less time than they actually do, which discourages them from attempting longer tasks and reduces the total number of tasks they attempt. The authors find that bounded intervals of time (such as an hour before a scheduled meeting) feel shorter than unbounded intervals (such as an hour with nothing scheduled afterward). As a result, people perform fewer tasks and are less likely to engage in extended but feasible activities, even when financial incentives are offered. Breaking tasks down into smaller subtasks was found to reduce this effect.

Entrepreneur and investor Paul Graham recommends scheduling extended, distraction-free blocks of time (at least half a day) for creative “maker” work, and allocating separate periods for “manager” tasks such as meetings or replying to emails. He suggests scheduling management tasks later in the day to reduce interruptions. Graham argues that inconsiderate meeting scheduling can be highly disruptive, as it fragments the day into time blocks that are too short to make meaningful progress on challenging creative work.

In this study, University of Chicago professor and Freakonomics author Steven D Levitt conducted a large-scale randomised field experiment involving 20,000 people who were struggling to make a major life decision (such as whether to change their job or relationship). After following study participants for six months after making their decision, Levitt found that those who had opted for the choice that involved making a change (as opposed to sticking with the status quo) were more satisfied with their decision and generally happier. The findings may be explained by "loss aversion", a cognitive bias that causes potential losses to be weighed more heavily than potential gains (the ratio is somewhere around 2:1, meaning that most people will feel comfortable with a decision only when the likely gains are double the likely losses). As a result, in situations where the benefits and drawbacks of making a change appear to be evenly matched, it may be sensible to take action. As Levitt notes, "the data from my experiment suggests we would all be better off if we did more quitting...A good rule of thumb in decision making is, whenever you cannot decide what you should do, choose the action that represents a change, rather than continuing the status quo." Also salient is the inherent fragility of the status quo in most situations. As writer Sady Doyle notes: "It is easy - maybe too easy - to stop asking yourself what would make you happy, and stay close to the things that you think will make you safe. This is wrong, and I will tell you why: you are never safe. Loss and change are constants. You will never be safe, and you may not always be happy - but you owe it to yourself to start asking the question.