Working out time to stop working

I thought my lifestyle had little in common with that of a group of cartoon space travellers, especially given current travel restrictions. But an episode of the recent Star Trek series Lower Decks hit surprisingly close to home. The plot revolved around something called buffer time. When asked by a senior officer to estimate how long a task will take the crew wildly overestimate, leaving them with time free to drink frozen margaritas. When the captain learns of this she sets the crew new work schedules that abolish buffer time – leading to disastrous consequences.

Buffer time is not a sci-fi invention. Many productivity guides suggest factoring in extra time between tasks to help you transition to a new activity, as well as taking regular breaks throughout the day. Moving straight from one task to another is mentally draining, and makes it harder to focus on the new task. It’s also bad for motivation, as too great a focus on ticking things off the to-do list can cause you to lose sight of the overall importance of what you’re doing – a perspective that just a few minutes of reflection might help you to regain.