Let me be clear about something: the calendar block that says “Focus” is not dishonest. Focus is happening. It is happening to me, in my chair, in the fifteen to twenty-five minutes after lunch when my body has made a unilateral decision about resource allocation.
This is not a nap. A nap implies intent. What I am doing is a physiological response to the accumulated weight of four consecutive video calls, each of which ended with “let’s take that offline.”
The Science
Multiple studies — I am aware of at least three — have documented the cognitive benefits of brief rest periods following complex decision-making tasks. Whether those studies were conducted in controlled lab conditions and not, say, in a home office with the door partially closed, is not relevant to the principle.
The principle is this: if you schedule the block, the nap is a feature. If you do not schedule the block and you nap anyway, you are at the mercy of chance. Calendar discipline, in this framing, is what separates the organized professional from the person who is simply caught.
I invite you to consider scheduling your next “Focus” block for the period between 1:15 and 1:45 p.m. Your 2 p.m. will be grateful. I speak from experience.
