I am writing this review in an open plan office. Fragments of conversation are wafting past as I flick between my bulging email inbox, the book and various online news sites as well as Facebook and Twitter.
Such an inability to focus is a well-documented byproduct of the modern “busyness”, leading to what writer Brigid Schulte described as the “overwhelm”.
The technological distractions (emails and social media) and unending workloads have spawned an industry — books, blogs and executive coaches — devoted to “life hacks” aimed at increasing our individual productivity through efficiency. This was perhaps exemplified by Tim Ferriss’s exhortation that we could shrink our workload to just half a day in The 4-Hour Workweek (2007).