Cecily Motley, the co-founder of Harriet, an AI-powered workplace assistant, calls these repetitive, tedious activities "vampire tasks" — and warns that getting bogged down by admin work is the number one thing that kills people's productivity. "It's those dull, time-sucking tasks like scheduling meetings and responding to emails that drain your energy and take time away from deep-focus work or higher-value projects," she explains. "That constant influx of administrative tasks can hurt productivity the most." Responding to every notification as it comes in can make it harder to refocus on the work you were previously engaged in. Instead, Motley suggests turning off your notifications at work and checking incoming messages/alerts all at once during your admin period.

---

Persons: Cecily Motley, Harriet, Motley, timeboxing, Slack, Qualtrics Organizations: Salesforce