In June, Microsoft published a report on the “Infinite Workday.”
Based on data from Microsoft 365 usage patterns, the report confirmed what many people have been saying anecdotally:
- employees’ work now stretches well beyond traditional hours
- collaboration time keeps increasing
- the volume of chats, meetings, and emails has reached record highs
The report summarized key metrics from billions of anonymized signals across Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive — showing how people actually spend their time at work.
One statistic grabbed my attention:
- The average time between interruptions during core work hours is two minutes.
Two minutes.
I keep thinking about that number.
How do you do thoughtful work if you’re interrupted every 2 minutes?
How do you make good decisions, think through complexity, and create systems that will last?
Part of the solution is being practical:
- You can put your email in offline mode during focused stretches.
- You can set your phone to do-not-disturb.
- You can block focused time on your calendar.
But the deeper work is shifting your perspective.
It’s moving from:
“I can’t change it — this is just how my job is”
to:
“I won’t let constant interruption decide the quality of my contributions”
This is not just a tactic. It’s a choice about who you are in the middle of noise.
It probably means saying yes to some discomfort — perhaps disappointing someone who wanted an instant reply.
And saying no to the idea that being “always available” is the same as being valuable.
What mindset would you have to shift to protect your time in this way?
What would you need to say yes to?
What would you need to say no to?
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You can find the full Microsoft report here.
