Summer is the season of out-of-office replies and half-empty floors. If you're an office manager trying to keep things running while everyone else seems to be sipping cocktails on a beach, you're not imagining the productivity dip — it's real, and it's environmental.
When Everyone's on Holiday, Your Focus Suffers Too
Vacation vibes: It's that time of year when it seems like everyone's on holiday. 🦩 No one's answering the phone or responding to my emails, and it somehow feels like my productivity is taking a break, too. And it makes total sense—we are a product of our environment, after all!
Of course, I want you to enjoy this summer as much as you can 🍹 but for the days when you need to keep things going in the office, here are two tips to set up your environment for minimal distractions:
Bye-bye, multiple to-do lists: Set one place (physical or digital) for all your tasks. Only one. This is super important since fragmenting your to-do list into Trello, Google Calendar, paper planner, or random post-it notes does you no good and only sets you up for missed deadlines.
Turn off notifications: Constant notifications are a productivity killer. I know you probably can't turn off company Slack or email, but try to minimize everything else. Put your personal phone on Do Not Disturb mode or check out apps that help with digital detox.
You can't always make it 100% perfect, but even a few tweaks count and can do wonders for your concentration!
Why These Two Changes Matter More Than You Think
Both tips target the same underlying problem: context switching. Research from the University of California, Irvine found that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after a single interruption. When your tasks are scattered across multiple tools and your phone is pinging every few minutes, those interruptions stack up fast.
A 2024 report from Insightful found that 79% of U.S. workers can't go a full hour without getting distracted, and 62% cited phone notifications as a major source of disruption. For office managers — who are pulled in every direction by default — these two changes are among the highest-impact you can make.
A Quick Summer Productivity Checklist
Pick one task management tool and commit to it for the summer. Move everything there — even the post-it notes.
Set "Do Not Disturb" hours on your personal phone during your most focused work window (mornings tend to work best for most people).
Batch your email checks. Instead of monitoring your inbox constantly, check it at set intervals — say 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM.
Use your quieter office to your advantage. Fewer people means fewer interruptions. Schedule deep work for the days when attendance is lowest.
Summer doesn't have to mean a productivity slump. A few small environment tweaks can keep you focused — even when the rest of the office is on airplane mode.
