If you’re proud of your multitasking as a tech professional, this one might sting a little.
I have to admit: only in the last few years did I realise how much multitasking was draining me and making me less effective at work and at home.
In The Power of Full Engagement, Tony Schwartz explains something I see every day in tech: Most of us are constantly mixing contexts. We rarely do one thing with full attention. The result? We lose both productivity and joy.
The Grey Zone
Here’s how it looked for me:
- At work (IT + politics): thinking about my family, feeling guilty that I wasn’t with them.
- With my family, I’m still mentally debugging incidents, replaying meetings, and planning next week.
That in-between space is the Grey Zone.
You’re:
- never fully at work
- never fully at home
- always feeling behind in both
The tragedy is that you mean well in both areas, but because your focus isn’t clean, you perform at about 50% of your potential.
Sound familiar?
A simple exercise to get out of the Grey Zone
Here’s the exact practice that helped me and that I now use with tech clients.
1️⃣ Map your Grey Zone
Take 5–10 minutes. Write down all the situations where you’re never fully present.
For example:
- In meetings, while secretly answering DMs
- With your partner/kids while scrolling or thinking about work
- Checking work email in bed
- “Relaxing” while half-watching TV and half-reading Slack
- Exercising while constantly checking your phone
Be honest. This is your Grey Zone map.
2️⃣ Decide what actually matters
Look at your list and ask:
“Which of these areas deserves my full presence, in clean blocks of time?”
Put a ⭐ next to at least:
- 1 emotional area (e.g., partner, kids, close friend)
- 1 physical area (e.g., sleep, training, walking, recovery)
- 1 logical area (e.g., deep work, learning, important project)
These three stars are your high-value arenas.
3️⃣ Create “no Grey Zone” blocks
For each starred area, schedule uninterrupted blocks in your week:
- 60–90 minutes of deep work – no notifications, no multitasking
- 20–30 minutes of movement – no screens
- 30–60 minutes of pure family time – phone in another room
During those blocks, your rule is simple:
“One tab in life at a time.”
When you’re at work → you work. When you’re with your family → you’re with your family. When you rest → you actually rest.
You’ll be surprised how:
- Your productivity jumps
- Your energy stabilises, and your relationships soften
- And your nervous system can finally breathe
As a mental fitness coach for tech professionals, I can tell you: Multitasking isn’t a superpower; it’s a slow leak.
The more you live in the Grey Zone, the more exhausted and “never enough” you feel.
If you’re ready to step out of the Grey Zone and design a week where your energy, focus, and relationships get your full presence in the right moments…
Send me a DM, and I’ll show you how we build this step by step inside my coaching for tech professionals.
