Your window installers or other home improvement workers can’t do physical labor 24 hours a day, right? You know they need rest and that breaks between and during jobs improves overall performance and the quality of final outcomes.

But did you know as a home improvement professional managing your business, the same concept applies to you? The human brain doesn’t operate well when you’re forcing it to focus on the same task for hours at a time or maintain sharp focus eight or more hours a day.

How Long Can You Focus on One Business Task?

Numerous studies have looked at how long someone can effectively focus on a single task. The answers range between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours on average. One study used a computer application to track how well people focused on a task and found that after around 52 minutes, almost everyone needed a break.

The breaks don’t need to be long. Anywhere from five to 15 minutes disengaging from the task at hand tends to let your brain reset and recover so you can return to what you were doing or another task more effectively.

Using Focused Work Sessions

As you make your list of daily tasks, which might range from scheduling to home improvement marketing, consider how you can approach things in 45-minute increments, switching to another task or taking a break for 15 minutes in between those focused work times.

Don’t worry, the 15-minute break doesn’t have to be the type of break where you lounge near the water cooler. In an eight-hour workday, 15 minutes for every 45 minutes would add up to 120 minutes (two hours). Most business owners or home improvement professionals can’t afford to give up 120 minutes of work daily.

Instead, you can simply shift focus for some of those 15-minute sessions. For example, say you’re writing social media marketing posts for the week during a 45-minute work session. When it’s time to switch focus, you might spend 15 minutes doing a less creative task such as cleaning out your email inbox or organizing a toolbox.

Try setting focused work sessions with a Pomodoro timer. You can download apps for computers or mobile devices and test different working session time limits to find out what amount of focused time is most efficient and productive for you.