INTER–RUPTIONS

Obvious Causes and Easy Fixes

 

Smartphones have given us instant access to the rest of the world, but by the same token, the rest of the world now has instant access to us.  Cue the “dings”, “pings”, “beeps” and “buzzes” of text alerts and email notifications; likes and retweets; and that hilarious cat meme you just have to see immediately.  This infinite access also brings with it the assumption that we are 100% reachable 100% of the time.  How are we supposed to get anything done with all these interruptions?

What are the most common causes of interruptions for you?

1. NOTIFICATIONS

The most obvious (and easily fixable) causes of interruptions are those pesky notifications.  Whether it be Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram, these non essential notifications are nothing more than distractions that lead to procrastination (two topics we will be coming to very soon), so just… switch them off.  Trust me: you are not missing out.

TRY THIS: Put your phone on “airplane mode” for 50% of the day.

Kevin Ellis, Chairman of PWC works really hard at not carrying his phone around with him. As he says: “If you’re in the lift with other people and you take a call, what does it say to them?  You’re not important enough!”  Out of sight, out of mind.

WHY NOT:  Limit the use of your phone to just one place in the office?

2. EMAILS

We cannot predict when an email will land in our inbox, but answering every email as it comes is going to keep stalling our productivity.   We don’t want to keep restarting our engine every time we get back to work.

– Turn off email auto-receive (google it, it’ll tell you exactly what to do.)

– Schedule specific times in which to check your emails.

– Agree on set times you are happy to be contacted (unless urgent) with your colleagues.

– Prioritise what might be classed as urgent.  This might be a daily task.  This might be a collaborative decision.

Have you ever measured how many of those emails really demand your immediate attention?  No, I mean really demand you attention now.  My guess: it’s less than 1%.

3. PHYSICAL

Okay, but what about actual, physical, human interruptions?  As tempting as it sounds, we can’t just turn off our team members, or our shareholders, or *gulp* our boss…

How do I stop my boss from interrupting me with other tasks?

Pre-communication is key.  Talk before you start your task(s) about the need for uninterrupted time and being clear that “if I do this now, then that won’t get done.”   Your boss isn’t a mind reader, if you don’t want to be interrupted, say so.

If you do get interrupted, you can refer to that pre-communication and pose the question: “Is this more important than what we previously agreed were the priorities?”

Finally, add this word to your vocabulary: specifically. “When do you need it, specifically?”

Just own the problem.  The majority of interruptions in our day are because we allowed them to happen.  Take personal responsibility for changing your mindset.  Take back your agenda.

Now, where was that cat meme?