Your Work is Meaningless!
Is this what you're teaching others to think?
Is this what you think?

If you're allowing every interruption to consistently derail your agenda, that might be exactly how it appears. Interruptions are a hot-button subject these days. You may experience the problem and find the need to work early or unusually late everyday just for the opportunity to focus on your critical work. A study by the university of California indicates that our work is interrupted as often as every three minutes. Other studies have shown that refocusing on a task can take anywhere from 10-25 minutes. That's huge if you're concerned about using your time productively and if having work/life balance is important to you.

Interruptions happen (and should) when necessary. As a matter of fact, some jobs are built around interruptions, such as receptionist, sales rep, and customer service rep. But for the most part, working people are not served well by constant interruptions.

Where do interruptions come from?
Some sources are:

-Calls
-Email
-People
-And, believe it or not…YOURSELF

Most will agree that the subject of interruptions is a sensitive issue. Without interruptions, customers might not be serviced, sales might not be made, businesses relationships would surely suffer, and employees and colleagues may not have their needs met. In reality, who can become a hermit and still be effective on the job? Like almost anything, extremes aren't the only way to go. We have to reach a middle ground so everyone, you and the interrupters, can be happy. Are you aware of how interruptions impact your day? Grab a piece of paper and jot down some observations and thoughts. Be brutally honest when answering:

What percentage of your day is devoted to interruptions?

-What is interrupting you?
-How are you impacted?
-Are your work and personal goals being delayed?
-Could you reduce the number and frequency of interruptions?
-Do the interruptions indicate a team that is reactive rather than proactive?
-Could you benefit from a system that minimizes interruptions?

If your notes make you a little uneasy, here's more to think about. There are some long-term effects that have an enormous impact on you and your company.

Interruptions make it impossible to focus on the work that matters. This can create frustration, increase stress, and cause you to lose time getting refocused. Your objectives may not be met or may be postponed. Most important, an unreasonable number of interruptions from your team may indicate a culture of disorganization, reactive behavior, and avoidance practices.

Fear not. There's hope.

You CAN master the art of Interruption Reduction. You CAN take charge and, with skill, determine when to allow interruptions. Best of all, you CAN regain valuable time to focus on your important work during normal business hours. Imagine what that would be like! Following is a short list of strategies that will get you to your Interruption Reduction goal:

Communicating

-Establishing focus time
-Establishing open-door time
-Scheduling email and call time
-Establishing an understood reply policy