Dealing with Interruptions!

An article called “Meet the Life Hackers”, in the October 16 2005 New York Times Magazine, gave a striking presentation of something widely recognized but hardly understood — the fact that unfiltered distractions prevent us from getting things done! In the article, author Clive Thompson reported on the constant interruptions that we experience in the workplace -- the pinging of email, phones ringing, PDA reminders and of course, people stopping at your desk to talk. Thompson reported that the average worker spends just 11 minutes working on a single project before they are interrupted and that this time is further broken up into 3-minute long tasks. What I found most startling is that after being interrupted it takes that same person 25 minutes to get back to what they were doing. Yikes!

So what is being done about it? Microsoft is trying to help. Microsoft is working on software applications that will help your computer (and therefore the world as we know it) know when it is the best time to interrupt you and when you need to be left alone. This future technology will also be able determine which interruptions are important enough to actually warrant interrupting you for.

These technology solutions hold incredible promise! I can’t wait for them to arrive! That’s the point -- What can we do now?

Many of us are already in a state of being overwhelmed by what life is throwing at us. If you have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) you don’t even need all of these external interruptions to make your life more difficult -- your brain is plenty good at making its own interruptions. So while we wait for Mr. Gates to come up with a technological solution here are some things to help you out today.

1. Set your email to only access the server at most one time an hour. Very little has to be handled instantly.
    
2. Take the time to analyze your work day. When are you most frequently interrupted? What type of interruptions are they? When do you receive most of your phone calls, emails, when do you receive most of your visitors? Determine what time of day has the fewest interruptions.
    
3. Based on what you learned during your time analysis set up a schedule. Decide what time(s) of day you will handle all phone calls. Allow your phone to go to voice mail during all other times of day. Decided when you handle email. Don’t check it unless it is email time. And tell your co-workers when they should stop by. Decide what time of day you will schedule most of your meetings. Most importantly plan to give yourself chunks of solid time to get tasks or other projects done. Determine how long the chunks of time should be based on the types of tasks and projects you do.
    
4. Once you decide your schedule post it so that you can see it and communicate it to everyone.
    
5. Respect your boundaries. If your co-workers see you following your schedule they will be more inclined to work with you on it. If they see you ignoring your schedule they will do the same.
    
6. Create a list of to-dos based on the amount of time it will take to do the task. Large tasks should be broken up into smaller steps that can reasonably get done in the chunks of time you schedule for yourself. This way when you notice that it is the time in your day for project work you know what you need to do and approximately how long it will take to do it.
    
7. Set up your office to help you minimize distractions and therefore interruptions. Turn your back on the entrance to your office or desk. Wear headphones while you are working. If you work well with music on listen to it but even if you don’t just by wearing headphones people will think twice before talking to you. Also, instead of having a screen saver with cool pictures on it let your screen go to black
    
8. Remember life happens. There will be times that there will be a real emergency or a deadline that absolutely requires you to shift your schedule and that is ok. However, if you find that every day is an “emergency” day you probably need to rethink the way you have designed your schedule.

by Carrie Greene, ACC, CarrieThru, LLC, ADHD Coaching & Organizing Services.

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