INTERRUPTIONS

At first, the title: ‘Interruptions’ seemed far to simple, so simple in fact that the emphasis in this blog on the enormous impact interruptions have on our day is lost in such a simple title, but after considering other creative introductions for today’s blog, I chose to leave it. Why? Because in the end, all I am going to talk about today are interruptions: what affect they have on working effectively, how they prevent us from staying focused and how they impede us reducing the amount of time we spend completing various tasks. I want to share with you some recent research about the impact interruptions have on our day.

A new book, recently published called Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath illustrates clearly that when we change our environments to reduce and prevent interruptions dramatic change takes place in the ‘way’ we do things and the end result is not only the ability to complete tasks but also to accomplish enormous output. For example, the Heaths’ explain how research done regarding the impact interruptions have in every type of work environment from busy hospitals to the average business office allowed teams and organizations to better understand the significant impact interruptions were having. Workers, clinical teams even large corporations realized goals and saw change in their productivity in a way many involved were stunned to see. Results included hospitals reducing the number of medication errors drastically and an IT Team completing a time sensitive goal in much less time than they had first anticipated. By taking steps to reduce the type and frequency of interruptions things improved tremendously.

Of course there are various types of interruptions in our environment among them email, telephone calls, other people just needing a minute, our own personal reminder devices and a whole host of other things we are interrupted by throughout our day. Research is showing us how the lost productivity for some is resulting in weekend trips to the office in order to get something done while it is quiet (Heaths’; 2010). Furthermore, when we are constantly off task, feeling frazzled or not accomplishing what we must, it makes most of us stressed, irritable and very tired.

What Can We Do About All the Interruptions

This blog is constantly addressing the Email issue. If you regularly follow the blog and you have not made any alterations to the way you handle your email or taken steps to reduce the amount of time you read, review and respond to Email do it now! It is one of the single most important steps I have taken in the first 100 days of this project and one that is directly related to reduced work time. In fact, I just spent a weekend away from work and did not check Email one time over the course of 3 days. For some that may not sound like a significant difference but I can tell you it is a huge difference compared to how I did things just 3 short months ago.

Email cannot take all the blame. For the first time in our working lives, the idea of texting, Facebooking, Twittering and other social networking activities along with your standard type Smartphones and Blackberries going off has created a culture of individuals working through a long and constant string of interruptions all day. It should come as no surprise we take longer to accomplish the ‘have-to’s’. I am not suggesting we give up or wean ourselves off the technology we have all come to depend on, even enjoy. The answer is in creating an environment where we can get the minimum amount time, without interruptions to accomplish our critical 1 or 2 tasks for the day. As I have stated many times before, it is important to look back on the end of the day and know you got the one or two things done that were necessary, likely an important responsibility and hopeful things that led in the direction of a significant goal (  http://4hrwwproject.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/an-insight-into-balancing-the-have-tos-of-life-with-also-doing-the-tasks-related-to-our-goals-in-order-to-make-real-effective-change/ ). I began setting the office phone to go to immediate voice-mail, turning off my cell phone, shutting all Internet access (where possible or at least only having the window open I needed versus various tabs) and wearing either a headset or earphones for 3 hours per day. In that 3 hours, I always accomplish the main critical task or get a good chunk of work done on it and on a good day get through both my critical tasks. The best part of taking control of my environment is that my main tasks of the day usually take a lot less time than I originally think they will and I am convinced that because I have learned to adapt so well to constant interruptions, I just assume things will take longer.

Of course, interruptions go way beyond the beeping, alerts and reminders going off around us all day, there are the people who also interrupt. If you work in an office surrounded by other people all day one of the best tactics is to wear headphones, even if you don’t have music playing (which can also help concentration is some circumstances). Studies have shown that when we look busy our co-workers tend to think twice about interrupting and even more so when they have to interject to move us off a task (listening to music) to get our attention. I know a co-worker who brought in a cheap telephone headset for the office and wore it while she was at her desk. The funny part was it did not even plug-in properly to our office phone system, yet she was rarely interrupted while she wore it day after day.

Own Your Own Part

Time for a little self-reflection and honesty. While doing your best to make changes to what you can control regarding interruptions, I feel it is also very important for each of us to ‘own’ where we waste our own time and also when we are the culprits and interrupting those around us. Before you stroll off to your co-workers office down the hall to ask them “if they have a minute?”, ask yourself if you’re interrupting their work flow. While, at the same time be honest about whether or not you really need to read that latest headline or talk to your nearest neighbour at work or are you in fact procrastinating? These are always good self-checks to make sure we are addressing the issue from all sides.

What Have I Done With The Time?

This is a good question. If I am freeing up some time what am I doing with it? I can tell you for sure what I would have done with it before I started this project, I would have filled it up with more work. I admit I still do that sometimes and with our website going live in the next 2 weeks after a major over-haul there is good reason to put in more hours right now. However, I am also really trying to balance my life out more and use some of the time I am able to reduce in my work day for other things. Today, I took the time to have a neighbor over for coffee and for 4 weeks now I have created a minimum of 2 hours per week for exercise, sometimes more. I would have professed before Christmas that there was no dam way I could do this, I did not have time to work out nor could I socialize in the middle of the day even if it was a half hour coffee. Today I actually did both. But I was right in a way – I could not have had 2 or 3 hours to play with in my week if I had kept doing things the way I was before Christmas and in the same environment. The changes are small but I am seeing progress  (http://4hrwwproject.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/first-30-day-assessment-of-the-4-hour-workweek-project/ )

The next blog is Monday and I strongly encourage you to address just one thing in your environment that will reduce or prevent an interruption and see if you too can take 30 minutes between now and then to do something outside work you really enjoy.

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