Here are the final three tips for being more focused and less distracted in your office:
Try closed-door work sessions
Establish closed-door times, if even for only an hour or two. Put a sign on your door (or on the outside wall of your cubicle) that you aren’t to be interrupted unless it’s an emergency. Use voice mail, or your secretary if you’re fortunate enough to have one, to screen calls. Quiet hours work best when they’re department-wide (even company wide) and at the same time.
Look at what causes the interruptions
It’s helpful to look for patterns in the interruptions. Keep track of your interruptions for a week. Note who, when, the reason, and how long. At end of the week, study the log to determine which interruptions were unnecessary, and which could have been prevented by better planning or better communication.
Communicate clearly
People don’t always interrupt out of thoughtlessness or a desire to socialize. If you’re rarely available, people will interrupt you because they know they must grab you when they can. The solution is to schedule regular check-in times for updates from people you must talk to often. Ask them to save up their questions so they can cover several points at once. Your assistant could check in with you three times a day instead of 20. Make sure you give detailed instruction to coworkers so they don’t have to keep coming back to you with questions. Also, give them some leeway by empowering them to decide some things on their own. Make it clear what questions are serious enough to warrant coming back to you. Let them use their judgment on the rest.
Cathy,
I also use a kitchen timer for certain activities and it helps me FOCUS!
Great add Joe, yes a timer can be very useful. And when your doing something that you don’t really like to do re:filing just set the timer and then when the timer goes off you can stop. Thanks for commenting.
Cathy, I would have posted a comment sooner, but there were too many interruptions!
I like your closed door / Do Not Disturb Sign idea.
For we who work from home or Starbucks or BreadCo, there are a host of other distractions and interruptions to deal with.
In fact, I . . . Ooooops! I’ve got to take this call.
I’ll get back to you when time allows!
Yes, Fred those places can cause lots of interruptions. Sometimes we just need to turn off the phone or not answer when we really need to focus. I hope that phone call was important. 🙂
Cathy,
Sage advice. Using your technique one of the things I learned when I was in corporate was to take 30 seconds to update people on requests they’d made of me. This not only prevented them from interrupting me when I was focused, but it stopped the frustration I felt from having them ‘check up on me.’ Keep up the great work!
Great Advise Dale, and yes it is all about keeping others informed.
Hey Cathy,
Well noted! If I’m “focused” and my phone rings it’s very likely that it will roll right over to Voice Mail. Then, about every hour, I surface to reality again and respond to calls, emails, etc. This really does help me manage my time better. Keep up the great ideas!
Thanks Judy for sharing. Not answering the phone seems impossible for some but it is a great time manager.
Searching for this for some time now – i guess luck is more advanced than search engines 🙂
I posted that just for you 🙂 So glad you found me since this is a very new site. I hope you will visit often.
Hey admin, very informative blog post! Pleasee continue this awesome work..
Thank you please share with others. There is lots more to come
One thing that works for me is that I announce to my wife that I will be ‘thinking’ for the next hour or so. Then I close my eyes and pull the covers over my head!
Sometimes I close the bedroom door to emphasize the point!
Dave, I bet you get alot done that way.
It’s the first time I have heard that in Macedonia, obits are an unusual observe. You have wonderfully written the post. I have liked your way of writing this. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for your info, I’ll be checking in..thanks
This site is a walk-through for all the information you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Look here, and you’ll definitely find it.
Hey admin, very informative blog post! Pleasee continue this awesome work..
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
Bob, Your welcome, I hope you continue to get value.
Aw, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
We all procratinate because we can’t get everything done at once. Procratination is one of the TOP TIME WASTERS, The Question is… Is our procratination effecting us in a negative way? We procratinate from, fear, the unknown, lack of confidence and the truly big one is it’s not something we really want to do. Suggestion, if you continue to procratinate on the same thing, take the time to figure out why. If it is due to not wanting to do it, see if you can either find someone else to do it (there is always someone who likes to do what we don’t). Hire someone, or ask yourself how important is it? Sometimes we convince ourselves it must be done but realilisticly it does not. If you really need to do it – put it on your calendar! I will be addressing this topic in future post.
Hey admin, very informative blog post! Pleasee continue this awesome work..
This site is a walk-through for all the information you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Look here, and you’ll definitely find it.
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
Thank you, since I am in the early stages of blogging I hope you will spread the word
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
yeah my dad will like this
I do agree with all of the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They are very convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for starters. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.