Effectively Dealing with Interruptions: Don’t Break the "Flow"!

Imagine you are on a roll, engrossed in a project, in the "flow." All of a sudden, the phone rings, an e-mail alarm goes off, a colleague is standing in your doorway, a text message is coming through on your smart phone, etc. Ah, interruptions. If you didn’t define all of those as an interruption, think again.

Experts estimate that the average American is interrupted every 3-4 minutes. Some people find this number to be too frequent, others find it extremely low. It depends on what your definition of an interruption is. My definition is anything that you didn’t want to, or expect to, happen at that time. I equate an interruption to a weed in my garden –- if it doesn’t belong there, or if I don’t want it there, it is a weed. Same with an interruption.

So how do you avoid getting sidetracked? It is not always easy, and it depends on what your job is, and who is interrupting you, but try some of the following tactics.

Think of an interruption as an offer. Start to think of an interruption as an offer, and your decision as to whether you will take the interruption as a counter-offer. It is okay to say “Thanks for your call/visit. I do want to speak with you, but now is not a good time. Can we talk/meet at 2:00 p.m. instead?” There. You just counter-offered. See if it works. It is certainly worth a try.

Create do-not-disturb time. Screen calls, or set up times of the day when you answer and return calls and let that be known to friends, family , and work colleagues. Utilize a “do not disturb” sign at the office when working on a tight deadline, close your office door, set "office hours" for visitors and colleagues, or go work in a conference room, library or coffee shop where you can hide. When I was practicing law, I often escaped to another location when writing an important court brief, or closed my door and left a sign-up sheet for people that stopped by that explained that I was on deadline and when I would surface for air.

All interruptions are not equal. Let's face it –- some interruptions are more important than others. You probably need to take interruptions from certain people, like your boss, a sick child, etc. But not everyone. So be selective and if an interruption comes in that does not make the grade, don’t take it!

X marks the spot. Before you take an interruption, write down the very next action you were planning to take, how long you thought it would take, and whether you can delegate it to someone else. Often, the interruption itself is not as bad as playing catch-up after it. Taking the time to write down where you are and what you need to get back to can help you save precious time.

Plan for interruptions in advance. If you work in an interruption-rich culture, you can only plan out 50% of your time to allow for 50% interruptions. For example, if your job is to put out "fires" all day, you can't avoid interruptions as they are exactly what you should be handling. An example of this would be a sales manager in a car dealership whose job is to support the sales team on the floor, and to control and manage issues as they arise. This individual will be less able to avoid interruptions and should plan for them in his or her schedule, by blocking out time before or after "floor" time to get his or her project-related work done.

Preempt the interrupter. It is worth noting that supposedly 80% of our interruptions come from 20% of the people we come into contact with. Try to identify the frequent interrupters and start coming up with ways to cut them off before they occur. If you know someone always calls you to confirm a meeting, send a quick text/e-mail to let him or her know you are still on as scheduled. Or better yet, explain that it is your policy not to miss meetings and you do not need a reminder (you have your smart phone for that!), and that you will call in the rare event you need to cancel. Start taking control of the interruptions before they occur and stopping them at their source. Then, you won’t need to deal with as many interruptions in the first place.

Now, go forth and effectively deal with those interruptions so you can get some work done and stay in the "flow"!