Interruptions at work have to be managed otherwise your productivity falls off a cliff. The biggest thing to do is to identify that you actually have a lot of interruptions in the workplace. More than you know. The little tiny 30 second interruptions make all the difference in the world.
Studies show people experience work interruptions 4 – 12 times per hour. That’s a lot of interruptions! It’s not even interruptions where your coworkers drops by to say hello or to chat. It’s interruptions where you check your phone once every 5 minutes.
You get up to get a drink of water. To go to the restroom. And any number of a hundred other things that can happen in that hour. Very rarely do we get to experience the work flow anymore. There’s always something that pops up throughout the day.
There’s a reason why the full time worker is only productive for 3 hours per day. That’s nothing! The interruptions at work makes a huge impact on our ability to do meaningful work. Imagine if you can accomplish in 20 hours what others take 40 hours to achieve.
The goal is to get ahead by getting more work done than your peers. The company promotes you faster and gives you raises as a result. Getting ahead becomes that much easier even if you guys are working with the same number of hours.
Managing interruptions is a great skill to utilize.
Interruptions at Work: 9 Ways to Manage Them
Below then are the 9 ways to manage interruptions at work!
1) Identify the Problem Areas
You can’t fix the problem if you can’t identify the problem. For me, the interruptions at work happen due to a combination of coworkers popping their head into my office unannounced or unscheduled. Then my phone is also right besides me so I go on Twitter and manage my social media feed often.
The problem areas influence you more than you know. Another company I worked for had an “open office” concept. Anyone could just randomly ask you a question, even if you are in the middle of work. The productivity was so low for me when I worked in that environment.
The company promotes open work spaces in order to save money. I’m glad I no longer work in that environment now. Having your own office does wonders for your productivity, without you realizing it. Your friends are right next to you with the ability to distract you as they please.
You have more time to focus on your work.
2) Implement Systems that Prevent Interruptions at Work
For me, because we are still working in an hybrid work schedule, there are fewer people who physically come into the office. Therefore, whether I close my door in the office for the majority of the day or whether I have my door open, it really doesn’t matter.
No one is really there to physically ask me questions, anyway. It’s all done over email or online. That was a great thing. The best way to manage the interruptions at work for me is to simply close the door. Shut myself out from the physical outside, even when I’m working in the office.
There are many systems you can implement to manage the interruptions. Some work better than others and it’ll be up to you to find out what works for your own work environment. These days, I put my phone in my drawer so the cost to checking my phone often is high.
Which leads me to check my phone less. It’s small adjustments like that that allows me to lower the number of interruptions.
3) Work From Home
Some people manage interruptions at work by working from home. They’re living alone so they don’t have anyone to interrupt their work flow and get work done. Therefore, working from home is the perfect way to not get distracted by the outside world.
It’s become much more popular these days to work from home. Employers found out that employees’ productivity does not change whether they work in the office or work from home. If the business case for you working from home is that your productivity will increase, it’d be hard for your boss to deny that request.
I personally do not enjoy working from home anymore. I tried it for 2 years and the separation between work and home life is very valuable to me. So valuable that I don’t want to give that up. I’ve been going into the office 5 days a week and I’ve been loving every minute of it.
It completely depends on who you are as a person.
4) Plan Your Day Ahead
Making a to-do list so you can plan out what you need to accomplish throughout the day is an absolute must. Then as the day progresses, you can cross out the things that you finished throughout the day. It’s a tiny thing but changes in the game in managing interruptions at work.
After a while of getting used to planning your day ahead, you have a feel on what you can accomplish by the end of the day. If you haven’t accomplished your tasks by the end of the day, then you know that you’ve had too much interruptions throughout the day.
Then something needs to change and be adjusted.
Having a to-do list does wonders for your productivity. I write a to-do list every single day so I can prepare and plan for the day tomorrow. It takes a lot of brainpower to plan your day at the start and then execute on those plans.
Finishing the legwork beforehand makes you more productive.
5) Work Odd Hours
Managing interruptions at work means avoiding the interruptions at work. You can come in 1 hour before everyone else comes into the office or even work 1 hour later than everyone else. When there’s no one else to distract you from your work, you can experience work flow.
This is the best state you can ever be in because this is when your adrenaline takes over your mind. You don’t even try to be productive, your body just does it all on its own. Working odd hours is a hack that not many consider doing.
They think they have to follow the crowd and work a set number of hours during a set time throughout the day. That’s not how it works. Bosses don’t care when you work, bosses just care that you get your work done. So implementing out of the box thinking is a great way to boost productivity.
This is how employees get ahead at work.
6) Remove Your Phone Out of Sight
This is one that everyone struggles with. The modern offices these days have power plugs alongside everyone’s work station. Therefore, it’s very difficult to resist the temptation of the phone when you are charging your phone. Especially because it’s within eyesight.
The best way to remove the distraction of your phone is to remove your phone out of sight. If you have a drawer, consider putting your phone in the drawer. It’s a small cost to do the work of actually opening the drawer to get out your phone. However, it causes you to want to look at your phone less.
Our brain likes to do the least amount of work to get the most amount of benefit. When there’s an actual cost to getting the benefit, then we start to think that it’s not even worth it anymore. That change of habit may not happen tomorrow but a week from now, but it will happen.
Managing interruptions at work means removing your phone out of sight.
7) Work in Blocks of Time
This is called the Pomodoro technique. You put in 25 minutes of work and then rest for 5 minutes and then do it all over again. You need a good timer and a good system to manage this technique at work such as closing the door, etc. I personally like working for 50 minutes and then rest for 10 minutes.
It’s how I got through college and absorbed all of the information that I read. If I couldn’t think and understand what I just read during those breaks, then I know that I should have done something differently. Our brains need breaks in order to function at its peak.
Working in blocks of time and actually allotting time to be distracted and take breaks is a great way to manage interruptions at work. You will be surprised at how much better you are at retaining information if you do not continuously do productive work throughout the hour.
We are not machines. We need some time in between work in order to function at our peak efficiency.
8) Set Boundaries at Work to Prevent Interruptions at Work
If everything else doesn’t work, it’s time to actually manage the interruptions at work instead of you adjusting to their schedules and preferences. Talk to your coworkers or talk to your boss about it. There’s something you can do to make your workplace conducive to your preferences.
It’s in your boss’ best interest to give you a work environment that gets the maximum efficiency and productivity out of you. If that is how you do well at your job, then it’s time to set up boundaries in order to get there. When I have a particularly busy day at work, I normally just ignore coworkers’ messages.
The ability to get my work done is more valuable than garnering support from coworkers. That’s just how it is and something I’m never going to budge on. If you don’t set boundaries, people will be bound to cross your line at some point.
They have no incentive to stop. Therefore, managing the other person is crucial.
9) Keep Your Days Consistent
There are some things that you can keep consistent no matter what. For example, lunch. There’s something comforting about knowing that you can have lunch at predetermined times every single day. The way you manage interruptions at work is that during that time, no one is allowed to bother you.
Or talk to you. Email is fine but you control when you see that email. Therefore, when you keep your days consistent, you are managing interruptions at work. You’ll know when a certain time is your time to walk away from everything and shirk your responsibilities.
Consistency is your friend when it comes to work. For me personally, from 11am – 1pm, I don’t get back to people. I am eating and digesting my food so I can easily tackle the work day and the work that I have. I am more rejuvenated than ever and am more productive than ever when I come back after.
Too many people keep their days inconsistent and get thrown off guard.
Interruptions at Work are Real
People who’s ever worked a day in their lives know that interruptions at work are real. It doesn’t even have to be at a formal office setting either. If you’re working at home, you know interruptions at work are real especially if you have a roommate.
They come in and watch TV while you’re working in the living room. Or they have their music on loud at 10pm at night so you can’t sleep or get some last minute work done. Work is great but when interruptions come into play, our productivity takes a nosedive.
The ones who get ahead aren’t the most intelligent. Work doesn’t take up a lot of our brainpower, anyway. The ones who get ahead at work are the ones who can most take advantage of the work hours that they have. The ones who can sell and communicate the quality of work they produce.
Those are the ones who I’ve seen get ahead, time and time again. Who move up the corporate ladder and who gets promotions. Interruptions at work is something you can control and manage all on your own. That’s the biggest positive out of it all.
When you are productive for 6 hours a day while your coworkers are productive only for 3 hours a day, imagine just how far ahead you’ll be in a year. Even more so if you take on additional work and projects that’ll get you ahead even faster.
This is how you play the game to get ahead.
9 Ways to Manage Interruptions at Work: a Shortlist
- Identify the problem areas
- Implement systems that prevent interruptions at work
- Work from home
- Review your day from the start
- Work off hours
- Remove your phone out of sight
- Work in blocks of time
- Set boundaries at work to prevent interruptions at work
- Keep your days consistent
