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Managing Interruptions

‘You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks.’ – Winston Churchill

Mindfulness involves managing your attention so that it is focused and occupied with immediate experience. What usually stops you from focusing and engaging at work? Interruptions and distractions.

Interruptions arrive unexpectedly at any time of day. They come from other people in the form of questions, announcements, requests and demands, by people who need decisions made, conflicts managed and problems solved. Interruptions come in person, by phone, texts and email.

Interruptions get in the way of managing your time and your work. They disturb, delay and hinder you. Interruptions deplete your time and energy. They break your concentration and cause delays.

Because your day only has so many hours in it, a handful of small interruptions can rob you of the time you need to get on with and complete your work. Interruptions can break your focus, meaning that you have to spend time re-engaging your brain with the thought processes needed to complete your work.

Interruptions may feel like they are not in your control but they can be managed.

In Practice

‘Focusing is about saying no.’ – Steve Jobs

Accept that interruptions will happen. Then plan for them – leave gaps in your day for interruptions and so prevent them from frustrating you.

Set criteria for other people interrupting you, so that only decisions above a certain threshold of importance will come to you. If someone interrupts you with a query you think needs discussion, tell them you will get back to them later, when you'll give it your full attention.

Set times to be available. Other people will interrupt you only if they know it's okay to interrupt you at any time and that you will respond.

Set times that you are available to deal with their problems and questions. For example, tell people that you only check email at 3 p.m. because you need to focus on other work. Then you can deal with problems/requests at certain times of the day, and focus during other times.

Delegate. If you're in a supervisory or managerial position, when all queries and decisions must come through you, it's inevitable that you're going to be interrupted. So train others to make these decisions. Set guidelines for making decisions so they'd make pretty much the same as you in any given situation.

Learn to say no. Be assertive. Learn to say no (nicely) to requests or tasks if you are busy, if someone else can handle it, if it is not an important task or if it can be done later.

Be patient. If you can't avoid interruptions, deal with each interruption one at a time. Give your full attention to each person and each query or problem. This way, you will be less stressed and will deal calmly and fully with every person who needs your attention.

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Table of Contents for 7. Managing Interruptions

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Table of Contents for
7. Managing Interruptions