11th Sep 2009
Interruptions affect your ability to be productive at work
One thing that really bothers me in this modern world is how easy it has become to lose your focus. With all this modern technology, specifically cell phones, people have an unprecedented ability to interrupt you when you are in the middle of doing something important.
In my case for example, I have to carry a cell phone with me throughout the workday. I get calls from my employees if there is an issue as well as from my best clients whenever they have something that requires immediate attention. This really handicaps my ability to get projects done that require substantial concentration.
I find that I get the most work done very early in the morning or very late at night. If I get to work at 5 or 6AM I can manage to get a significant amount of real work done before the interruptions begin. Once the clock gets to around 8:30AM forget it. The phone calls and emails start coming in from everywhere. It becomes impossible for me to complete anything of quality that requires serious thought. I am stuck in that mode until about 5PM. After five, most of my clients are done for the day as are my employees. Once again I have the ability to work on a project uninterrupted for a couple of hours.
Fortunately, I have staff that can screen the majority of calls I get in the office. This helps immensely. Yet, I still search for a better system to somehow delegate or better organize the way I do things so that I can be more efficient with customers and employees alike. This system still eludes me.
It bothers me to no end how much these unexpected interruptions reduce my productivity. I have taken a look around the office to see how many things are around to interrupt my employees when they are focused on a task. I advise you to look around your work environment to find ways of reducing interruptions. You probably don’t realize how much it really affects your productivity.
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