By: Williams M. Criley and Jasminka M. Vukanovic-Criley, MD
Do you get interrupted? We do. Constantly: both at home and at work. Life is full of interruptions.
Are interruptions good or bad?
How do you prevent interruptions?
How do you manage interruptions?
Let’s try to answer some of these and other questions.
Background and Statistics:
“The average American has 50 interruptions a day. Out of those 50 interruptions a day, 70% have nothing to do with work” wrote W. Edwards Deming. Since then, number of interruptions have increased. Researchers at the University of California Irvine led by Gloria Mark, found that the typical office worker is interrupted on average every 3 minutes and 5 seconds.
Types of Interruptions:
- Personal:
- External – when someone interrupts us.
- Internal – we interrupt ourselves.
- Organizational:
- Distracted workers at their jobs (with either external or internal interruptions).
Sources of Interruptions:
We have broken sources of interruptions into 2 groups:
- Interruptions coming from others:
- phone calls – require immediate attention.
- text messages – may require immediate attention.
- in-person interruptions – may require immediate attention.
- Internal interruptions or self-interruptions, i.e.
- checking emails
- checking text messages
- checking social media posts, scrolling etc.
What is the Effect of Interruptions?
Interruptions affect:
- Mood
- You might be irritated or frustrated when interrupted in the middle of a task.
- Concentration
- Productivity:
- both quantity and quality of your work may suffer.
- Increased mistakes
- According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied, when people were interrupted for just 2.8 seconds, they made twice the number of mistakes as those who were not interrupted.
Researchers at the University of California Irvine led by Gloria Mark, also found that it can take 23 minutes and 15 seconds or more to refocus again to where they left off! In other words, people are getting 3 minutes of work done for every 26 minutes they spend at job.
Time is money.
Time is a precious commodity: we can not afford to waste it. Thus, preventing interruptions and managing them is imperative.
How do you PREVENT Interruptions?
Here are some preemptive strategies:
- LOCK YOUR TIME to not allow for any interruptions. That should allow you to concentrate. That is important for any but especially creative work. How to lock your time?
- On the calendar
- PUT SIGN ON THE DOOR: If you work in the office (including home office): it is OK to put a sign at the door:
- “Work in progress. Will be available after 2 pm”.
- Or: “Do not disturb. Work in progress.”
- SET EXPECTATIONS:
- With others: let coworkers or family know when it is your “Do not interrupt” time.
- To yourself: aim to concentrate more than 20-30 minutes at a time.
- SILENCE YOUR PHONE
- Adjust voice mail greeting indicating that you are busy but will get back to them asap.
- Turn off all notifications.
- SHUT DOWN YOUR EMAIL and do not open it until a scheduled time. We are aware, that might be easier said than done at times.
- TRAIN YOURSELF to be disciplined: it might be hard to avoid emails, text messages, social media, and other distractions. Tools that can help:
- Identify the time for your peak energy and use that time to optimize your efficiency.
- Choose to work first on the tasks that bring you greatest returns.
- Block at least 20-30 minutes at a time to concentrate on the task without interruptions (watch the clock).
- Mindfulness – focus on the moment. Do not live in the past (thinking what was) or in the future (what will be). The later is difficult with social media rewards and algorithms that keep calling you to come back asap.
- Actively train your mind to avoid thinking about negative people and those that bring you down. Do not let them live rent free in your head.
How Do You MANAGE Interruptions?
If you do get interrupted, how do you best manage interruptions? Here are some quick tips:
- In person – tell them you are busy now but will be available in 30, 60 minutes or whenever you complete the task you are currently working on.
- Device interruption:
- Ignore the messages until your task is completed. That can sometimes be hard as people on the other side often expect your immediate response. You might get another message: “Hello?!” Do not take it personally. Get back to them when your task is completed. Set your priorities.
- Internal interruptions: these are often hard to deal with because they are result of internal distractions and what is going on in our minds. If we act on our random thoughts – we allow these interruptions to take us off our tasks. How to best deal with those type of interruptions? Here are some possible strategies before you start your task:
- Clear your mind as much as possible from what you are thinking about. Be an active manager of your mind.
- Write down all the things you want to follow up on once you are done with your task.
- Clear your desk and surrounding area of any potential work surface distractions.
- Work actively on concentrating on the task at hand. Control your thoughts. Do not let your thoughts control you. Controlling your thoughts and your emotions is one of the most powerful life skills. Learn how to do them well. That life skills is also good for your overall mental and emotional health.
This article was inspired by Williams M. Criley and number of interruptions that we both experience in our personal and working lives.
Williams Criley has been a contributing member of Indelible Learning since its inception in a number of ways: from Teaching Assistant for over 10 years, to teaching, developing interactive digital media for learning, game design, research and development, creating logos, Indelible Learning fashion attire, editing and producing videos, presenting at local, regional and national conferences and much more.
Jasminka Vukanovic-Criley MD, FACP, FHM is a multiple award-winning physician, from cancer researcher, internal medicine physician, and Medical School Associate Clinical Professor to entrepreneur. She has mentored many undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students and faculty. She is the Principal Investigator on studies from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education creating research-driven #edtech games and digital media to improve health, civics, science education, and healthy habits. Dr Criley is also a founding Board member of Physician’s Weekly. She can be reached on X at @criley_md and at www.linkedin.com/in/jasminka-criley-md