You’ve just started to get in the zone at your work and a shadow slowly creeps up over your monitor and from the reflection on the screen you can see the attack coming, but you know that it’s already too late. The attack comes unprovoked just like in an Anne Rice novel except instead of a hundred year old vampire, it’s your co-worker of 2 years and instead of sucking your blood she wants to suck up your valuable time.
They might not exactly suck your blood and turn you into an undead immortal, but these interrupting co-workers can make you suffer none-the-less. You know who I’m talking about. The time-sucking vampires at work are a dangerous species and should be handled with as much nuance as a ‘real’ Vampire. Hanging garlic necklaces around your cubicle might seem extreme but the time it might save you might be worth it.
Research shows shows that it takes approximately 25 minutes for you to get back in the groove once you’ve been interrupted at work. This means every little interruption is costing you a lot of productive time.
In the book “Deep Work” Cal Newport makes the case that in a social media fueled distracted world, doing work distraction-free with deep concentration is becoming rare and thus more valuable. This means that being able to concentrate at work is not only more productive it is increasingly becoming more lucrative to be able to do so.
Ok so garlic in the cubicle aside, there are things you can do to save yourself some time and be more productive.
The most subtle way of telling co-workers to leave you alone: don a full sized pair of headphones.
Headphones are a universal way of telling people that you’re busy and can’t be bothered. If you use tiny ear buds instead, it sends the signal that I’m working but since I can probably hear you, it’s OK to wave and interrupt. There is at least one person in the office who will bother you even if you have large headphones that clearly say ‘noise cancelling.’ For those you folks you can try the below.
If the above doesn’t work, then try this: a sign that says you’re busy.
Literally put up a sign that says ‘busy working, please don’t bother.’ How much more clear can you get? Bonus point for marking your calendar for the time you want to be left alone. Extra points for turning off slack, social media and email.
If none of the above works, don’t be scared to set clear boundaries. Some people need to be told very explicitly that you need to get some work done and can’t discuss the latest Game of Thrones episode. Best approach goes something like this;
“Hey Garry/Laurie/Chuck/etc I know you want to talk but I have to get some important work done and so if you come to my office/cube/desk and see that I have headphones on and I have this sign up it means I’m knee deep in some important task and can’t chat. I can totally sync up later when I’m done. Thanks for understanding.”
“But what if it’s my boss who keeps interrupting me?!”
Ah the old boss who can’t seem to be leave your desk to do the tasks he keeps dropping on you with a drive-by. Well it means it’s time to have a heart-to-heart with the boss.
“Jennifer/John/Bob we have a lot of projects going on and in order for me to make the deadlines we’re setting I need some time everyday where I am focused on just getting my work done. So I’m blocking off time on my calendar everyday to do these important tasks and if I could please ask that I’m not bothered during this time then I can make sure to deliver some quality work.”
What boss would tell you not to deliver quality work?
The key is that the time-sucking drive-bys and pointless interruptions are brought down to a minimum so we can make progress with the important work we’re asked to do.