A study reported in The Herald says a random sample of 36 office workers show they only average 11 minutes of work on a particular project before a disruption pushed them off task. Once off task, it took them nearly 25 minutes to get back to work on it. Even though a sample of 36 workers is by no means a conclusive scientific study, I think many of us can relate.
I can say from personal experience I have had this happen – sometimes more frequently than others. I will pick up a project, the phone rings – the subject matter leads me to something else. Before I know it, 45 minutes is gone and my project is no further along than when I started.
If I get enough of these distractions, I can get pretty irritable. Sometimes I get a stress headache.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out distractions do not contribute to our goals and long term success. Distractions must be minimized as much as possible.
That’s why I’ve taken to disabling my computer’s networking service, turning off the cell phone and unplugging the phone line when I want to get some real work done. I am almost convinced being distracted is a habit. The reason is because even when there is nothing distracting in the immediate environment, there can still arise the feeling that I need to check email or I need to Google something in my head. That’s why I always keep a notepad nearby to jot down these thoughts as they start weeding their way in.
As a funny side note, when I am done with my project for the day and I look at the notes of what I needed to do, they are usually horrifically ridiculous tasks, like “I need to Google to see if Pelikan makes a blue-green fountain pen ink.”
How do you handle distractions in your world?
