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Struggling with interruptions?

Written by: Joy Duling

Article Overview: The most powerful antidote to the interruption dynamic is my cluster-tasking technique.

Struggling with interruptions?

The most powerful antidote to the interruption dynamic is my cluster-tasking technique.

In a past email, I've shared with you how to cluster-task your to-do list... dividing the things you have to do into categories of activities, so that you can tackle similar tasks all at the same time.

Now, consider taking that approach one step further and break-down your daily schedule by the categories of tasks that you have on your list.

I do not advocate trying to plan 100% of your time. That's a recipe for disaster... you have to have some flex time built into every day because not everything goes according to plan.

I prefer to break every day up into 2 two-hour blocks in the morning; two 2-hour blocks in the afternoon; and two 2-hour blocks in the evening.

That's all the structure I try to give myself. Within those blocks of time, I cluster my tasks by type.

So, I might use one of my morning blocks for all of my phone calls. I might use the second morning block to work on a project. The afternoon blocks might be scheduled with coaching clients. Evening blocks tend to be filled with family stuff.

Why two hours?

Two hours is not so long that you'll feel like your whole day has been sucked up, but it's long enough to make a dent in any task list or on a significant project.

This approach actually gives me 50% of every day that I exert total control over... everything outside of those blocks is complete wiggle room and I can use it for whatever comes up.

Now, do my blocks work out perfectly every day? No, not always.

BUT I've always found that the days that I am able to practice my blocking technique are the days when I feel most productive and effective.

Try the blocking technique this week and let me know how it goes!

Why this matters...

Workplace research shows that the average worker loses 2.1 hours every single day to interruptions. It's not just the interruption itself that is impactful, but also the "recovery time" that is required for you to get back on task.

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Article Tags: antidote, disaster, email, flex time, interruption, interruptions, recovery time, single day, task list, wiggle room, workplace research
Referred by: http://www.calahansolutions.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: How do you make the most of your day? - Here are a couple things I do to get lots done. First, I work from a weekly To Do List (although I should call it an Action List) rather than a daily list. Each item on the list must be one specific action required to move one step closer to accomplishing or finishing something. It's similar to what Robert Alan talks about. Each day I prioritize 3 actions that must be completed before the end of the day. I fully commit to those actions. Second, when I really need to focus on something to get the most done possible I work in timed 50 minute increments. That may sound a little loopy but it really works for me plus I feel refreshed working that way. So I literally have a little timer on my desktop that I set to count down from 50 minutes to zero. During that 50 minutes I work without interruption. When the timer goes off I stop whatever I'm doing and take a 10 minute break. You can get an incredible amount of work done working that way without feeling like you're working hard. I don't schedule 8 of those 50 minute time periods because there isn't a need to plus I'm sure you would wear out if you did. If you haven't tried this you might want to give it a try setting just two 50 minute time periods for a couple days and fiercely keeping them without interruptions to see what I mean. I'd love to hear about your experience and any other kind of quirky things that work.
Re: what about home schooling? - [quote:30twuzn2]In fact, the concept of homework is actually quite useless since in the "real world", we do all of our work in the office. So wouldn't it make more sense to have ONLY in-class assignments? Confused If this happened, there'd be less plagiarism. Moreover, if you encounter a road block at work, you're typically not going to have the time to "take it home" and research the answer or re-submit it if you didn't do well the first time. In the "real world" you have to solve problems on the spot, so shouldn't the classroom environment reflect that?[/quote:30twuzn2] Its been many years since I had a job that didn't involve taking work home. Of course, I could've worked in the office 80 hours a week, but working 50+ and taking some specific work home was easier and allowed me to get work done around the house too. But, this does depend on the amount of work each person has to. I realized quickly when I was managing a doctor's office, working with patients, scheduling, promoting, handling money collection and insurance work - that it saved my sanity to take the insurance work home where I could work on it in peace. In another job, I worked the store alone on my shifts and it was easier to take all ordering resources and information home to get the ordering done in an atmosphere that allowed me to focus on the orders with less interruptions - and since my bonuses were almost totally impacted by proper ordering, it was imperative to get the orders right. Shri


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