The number of interruptions you get depends partly on the type of job you do and on how busy you are, but it also is driven largely by how you’ve managed past interruptions.

The good news here is that if you change the way you handle interruptions now, you could quite quickly buy yourself a fair bit more time for focused, deep work with no interruptions at all.

Let’s firstly address the phrase “My office door is always open.”  We all want to be available to our staff and colleagues (and possibly even the boss) and we want to make sure that those around understand this philosophy.

 

New Mantra

However, a more helpful mantra might be “My office door is often open for periods of time each day, but is sometimes shut, because I have work to do that requires focus and concentration.” Admittedly this is not as catchy as the first one, but there is an important point here.  People have to respect you and the value you add.  They need to appreciate that you need both thinking time and discrete conversations with the door shut every now and then.

If you’re open plan, then this is difficult, but using break out rooms, working in coffee shops, on trains and having days at home are simply musts these days.

Secondly, let’s consider why you are getting so many interruptions?  Have you been too quick to solve people’s problems for them in the past? Do they rely on you or abuse your good intentions?

 

Click on this link of you find it hard to say no or are too eager to please

Click on this link if you want to gain control over constant emails

 

The more you encourage autonomy in others and coach them to find their own solutions, then the less interruptions you’ll have.