How To Be a Team Player in an Age of Interruptions

I’d rather be called a pain in the ass than have one more person ask me softly and sweetly, “Hey, do you have a minute?”

Edward G. Brown tends to agree. “We live in an interruption culture,” Brown explained to CMSWire. “We like it. We perpetuate it.” Office workers are interrupted — or self-interrupt — about every three minutes. People compensate for the lost time by working faster, resulting in more stress, higher frustration, time pressure and effort.
Brown offers a five-pronged strategy to diminish interruptions and distractions at work.

• Calculate the cost of the interruptions

• Politely deter people who interrupt

• Rein in your wandering mind

• Know what’s important

• Create a Whole-Week Plan

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