Effective Time Management In a Day For Dummies by Dirk Zeller

Author:Dirk Zeller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Defending Your Day from Interruptions

In This Chapter

Keeping intruders out of your workspace

Making sure interruptions are short

Managing interruptions from co-workers and managers

Working with intrusive clients

People have certainly embraced communication technology. But in many ways, these miracles of convenience have robbed workers of their ability to control their own time. Multiplying points of access — voice mail, e-mail, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing, and of course, the cellphone — can shackle you like a house-arrest ankle bracelet, sentencing you to a life-term of perpetual availability. Business colleagues can track you down on vacation, and friends can interrupt an important client presentation.

Consider this: Every one of these interruptions — no matter how small or insignificant — robs you of at least five additional minutes of productive time. Whether your spouse calls and talks to you for 30 seconds or 30 minutes, you can subtract at least five more minutes from your day. Tally up 20 interruptions over the course of your day, and you lose nearly two hours of productivity — and that totals to the loss of 36 hours a month!

Distractionitis is the scourge of time-block adherents; the fastest way to render a time-block or even a day useless is not to deal with distractions well (see Chapter 2 for more on time-blocking). So now’s the time to gain control of the interruption game, whether you’re at risk from wandering bosses and colleagues, demanding clients, or the technological tools that can slice through your best defenses. I show you how in this chapter.

The Fortress: Guarding Your Focus from Invasion

Being successful in time management and adhering to your time-block schedule happens through controlling access: You need to limit the frequency of the interruptions you allow. You’re the one who controls your time and allows other people and situations to pull you away from your goals, dreams, objectives, and time-blocked schedule. You’re in control, and you’re the master of your time.

Think of yourself as the castle guard: Your workplace is a fortress, one that must be protected in order for it to remain a happy and productive place. Your best strategy is to establish an impenetrable wall between you and interruptions. In this section, I explain how to protect yourself from invaders on foot and how to disconnect from the electronic devices that can cut through your physical defenses.

Protecting your domain from walk-in intrusions

The biggest interruptions in your workday frequently come from within. Your co-workers pose a great threat to your effective time management. What’s doubly scary is that you don’t always recognize your colleagues as threats. Hey, these folks are on your team — they’re the good guys, they’re there for you! However, it’s important to recognize the signs of danger from time-wasting co-workers. If not, you’re at risk of falling to friendly fire.

The modern work environment is often designed on an open-office concept. Few if any employees are granted an office with a door, and most workers are parked in open cubicles, often with partitions that do little to block views (and definitely not the noise) of co-workers.

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