Nov 10, 2015
How to Double Productivity by Reducing Distractions in the Office
“A mind too active is no mind at all” – Henri-Frederic Amiel
There are 2 GIGANTIC reasons why being distracted, even momentarily, is a big deal.
First, when you are working on a task that requires concentration, you can’t do something else at the same time without screwing something up. In other words, you can’t multitask when each activity requires your attention. Apply this same concept to texting while driving. It’s more dangerous than driving while intoxicated.
Second, when you’re distracted in the office, even momentarily, your concentration is broken and it will take a minimum of 7 minutes to get back into the work you were just completing.
Big Three Distractions (And how to stop them)
- Co-Workers/Other Humans – For example, leaving your door open at all times. I’d suggest to batch a time where you’re secluded from people interrupting you. This can be for 1 hour or more. The key is to let your team know that you can’t be interrupted during this time to which you’ll be happy to take care of their situation when your time is up.
- Phone- Most phones now-a-days have “Do Not Disturb” settings. Let this be your friend. I once walked into a meeting and returned to find my phone with over 75 messages after a 1 hour meeting. Now, you might be saying that 75 messages could mean something is wrong. There must be an emergency. Not in this scenario. These messages were entirely related to fantasy football, CNN, and being reminded to pick up detergent on the way home.
- Email- On average, people spend 13 hours of their week responding, checking, or sorting their email. Using this time, you could have watched all three Lord of the Rings trilogies and still have 3 hours left over. I’m not saying to eliminate email entirely, but certainly don’t let it take up almost a third of your workweek. I find that scheduling “Email Time” into my calendar avoids my email eating up too much of my time.
TIMELINE-
WIP (Work In Progress) Meeting Experiment – 2:30
Multitasking is a myth – 7:00
Why are Saturdays so productive? – 10:30
3 Most critical distractions crushing your productivity – 11:30
125 Emails daily…15 emails an hour… -- 19:30
How many computer monitors do you have? – 21:30
Email challenge to try TODAY – 24:30