7 Ways to Distract Your Distractions
August 31st, 2010 Filed under: Planning Tips — Productivity Planner Author
In this ever complicated world of social media, cell phones, land line phones, instant messaging, Facebook, email, etc. etc. etc. there are certainly more than enough distractions to completely monopolize our time. When I was in high school, boarding school actually, I was always coached by one teacher to “Distract My Distractions.” That has always stuck with me. It’s much easier to give in to distraction when you are not strategically planning for it. Here are 7 examples of ways that you can “distract your distractions” as an executive.
Do you get a popup message every time you receive an email? If so, then you should probably disable that feature. If you just can’t let go of knowing the exact second those emails come in, make a point to not react to each one individually. Pick two times per day that work for you and respond to all of your emails then. Most emails are not so important that they need an immediate response. And, if it’s a true emergency that person can call you on the phone.
Updating Social Media
Again, like email, if you have this running all day long it is going to distract the heck out of you. Determine a plan for your social media marketing and stick to it. For instance, pick two times per day and retweet articles that you have found useful from your RSS reader. Pick two times per week to search for new people to follow and ditch those who either don’t post often enough or don’t follow you back. There are a number of services that are useful for optimizing Twitter.
Walk-ins Not Accepted
There are plenty of people in any work environment who are looking for ways to waste other people’s time. It is unavoidable. So, you must find ways to either keep them from coming in or if they do get them out as soon as possible.
If you have a door, meaning if you have an office, don’t leave it wide open all the time. I used to work with a guy whose office was in a main hallway. He always kept his door wide open and his desk faced outwards. Every time I would walk by I would see his peripheral vision shift to see who was walking past. I am sure that over time this had a terrible effect on his productivity. So, if you have a door and you want to have that “open door” policy, leave it cracked instead of wide open. People will be less likely to distract you as they walk by and also will probably think twice about coming in to just shoot the breeze. Even better you can close your door but put a nice sign on it saying “Please knock and come in!” and a smiley face.
If you work in a cubicle, this tactic is a little trickier. Some people suggest wearing headphones. But depending on the culture of your office this practice could be somewhat off-putting. Another way to head off those “walk-ins” at the pass is to stand up immediately when the begin talking to you. Then you might say something like “What can I do for you?” or “I don’t want to be rude but I am right in the middle of this project. Is there a question I can answer for you right now or can we catch up later?”
Telephone/Cell Phone
Much like email only respond to those voice mails once or twice a day. You can add a disclaimer to you voice mail message stating that if it is truly an emergency they can call you or your cell phone. That will cue people in to the fact that you are not responding immediately to calls. Also, similar to the cubicle “always be closing” method try to arrive at definitive outcomes as soon as possible on the phone. You can also respond to voice mails with an email to help reduce unneeded banter and small talk.
If you use a Smart Phone do NOT set it to alert you every time you receive an email.
Meetings
One sentence, well two if you count this one. Only hold meetings to discuss pre-outlined topics and determine and assign actionable items.
Don’t Buy in to Perceived Urgency
Just because someone thinks that something is urgent does not necessarily mean that it is urgent. Treat each request objectively and view it within the grand sphere of your goals and responsibilities. You will encounter people who want everything 5 minutes ago and believe their needs trump all others. In the case that this person is your superior often times you do not have a choice. You might suggest something like, “Right now I am working on X. If you would like to me stop working on X and start working on Y I can do so but the result on X will be…” If the person is not your superior use your judgement not theirs when evaluating their requests for your time.
Summary
There are endless ways to allow yourself to become distracted today. Notice I use the word allow because 99% of the time we have a choice whether or not we want to give in to our distractions. By using some of these methods and others you develop you should be able to “Distract Your Distractions”
How do you deal with distractions in your work environment?
Brian Landi
Blogger/Author
Bits of Business
http://www.bitsofbusinessblog.com
