Preparing for distractions at work will give you a professional edge. There are certain interruptions or requests that are predictable, as they come up every week or every month. At times, they seem to occur when you’re just getting to your most important work.
In this week’s edition of our weekly productivity series, we talk about some easy ways you can avoid letting these distractions sabotage your schedule.
What Productivity Questions Does This Video Answer?
- How can you prepare for distractions at work?
- What can you do to have fewer interruptions at work?
- How can you prepare for ongoing requests?
- What can you do if your schedule is too busy?
Video Transcript for Preparing for Distractions at Work
You’re trying to get your most important work done but you can’t because of distractions. When I worked in TV news, I had to deal with deadlines on a daily basis. And often they will be some sort of distraction when I really needed to be getting work done. It was frustrating but it was part of the TV news business.
Do you have the same thing happen, where you’re trying to get a lot of important work done and little distractions keep popping up? Things that you have to attend to or help someone out with. Here are a few tips to try to minimize the impact of those distractions:
The first is, is this a recurring thing, where on the first Monday of every month, someone needs to come to you and get some information. Can you anticipate this interaction instead of always being surprised? So on your calendar can you put a note saying, “Expect to be asked about this,” and put it on the, let’s say, the first of the month for every month or the appropriate day. That way you’re prepared for the distraction.
Can you get some of the stuff done ahead of time? If you know you have to submit certain information, at a certain time, can you get it all ready for someone? So that way you don’t have to drop so much and attend to it. You can be like, “Oh, it’s all right here. Enjoy. Thank you.”
Finally, you might want to consider if you need to unpack your schedule a little bit. If things are running so tight that a little request from someone is throwing you off so much, then maybe you need to free up a little bit of time or leave a little bit of padding in your schedule for these types of requests.
Obviously we would love it if we never had distractions at work but they are part of the game. How you handle them can help determine your success.
About This Video Series
Ken Okel’s ongoing Employee Productivity video series will make you more effective on the job. Every week, you’ll learn a new, easy to understand, problem solving tip that you can use right away, like preparing for distractions at work.
Tired of a productivity problem, like why the details matter at work? Let us know and we’ll feature it in an upcoming episode.
About Ken Okel
As a motivational speaker, Ken Okel works with leaders and organizations to boost productivity, performance, and profits. At conferences, conventions, and company meetings, he engages audiences with new ways to maximize their time at work. To see a sample of his keynote and workshop presentations, visit his video page.
