Productivity Tips: Interruptions are evil

The most effective way to decrease your productivity is work in an interruption filled environment – and yet most of us work in just this environment.

Writers, programmers, designers and most other creative jobs require concentration, you are most productive only when you are in a deep concentration mode (sometimes referred to as “the flow”), in this mode you can get huge amount of work done in a short time.

Whenever you are interrupted, no matter how short the interruption is, you are kicked right out of this deep concentration mode and research has shown it usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes to get back in the flow.

So every time someone asks you a quick question (or even worse, loudly asks someone near you a quick question) you are actually losing between 15 minutes to half an hour of productive time.

If you have any control over your work environment you’re top priority should be to minimize interruptions, work alone, close your e-mail software and any instant messaging software or social network websites, turn off your cell phone… you get the idea.

It may be boring to work in such an environment but you will get more done in less time, just try it – and use the time you save to do things you enjoy instead of handling an endless stream of pointless interruptions.

posted @ Tuesday, November 18, 2008 4:52 PM

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