In today's high tech, fast paced world, where we are experiencing distractions more than ever before. Our mobile phones, our email and the urges to multitask in an effort to get more done are adding up, and for many this is bringing on a feeling of overwhelm. Getting anything truly significant done in this environment is a wonder.
One trick to actually accomplishing some of the greater tasks on our plate is to give ourselves a big enough buffer. We need to accept the fact that interruptions will come, and e need to block out enough time in our day to accommodate them.
So what's a good guideline?
Well that's hard to say, as it depends on the task. A good starting guideline would be that if you had a task that you estimate will take 2 hours, try blocking 3 instead. Throw a short break in the middle of it too if needed.
Yes, you can probably expect interruptions, just don't encourage them. When you schedule your work sessions you should turn the ringer on the phone off, shut the office door and ignore email as much as possible.
(Did you know that for every interruption you experience you automatically lose 5 minutes or more of concentration? This can add up very fast.)
If your working on task and giving your concentration to the task a good 1 or 2 hour session may be a good enough chunk of time to get some significant progress going on, and then you can break for a time to make sure no fires have broken out.
Another trick is that when you are in the middle of work and an idea or thought comes into your head that you absolutely can not forget about, just take one minute to write it out and put away to deal with at a more appropriate time. The idea is to just clear your head of the distraction by getting it in a place where you know you can find it later and then quickly get back to what you were doing.
One trick to actually accomplishing some of the greater tasks on our plate is to give ourselves a big enough buffer. We need to accept the fact that interruptions will come, and e need to block out enough time in our day to accommodate them.
So what's a good guideline?
Well that's hard to say, as it depends on the task. A good starting guideline would be that if you had a task that you estimate will take 2 hours, try blocking 3 instead. Throw a short break in the middle of it too if needed.
Yes, you can probably expect interruptions, just don't encourage them. When you schedule your work sessions you should turn the ringer on the phone off, shut the office door and ignore email as much as possible.
(Did you know that for every interruption you experience you automatically lose 5 minutes or more of concentration? This can add up very fast.)
If your working on task and giving your concentration to the task a good 1 or 2 hour session may be a good enough chunk of time to get some significant progress going on, and then you can break for a time to make sure no fires have broken out.
Another trick is that when you are in the middle of work and an idea or thought comes into your head that you absolutely can not forget about, just take one minute to write it out and put away to deal with at a more appropriate time. The idea is to just clear your head of the distraction by getting it in a place where you know you can find it later and then quickly get back to what you were doing.
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