Top 10 Distractions in the Office
by Denise Landers
What comes to mind when you think about office distractions? The most common
ones cited are the telephone, email, and paper. Of themselves, those are enough
to overwhelm a person each day. However there are other distractions causing you
to lose valuable, productive minutes every day. Some of these you may not think
of as a distraction at first. Yet anything that takes your focus away from your
work at hand can be a problem. Consider how your office setting ranks for the
following:
- Email
- Telephone
- Paper
- Visitors
- Environment
- Noise
- Meetings
- Lists
- Expectations
- You
Take a look at each of these to assess whether they might be issues in your
day:
1. Email. There are two main problems that pop up. One is the constant
alert for new messages, which you can choose to turn off. The second is if your
inbox is never emptied. You will continually scroll through all of the items
because you are fearful of overlooking something. You need to find a system of
folders that let you clear out the general inbox and prioritize your action
items.
2. Telephone. Do you feel you have to answer every call right when it
comes in? Set aside time blocks to deal with non-urgent calls, and let your
voice mail tell callers when they can expect to hear from you.
3. Paper. If you have stacks of papers around your desk, you will
shift through them frequently to find the urgent items of the day. Instead set
up Daily Action folders, make a decision on the needed action the first time you
look at it, and keep your desk cleared of distracting stacks.
4. Visitors. Clients may drop by without notice or a colleague may have a
break and decide to take it in your space. Get to the point quickly if someone
comes by and interrupts your work.
5. Environment. This can include heating and lighting. If you are too
cold or too hot, you are constantly reflecting on how uncomfortable you are. The
lighting in an office can create glare, leading to headaches and tired eyes,
causing you to stop frequently. There is no one answer for the right temperature
or light situation. You need to find the correct level for yourself.
6. Noise. Overhearing colleagues' discussions, one-sided telephone
conversations, or outside activities diverts your concentration. If you are
easily distracted, close your door, use a small white noise machine, or try
headphones.
7. Meetings. In a work environment where meetings are frequent, it
becomes difficult to set aside an uninterrupted block of time for detailed
projects. You end up coming in early or staying late so that you can finally get
things done. Make sure that you have scheduled time to focus on projects during
the day. It needs to be written on your calendar.
8. Lists. Working from lengthy lists, whether To-Dos, a book of voice
mail messages, or an email inbox, causes you to look at the same items again and
again. You have to make decisions every time you scan through the items. Your
mind keeps jumping around and planning ahead instead of focusing on one item in
front of you. Write down tasks on single sheets of paper so that you can easily
prioritize your work.
9. Expectations. What response time has unofficially developed with
regard to returning phone calls and email messages? When you feel you have to
immediately respond to a call, you allow yourself to constantly be interrupted.
Could a three-minute response time be changed, letting people know you will respond
within two hours or four hours?
10. You. Often you may become bored with your activity and decide to
check email for a few minutes; or you have several projects in view and your
mind keeps jumping from one to the other. Work with only one project on your
desk at a time. If you momentarily lose focus, do not give up, just try to get
back on track.
The first step in limiting distractions is to be aware of them. You may be
able to add more things to this beginning list. Once you recognize what
interferes with your work, then you can begin to make the changes that will add
to your daily productivity.
Copyright 2007, Key Organization Systems, Inc.
Denise Landers, is the founder and CEO of Key
Organization Systems Inc. (KOS) and the author of Destination: Organization,
A Week by Week Journey. Visit her web site at
http://www.keyorganization.com.
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