Get Disconnected to Stay Focused

It is vitally important to find space in the day that is free from interruptions to focus your mind on specific tasks. In the "knowledge economy," your brain is your means of production. You need to give it time and space to work effectively, and this means reducing mental task-switching. Interruptions are the main cause of this.

Depending on which study you look at, the time it takes to "recover" from an interruption can vary from a few minutes, up to an hour - with an average of about 15 minutes. This means that, everytime the phone rings - even if it is a wrong number - you still take time to get your mind back on what you are doing.

Let's use an analogy. Think of working on a task or project like driving a car down a road at 70mph. When you get interrupted, it's like you have to slam on your brakes, then turn onto a different road. When you finish with the interruption, you have to find your way back onto the original road (e.g. your original task) and then accelerate back up to 70mph again. If you were to try and drive somewhere getting these types of interruptions every few minutes, you would never get anywhere!

Therefore, it's very important that you find time when you are not going to get interrupted. Even if it's just half an hour, having time when you are not going to get e-mail messages coming in, or your phone ringing, can increase your personal productivity.

Just as companies have rushed to get everyone connected to the Internet over the past few years - with the aim to increase productivity - it is equally important that we learn how to get disconnected.

Getting disconnected basically means reducing or removing the sources of interruptions in your life for a short period of time. If you work in an office, it's unrealistic to expect your manager to let you be out-of-touch for hours every day, so minimise your disconnected time to between one and two hours. As long as you make other people aware that you will be busy during this time, they can make alternative arrangements.

During this time, switch your phone onto voice-mail, close your e-mail client and close your office door. If you work in an open-plan office, consider moving to a quiet area of the building... or even somewhere like a local library.