The Mister Productivity Podcast How to Deal with Distractions at Work
FIVE WAYS TO DEAL WITH DISTRACTIONS AT WORK.
BEFORE WE GET STARTED:
What you will learn involves setting boundaries and perhaps retraining your co-workers. Chances are good that the percentage of people who violate your time is small. In all cases, you need to be professional.
HOW TO DEAL WITH "GOT 5 MINUTES?"
When someone asks you for 5 minutes, it is rarely just 5 minutes.
If you truly don’t have time, tell them so. And don’t give in. Stay strong. But polite. Offer a time later when you can give them time.
But if they persist, and you do have 5 minutes, then do the following:
- In front of them, open the timer on your smart phone, set it for 5 minutes, hit start and say GO!
- They might ask you, “are you serious?”
- Assure them, “yes, and now you have 4 minutes and 45 seconds.”
- If they tell you that that won’t work, say “that’s fine, I have 15 minutes at 2 pm available. Will that work?”
- If, however, they start talking, be sure to tell them when there are is only 1 minute left. This shows them you are serious.
- If they agree, say “great…see you then.”
- If they say they can’t wait and it’s really important, you’ll have to judge for yourself whether to break your rule or not.
- When they show up later, be sure to give the courtesy of all of your attention. Again, training them.
BARRIERS IN THE OFFICE
Get rid of the chairs in your office if you are able. People who sit are more likely to overstay their welcome. They get comfy. People won’t stand for too long and they won’t sit on the floor.
If you can’t get rid of the chairs, put books, files, folders, and papers in them - taking away the option of sitting.
Share your calendar! You can share your calendar on Outlook without sharing what is on your calendar. Show people you are busy this way.
Get a ginormous wall calendar and put major projects and events on it for all to see. You want others to KNOW how busy you are. Remember, we retraining the people who have been violating your time for a while.
Use the power of no. Do you HAVE to go to that 2-hour meeting? Do you HAVE to go to the company 3-hour lunch? Do you HAVE to be included in the REPLY ALL email chain? Think about this: when you are saying YES to anything, you have no idea how many people or things you are saying no to because you can’t see into the future. (Or can you?)
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