This could be as simple as a pair of headphones. If you’re reading this and thinking: “But I work in an open-plan office, and it’s impossible to avoid interruptions,” try using a signaling mechanism to let your team know that you’re in the zone (or trying to get there) and that they shouldn’t disturb you unless it’s legitimately urgent. Blocksite and the Freedom app also allow you to block access to specific websites and apps during specified intervals. If you struggle with self-control, tools like Gmail’s Inbox Pause plugin enable you to pause your inbox once you’ve checked it and only unpause it when you’re ready. Rather than sporadically checking things throughout the day, we should batch check email, instant messages, social media, and even text messages, at predetermined times. “Just quickly checking” anything, even for one-tenth of a second, can add up to a 40% productivity loss over the course of a day, and it can take us 23 minutes to get back into the zone after task switching. A path of recourse if the recipient is unable to meet your requirements.To optimize an asynchronous message and to avoid a lot of follow-up emails, include the following in your initial request: The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This “Eisenhower Principle” is said to be how the former president prioritized his own workload. Roscoe Miller, president of Northwestern University, said: “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. In order to practice this successfully, we must do away with the arbitrary “urgency” that still plagues workplaces the world over, almost a century after Dwight D. When you get an email, it’s actually OK to think: “I’ll get to this when it suits me.”Īside from the benefit of giving people more time for uninterrupted focus, asynchronous communication predisposes people to better decision-making by increasing the amount of time we have to respond to a request. When you’re on a phone call or video chat, you’re making real-time decisions, whereas if you’re communicating via email, you have more time to think about your response. So, how do we avoid distractions in the office in order to take control of our days, do our best work, and improve our emotional well-being? The constant distractions are not only leaving people less productive, but also more stressed than ever, with a lack of control over one’s work being cited as a major contributor to workplace stress, according to the American Institute of Stress. As a result, people are spending little time in what psychologists call “ the flow state,” a space where people are up to five times more productive, according to research from McKinsey. The average employee is getting interrupted 50 to 60 times per day, and about 80% of these interruptions are unimportant. In a world of push notifications, email, instant messaging, and shrinking office space, we’re becoming increasingly distracted at work. Organizations that build a culture around minimizing distractions will enjoy the compounding benefit of a focused workforce and will leave their people feeling less stressed and ultimately more fulfilled. This could be as simple as a pair of headphones, a cap, or a “Do not disturb” coat hanger on the back of your chair. Use a signaling mechanism to let your team know when you’re in the zone and that they shouldn’t disturb you unless it’s legitimately urgent.

Consider blocking out meeting-free zones on your calendar, turn off push notifications or put your phone in airplane mode, and try to find a quiet space to work.

There are very few actual “emergencies.” It’s OK to think: “I’ll get to it when it suits me.” Rather than sporadically checking things throughout the day, batch check email, instant messages, social media, and even text messages, at predetermined times. So, how do we avoid distractions in the office in order to take control of our days, do our best work, and improve our emotional well-being? First, we must do away with the arbitrary “urgency” that still plagues workplaces the world over. As a result, people are spending little time in what psychologists call “the flow state”, a space where we’re most productive. The average employee is getting interrupted 50 to 60 times per day, and most of these interruptions are unimportant.

Apps to avoid distractions