By Jeff Davidson

You have found yourself being interrupted in the course of a work day with greater frequency. How do I know this to be true? We’ve all experienced it, including myself. Interruptions are now the chief impediment for people when it comes to getting things done. Worse still, interruptions are on the rise!

In 2011, a survey by U.S. technology research firm Basex revealed that interruptions account for 28 percent of the typical career professional’s workday. On average, employees typically get only 11 minutes to focus on any one task before they encounter another interruption. Then, on average, another 25 minutes are consumed before returning to the original task or project, if it happens at all on that day.

While some people are specifically hired to be interrupted—front desk personnel come to mind—most career professionals, most of the time, have more leeway over their schedules, when they need to be available, and when they prefer not to be.

Bombarded and Battered

Why do so many people allow themselves to be bombarded by interruptions around the clock? In a single word: fear. They fear that if they are not readily available, opportunities will pass them by. They fear that if they are not instantly responsive, they will be regarded as less competent.

These erroneous notions likely strike deep into the mind and emotions of many local government professionals. Yet, to do your best work often requires being able to give your complete and undivided attention to the task at hand, not only being free of interruptions, but knowing in advance that you will not be interrupted.

The notion that you might be interrupted during a given task might impede your productivity and possibly inhibit you from beginning in the first place.

The most productive members of society, in one way or another, gravitate to the idea that they must safeguard their work environment and determine in advance how and when they can be reached. These highly productive individuals recognize that working in the face of constant interruptions takes a toll. The loss of focus and concentration, as well as overall productivity, is simply not worth it.

What do highly productive managers do to stay productive, keep interruptions at bay, and still remain in the communications loop? They keep their communication technology at hand and periodically check to see who has left a message, and then immediately turn back to the task at hand.

By briefly monitoring the calls and text messages that come in, but not responding to them, they are able to quickly turn back to their work and make good progress.

Workable Strategies

If you monitor your messages every five or 10 minutes, increase the interval to 15 or 20. In the grand scope of things, that’s not a big deal in terms of staying informed, while at the same time affording you the ability to stay focused and accomplish great things. Then, increase the interval to 25 minutes. You’ll accomplish even more.

On those rare occasions where you monitor your messages and something requires your immediate response, by all means, get in touch with that party. To not do so would create more anxiety than you need to experience.

Decide in advance which correspondents and which type of messages truly represent that which merits your quick response. If you’re honest with yourself, you’re likely offering rapid responses three or four times as often as you need to based on the nature of the communications you receive.

A 60 to 80 percent reduction in rapid responses, combined with your ability to return fully to the task at hand, will make a dramatic difference in your productivity.

Safeguard Your Attention

For some part of each day, you need to have a 30-minute period, if not 60 to 90 minutes, when you cannot be reached by external correspondents. This simple measure will make a notable difference in your family life, with friends, and even among professional colleagues.

Your personal attention is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to others. When you allow yourself to be constantly interrupted, you dishonor them and do a disservice to yourself. Being constantly interrupted isn’t pretty, and allowing yourself to be constantly interrupted is even worse.

Fortunately, by learning and practicing some new habits, we can all safeguard our personal environments for significant stretches throughout the day so that we’re free from interruptions and stay focused, attentive, or simply engaged.

Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is principal, Breathing Space® Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina (www.BreathingSpace.com or Jeff@Breathingspace.com). An author and presenter on work-life balance, he holds the world’s only registered trademark from the United States Patent and Trademark Office as “The Work-Life Balance Expert.”®