How do you handle interuptions?

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How do you handle interuptions?

I have such trouble getting back on track when interupted at work, it takes me forever to start where i left off again after a phonecall, people talking to me, getting too hot, hearing a noise that brothers me etc.

Noise cancelling earplugs are an option, but i’m sensitive about things touching my ears so i’m reluctant about it.

How do you handle interuptions, and do you find it easy to continue where you left off?

I think most of us suffer from this to some extent. I personally try to arrange my work in a way that helps me keep track of where I am, but ND or not, being interrupted is usually going to requite 15+ minutes to get back to where you were if the task was at all complicated.

If the ear protection isn't your thing, you might try to drown out the noise with some variety of noise out of a generator. I personally have come to like brown noise, but there's other options and most of them have a free source somewhere.

I don't have many problems with interruptions. If an interruption (a phone call, a question from a co-worker to me, I see an important co-worker that I wanted to ask something) ends, the situation in my office reminds me what I was doing, and I can resume quickly.

Sometimes I am busy something, but it is at the end of a workday. I had to stop. The next day I have to think what the last thing was, I was doing yesterday. My computer doesn't remind me.

I'm in a position that I don't allow interruptions when I am working unless someone or something is on fire. Phone is silent, and computer doesn't allow for notifications. When I am at a stopping point and going to move to a new task or take a break, then I check for any messages. I know not everyone can do this, but you'd also be surprised how people will eventually learn and adapt to my boundaries (after some trial and error on their part)

This is a big issue for me, responsible for a lot of lost productivity at my job. I have not found a solution for it. But when I am focused, I can be very efficient, so I rely on things evening out over time.

At home too, it's very easy for me to get sidetracked and forget what I was supposed to be doing, or why I went into that room. If you start a conversation with me, I will lose focus on whatever I was doing. My mom was the same way. She enjoyed talking while she was cooking, but usually ended up just standing there talking, with a spoon in her hand.

I'm hypersensitive to little noises when I am trying to sleep, so I keep all the notifications on my phone in silent mode.

This is very interesting! Sounds like a solution to a lot of my problems at work! How did you go about to make them accept your way of working?

I just had to stick very firmly to the way that worked for me. Not everyone was thrilled at first, but my productivity was so much higher than everyone else's even my boss couldn't really argue. I blame mobile phones and social media - society as a whole has forgotten what is important and what constitutes an emergency. People also tend to be less offended, when they realize that I will get back to them (I set aside specific times in my daily routine to reply to people, so people know that they aren't being ignored or forgotten).

Very few situations are genuinely urgent. I remind people that if it can wait 15 minutes - Its NOT an emergency.