Interruptions and Distractions

My landline rings and I jump to answer it. Yes, I still have a landline. Not only do I have a landline, but it is an old black rotary phone from the 1960s. Why do I have this? I’ll get to that later, but for now, this is a post about interruptions and distractions.

Interruptions are stimuli that you heed (ringing landline, wildly screaming child). Distractions are stimuli that you ignore—or try to ignore (chat notifications, mildly screaming child). Given that interruptions and distractions are different, they can be dealt with in different ways. The two techniques I use are called: The Bookmark and The Parking Lot.

The Bookmark is for interruptions I cannot ignore. I’ve heard that when workers are interrupted it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back on task. In order to avoid this, I use The Bookmark. The Bookmark holds my place, just like an actual bookmark slid into a book. When an interruption of a task occurs, I take my to do list or my sticky notes and jot down what I was in the middle of, so I can continue that task after I’ve dealt with the screaming kid or the doorbell. For example, “paragraph 2 of newsletter” or “search for article on prairie potholes.” When I come back to my desk, I know right where to pick up my task.

The Parking Lot is for distractions that you ignore, but are important enough to distract you mentally until you deal with them. This technique is often used in meetings when an off-topic subject comes up. You jot that off-topic, but brilliant idea on The Parking Lot or the white board to deal with later and continue with your agenda. But I use this technique with my personal tasks as well. Say I am are writing a piece on Distractions, and I’m typing away…and then an idea pops into my head for a picture book about a cheetah stumbling through the Serengeti. I don’t drop everything and write that picture book. I jot the idea down on The Parking Lot—in my case a clipboard hooked to the wall next to my desk. Then I get back to writing about distractions.

And back to that rotary phone. Why do I have it? First, it still works, which is more than I can say about the other six phones that we have had over the past 20 years. Second, because our internet package is through the phone company it really doesn’t cost much extra. Third, I am not sure who still has that number, which is why I jump to answer it. And fourth, I find it particularly funny when one of my daughter’s friends asks “What is that?”