Who's interrupting you?

Figure out ways to stop interrupting yourself

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to figure out the source of your interruptions
and if you are interrupting yourself, do your best to

(00:24):
stop it. Today's tip, like another one this week, comes
from psychologist Tessa West. She's a professor at New York University,
an expert on interpersonal communication at work, and the author
of the book Job Therapy, Finding Work that Works for You.
If you're like a lot of knowledge workers, you may

(00:45):
feel like you are spinning your wheels at work because
you are constantly being interrupted. Of course, anytime someone says
something is always happening that raises my eyebrows. I mean
really always, How many times are we really talking? This
is one reason to track time so we know exactly

(01:06):
what is happening in a given work day, so you
won't be surprised that West advises a version of this.
People who feel concerned about interruptions should track which tasks
are getting interrupted for a few days and then ask
yourself who or what interrupted you. After that, you can

(01:26):
categorize these interruptions as internal or external. External interruptions are
things like a colleague dropping by your desk, a call
from your child's school, having to put away your laptop
to get off the train at your stop, or pausing
your work to go to a meeting. Internal interruptions are
things like going to get a cup of coffee, reading

(01:49):
a text, checking your email, switching from one work tasks
to another, or remembering you want to call your mom
for her birthday and doing it right then before you forget.
Some of these may be worthwhile, but they also come
from you. You interrupted yourself. Yes that is even true
with email and texts. You might be worried there's something

(02:12):
urgent there, but as the nature of these communications is
that they are asynchronous, they seldom have to be checked
at that exact moment versus say, twenty minutes early or
twenty minutes later. West encourages people who want to minimize
interruptions to start with self interruptions and explore their source. Yes,

(02:35):
perhaps the external interruptions are more annoying and may even
be more frequent, but in many cases those are harder
to do something about. The internal ones are within our control,
so that is the best place to make immediate progress.
So examine the conditions what leads you to interrupt yourself.

(02:58):
Maybe it's knowing that you are about to get something
important from your boss, and so you repeatedly pause whatever
you are working on to see whether that email has arrived.
Or maybe you interrupt yourself when you find the project
you are working on stressful or boring you're looking for
relief from that. Or maybe you interrupt yourself when a

(03:19):
thought crosses your mind that you want to follow up
on because you're worried you'll forget it. Or maybe your
interruptions tend to be more physical. You suddenly feel like
you'd like a glass of water or a snack or
a sweater. Anxiety might cause your self interruptions too. Anytime
you see the number of new messages on your email
or LinkedIn increase, do you feel compelled to see what's there?

(03:43):
With awareness, you may be able to reduce some of these.
For instance, if every afternoon you get thirsty and stop
to get something to drink, bring a glass of water
to your desk. If you can't resist hopping over in
response to new messages and notifications, turn off the audio
alerts and minimize the windows because you can't be interrupted

(04:07):
by a new message that you're not aware of. This
can also work if you are distracted by knowing you
are about to get something important. Even if you minimize
the window and check for the important message as frequently
as every fifteen minutes or so, that is still fewer interruptions.
Then if you check every time, the number on your

(04:28):
box goes up. If boredom or stress about a hard
task drives your interruptions, you might be able to become
a little more resilient. See what strategies work. Maybe it's
breaking a big project down into smaller bits. Maybe it's
the promise of rewards. If I finish these three parts

(04:49):
of this boring project, I can take a twenty minute
walk outside on this beautiful day. Some interruptions are inevitable
and some are complex outside our control. But when we
can understand why and how we interrupt ourselves, we're able
to eliminate at least some of our interruptions. That way,

(05:12):
we can focus and get more done in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast.

(05:33):
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

(05:55):
listen to your favorite shows.