10th August 2012
`Other people's interruptions of your work are relatively insignificant compared to the countless times you interrupt yourself'
Brendan Francis
As I am typing this page, I am involved in an important creative project which calls for about five hours of my full concentration and attention. I was interrupted by people and telephone calls. The net result was that I lost valuable time.
I realised that interruptions are natural and it is up to me to insulate myself and bring my concentration and focus on the project on hand. I decided on a strategy: I will not speak to any one for the next five hours come what may. I took five minutes, informed the people around me, switched off my phones and went into my room. The next five hours was very productive and I was able to complete my project to my satisfaction.
I the process I understood one thing: it is my responsibility to create and maintain a situation best suited to my project; there is no point in expecting that others will understand and cooperate with me by not disturbing me!
It may appear to be simple common sense. But only today I realised how effective is this simple common sense idea!
This is what Stephen Covey calls as pro-activity and area of control.
Why don't you try this and notice if your productivity also goes up?
N C Sridharan
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