How to defend your time
For working at maximum efficiency, you have to find a steady working flow. If you can get well into your tasks and concentrate on them then you can finish your tasks in short time. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to keep that kind of work rhythm as you can get interrupted constantly. A telephone rings and you are going to answer it. A colleague steps in asks you to help him. A friend comes to visit you and starts talking and talking and there is no sign that he will leave soon. All that kind of interruptions waste your work time. The do not only take the time of a phone call or talking to the visitor, but they also disturb your work flow. It means that even if the interruption has ended, it will take you some time to achieve the working pace you had before the interruption.
If you want to work fast then you have to minimize the number of interruptions. You have to defend your time. How can you do it? The basic thing is that you have to learn to say “no”. If the visitors are going to drop in then you have to send them a way. Say them that you are busy, if you feel that you still want to meet them then suggest a suitable time for you. Keep in mind that in many cases your co-workers are stepping in not really as they cannot solve their problems on there own, but some people just want to talk. Most problems your colleagues are asking for help are not so difficult that they cannot find the answer on your own. If other people will try to find solutions to their problems on their own then they will often develop more.
Still, if their problem is something that you can solve in two minutes or less then you may still do it, but if it will take more time then you should make an appointment for that. If you decide to make an appointment with them then set a time limit. You can say that we can discuss it for 15 minutes at 10 AM tomorrow. If possible then plan all your visitors to arrive in a sequence. If you can deal with three visitors in a row in one hour, then it is far better than if one visitor is going to step in for 20 minutes in the morning, the second at noon and third in the afternoon.
If you set the time limits for meetings with visitors then you have to stick to them. If the time is up then you have to send your visitors away. Tell them that you have to start doing the next task. If you cannot solve the problem during the visit then make a new appointment on other day.
It may seem to be too radical, but is it really better than letting the interruptions ruin your work day. Do you want to work in the evening or weekends become you wasted your working time on chatting to other people? Do you want to achieve professional success or just pass your work days without doing much useful?
It is a good idea to set some hours from the day as a period when no-one can interrupt you. Put a “Do not disturb” sign on the door and set you telephone to the silent mode. For example, you can decide that from 10 AM to 12 AM you will not communicate to anyone (except there is an emergency). During these hours you can concentrate to the most demanding tasks. If you can work with out distractions for two hours a day then it often happens that during these hours you will do more work during the rest of your day.
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My name is Kristjan-Olari Leping. I am a speed reading trainer. I have an associated professor position at the University of Tartu, am a policy analyst in a policy research center, I am a trainer and I am involved in many other business projects. 