While chilling on the company clock might seem like a working person's right, those mental breaks cost you. Kathleen Alessandro, president of the US National Association of Women Business Owners, estimates that one intrusion - from an email, phone call, text, IM or chitchat - occurs every seven minutes and lasts an average of five minutes. That means up to 68 disruptions a day. That's 340 minutes, or 5.6 hours, gone from every day. To help you make up for lost time, we've come up with 20 ways to avoid time-sucks so you can leave work - and get your life back.
Break the web of distraction
It's hard to remember what life was like before we could download hundreds of pics of Johnny Depp at our desks. Add stuffed inboxes to the mix and it's a storm of misspent hours. But as Alessandro sees it, "just because we can now communicate in a nanosecond doesn't mean we should." It's time to implement new rules, says Wendy Kaufman, president of Balancing Life's Issues, an executive-training company. How to start:Get off the lists
Unsubscribe from any emailed updates, newsletters and press releases that don't pertain to your job.
Tighten your email filter
Set your spam blocker to "high".
Create a digital "casual reading" file
This is an email filter that, once set, sends all non-spam newsletters to a special file. That way, the intriguing headlines of your email subscriptions won't distract you throughout the day, says Alessandro, even though you'll still be able to see that you have unread mail. Once a week, on legit breaks, read them. To take care of this using Outlook, go to the Rules/Alerts section of Tools and create a folder called "Casual Reading", then check the box called "Move mail for someone to a folder".
Send less to receive less
"The average person spends three months per year processing email," says productivity expert Karen Cynowa. Yikes. Part of the reason you get so much email is that you send so much - needlessly. Say you're out of the office, on your BlackBerry, and without access to the info someone's just asked you for. Instead of immediately emailing numerous people trying to get it (and triggering a flood of replies in the process), ask the sender for a deadline. Then answer in full after you're back in the office and have the information at hand.
Reply less to receive less
There's no need to respond to everything. Your "Thanks" only extends a long email chain.
Limit email checks to three a day
If that's too few, Cynowa suggests once an hour. "Advise others that if [an issue] is critical, they should call," says Alessandro.
Turn off sound alerts
The seemingly harmless ding of an arriving message actually creates a massive disruption. "It takes up to 64 seconds to recover the pace of your workflow after an email interruption," Cynowa says.
Change your send/receive schedule
This dictates how often your system connects to your server to check for and send new messages. The typical default setting is every five minutes. Make yours every 30. "This will save up to 80 interruptions daily," Cynowa says. (For info on how to change yours on Outlook, go to office.microsoft.com and do a search for "schedule when a send/receive command runs" plus the year of your version of Outlook.)
Do it
When it's time to actually answer email, Cynowa says, immediately take some "D" action on each one. "Either do it now, defer it, delegate it or delete it," she says. To keep track of deferred or delegated ones, Cynowa suggests dragging the email into the task folder or the calendar in Outlook so it opens a new appointment or to-do item.== Stop being so chatty== Make sure your replies are succinct. "Email is meant for quick messages," Kaufman says. "Cover just the basics of who, what and when."
Sidestep pointless powwows
You can defer reading email until you have the time and brain cells to properly tackle it. But what about meetings - the ones you walk out of hours later with a blank notepad and no idea what just happened? According to wellness coach Dr Gabriela Corá, author of Leading Under Pressure, there are simple ways to keep meetings on track:== Schedule meetings to last one hour== If you're in charge, impose a strict time limit. "This will give everyone a sense of urgency and commitment," says Dr Corá. Ask for three solutions per problem Prepare an agenda with three to five points. For each, limit everyone to three solutions. Less talk, more action.== Decide whether you need to be there== If not, send your regrets. Avoid meetings with no agenda Ask for one, otherwise decline.Keep a jabber journal
For two days, note casual rap sessions and whether they're helpful. You'll be surprised.
Set limits on chitchat
Inform your gossipy co-worker that you have only X amount of minutes. When that time's up, say you must get back to work.==
Rebalance your power
Studies show that productivity and personal effectiveness vary with the time of day and the day of the week. Make sure you're using your prime time for prime assignments:Observe the 80-20 rule
"Use the first 20 per cent of your day - 96 minutes - to tackle the most important tasks," Alessandro says. By the time distractions creep in, you'll have made some progress.
Reserve the toughest stuff for your prime times
Mary Crane, a business-life expert, recommends scheduling "major cognitive tasks" (reading, calculating, problem-solving) for 8am to noon, when your mind is sharpest. "Night owls should adjust everything to three or four hours later," Crane says. The day of the week also makes a difference, she says. We focus best on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Set aside time to organise
Choose half a day once every week or two to take care of back-office things like clearing out your inbox, filing and doing expenses, Alessandro says.
Do one thing at a time
"Multitasking is making us crazy," Alessandro says. Take the time to do a task right the first time and save your double-duty act for no-brainers like exercising while walking the dog.
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