A new notification blinks in your task bar. There’s a knock at the door. Your focus is shattered. Interruptions are inevitable, but they don’t have to be sources of frustration.
When focus is interrupted by someone or something, our instinct is to feel slighted and behind the eight ball. But how often are these interruptions a positive? We need to have a little more baseline optimism and have more positive assumptions than negative assumptions when it comes to interruptions.
Interruptions from Coworkers
We’ve all been focused on a project, only to be interrupted. An email shows up in your inbox. A Slack message starts blinking at you for attention. Or if you’re working in an office, it may be a knock at the door or someone just sitting down beside you.
It’s frustrating to have your concentration broken and feel like you’re suddenly getting behind. But look at the potential positives.
That email might be letting you know of a new opportunity to work on something you’ve been interested in. That Slack message might be someone wanting to thank you for the help you provided them with. Rather than dumping more onto your plate, that person sitting down next to you might be doing so because they found a solution to the problem that’s been making you bang your head against your desk.
Interruptions from Family
This is one for most of us working from home. I might be working on a project when my wife walks in to show me something funny on her phone. There are times when I won’t want to break my focus, but is what I’m working on really that important that I can’t step away for a few moments? The majority of the time, I’d say no.
There are times when the interruption is to say the cat is sick or the car is having an issue. But other times it might be bringing coffee or offering to fix lunch.
My initial reaction used to be aggravation, but I’ve learned that most of the time it’s an interruption that boosts my mood rather than adding stress.
Interruptions from Rocko
We have a doorbell for our dog, Rocko, to let us know when he wants to go out. It’s supposed to be more for when he needs to go out, but it’s become for when he wants to go out. Sometimes the bell goes off, and I plead, “Wait just a few more minutes.” But a few seconds later the bell goes off again.
This can end up being the best kind of interruption and result in something you can take advantage of at home or at the office. Getting up and getting some fresh air can do you a lot of good. Taking a lap around the yard or through the woods can clear my mind or help me figure out solutions to problems.
Plenty of times I’ve been puttering around outside with Rocko, had an epiphany on a problem, and whipped out my phone to note an idea for when I get back to my desk. Breaks are good for you. Luckily, Rocko does a good job of reminding me.
Finding the Good
As you can see from my experiences, we can find value in interruptions. Shifting our perspective can make opportunities out of what would typically be an annoyance. Instead of fighting it, consider that the interruption you face may be just what you need at the time.
This quote from Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman is what made me consider writing this blog post and expresses the idea best:
When we define some of these things as interruptions of, or distractions from, other ones, we’re adding a mental overlay to the situation, sorting events into hard categories of those which ought and ought not to happen. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that; it’s fine to have strong preferences for how you’d like your day to unfold. But at the very least, it’s a reminder not to cling so confidently to those preferences that you turn life into a constant struggle against events you’ve decided, futilely, shouldn’t be happening. Or that you close off the possibility that what looks like an interruption might in fact prove a welcome development.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 