Interruptions Are Destroying Your Productivity. Here’s What to Do About It

Building a company with kids at home? Your biggest productivity challenge isn’t time. It’s interruptions.

BY JENNIFER KNOWLES, FREELANCE WRITER

My morning started out like a typical morning — until chaos broke out. I was packing lunches while mentally rehearsing talking points for a Zoom call that started in 11 minutes.  

The Amazon driver rang the doorbell. The dog launched into a barking frenzy and ran off with my son’s shoe. I finally got the kids out the door and onto the bus. Two minutes of quiet began until the school called. A question that could have been an email. 

If you’re building a company while raising a family, the constant switching between roles makes sustained focus feel nearly impossible. Interruptions are relentless, and there is always something around the corner.   

At one point, I felt like I was losing control of my time and my business. So, I became obsessed with understanding how to take it back. I started researching productivity strategies,  

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tested them in my own life, and eventually shared them in my book, More Time by Friday.   

The research confirms what you already feel. Interruptions are costly. 

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that the average worker is interrupted every three minutes and five seconds. According to Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at UC Irvine, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully regain focus after each one. 

That school call that pulled me away from work for “just a second” didn’t cost me a second. It cost me nearly half an hour. 

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