Laura Vanderkam

Maybe you get a call from your biggest client with an urgent need.

Addressing that need and maintaining that client relationship may be more important than completing your invoices for last month or whatever task it is that you had been doing before the person called.

Sometimes, the interruptions are the work.

Now, I'm not suggesting that people spend their work days in reactive mode, dealing with whatever person or new task presents itself.

It is definitely good to plan your work days, and for the most part, to adhere to your plan whenever possible.

At the same time as your workday unfolds, it's wise to be intentional in responding to perceived interruptions.

Some interruptions need to be avoided so you can do the work that you planned.

Other times, you need to lean into the interruption and recognize the value of attending to the person who is asking for your help or the need to respond to something that is more important than whatever it is you plan to do.

So when you perceive yourself as being interrupted, pause and ask yourself what you are choosing between.

What is best for you to do now?

You might need to ask your colleague to come back later.

Or it might be better to deal with that issue right now.

But make sure you are choosing this thoughtfully.

One way to keep this choice from being frustrating is to have more margin in your schedule in general.

I interviewed a business leader once who would spend an hour in a coffee shop each morning working on his most important focused task.

That way, he could respond in a welcoming way to whoever stopped by his office or if employees stopped him in the hallway.

He had already knocked out the focused work, so he could be more relaxed about these interruptions.

He had arranged his schedule so they weren't interrupting anything that really mattered.

I think this is smart and might be one way to think about organizing your schedule.

You can go silent on work-from-home days for a few hours and get things cranked out.