In the past couple of weeks I've been asked by a few different people in leadership positions how they can work with inherent and constant interruptions in their workday. One minute you're engaged with an important project, and the next someone calls you up or walks into your office with an urgent matter that needs attention. This constant moving back and forth interrupts focus and creates frustration that makes it difficult to concentrate. It's a vicious cycle.
What is important to recognize is that being yanked back and forth and getting caught up in an autopilot of increased frustration isn't going to make you more effective at work (or at home). We can also accept the reality that this is inherent in our workdays, especially now that we live in a 24/7 world where people expect us to be available at all times.
To minimize interruptions, the most basic thing a person can do is schedule times during the day that are un-interruptible times of complete focus. Whether you're in a management position or not, you can make sure people know about these hours and then have an open door policy the rest of the time.
Another way to minimize interruptions is with ear plugs. I was given the suggestion by someone recently to put ear plugs in, which helps keep out the phone and noise interruptions in the environment. Try it out and see if ear plugs make you more mindful.
If you can't avoid getting interrupted, or if your mind wanders off to other things, you can try a short practice to recenter and refocus. In my upcoming book "The Now Effect: How this Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life" (Atria Books, 2012) I have a section called Training Ground, which gives a number of short ways to dip back into a space of awareness, ground to the present moment and refocus.
One practice might be to engage the mindful check-in. This is a practice where you're just pausing and dropping the question into your mind, "Where am I starting from right now?" You begin just checking in with your body, noticing any tension or tightness, checking in with how you're feeling emotionally and checking in with your mind to see if it's busy or calm. If it's busy, what is it busy with? Then reset your intention to refocus.
Practicing and repeating this between interruptions allows your mind to get used to the idea of recentering and refocusing. Over time this will become more automatic as your body and mind tend to naturally begin to refocus between interruptions.
As always, don't take my word for it: Try it out for yourself as a discipline and see what happens over time. Your experience is your best teacher.
Please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.
Adapted from a publication on Mindfulness and Psychotherapy at Psychcentral.com. Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. is author of the upcoming book "The Now Effect: How this Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life" and co-author of "A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook." You may also find him at www.drsgoldstein.com.