Interruptions and loss of concentration at work

How many times do you look at your smartphone every day?
How many emails do you get while working?

The average French employee is interrupted Every 12 minutes. It may seem unimportant, but these interruptions can waste a lot of time and affect your focus, efficiency and productivity.

In this article, we'll look at the impact of interruptions and the solutions to eliminate distractions to optimize your productivity at work.

Where do interruptions come from?

Recently, we have seen a surge in work interruptions. You are exposed to a ton of information, this hyper-connection reduces your ability to concentrate and remember. In fact, in open space as in a traditional workspace. It's very easy to get distracted.

Interruptions can be requests from colleagues, notifications, social networks, emails, etc. But interruptions are not only external. They can also be internal, you can also be interrupted by thoughts.

So, for those who work in offices, each workday becomes a succession of work, distractions, and interruptions. In these conditions, it is impossible to fully concentrate on your work and be productive..

What are the consequences of interruptions at work?

You might think that getting distracted from time to time doesn't hurt as much. But, not being able to fully focus on a task can dramatically affect professional efficiency and productivity.

Interruptions are the worst enemies of productivity at work

According to Carson's law, you spend less time and energy on a task when you focus enough to do it all at once and continuously than when you do it several times. In fact, after each interruption, the human brain takes between 5 and 7 minutes to try to focus on the original task again.

Imagine that you are working on a project. All of a sudden, a colleague comes by and starts talking to you. This interruption is wasting your time in 3 ways:

• You need to stop what you were doing and understand what your colleague is saying (listen and understand the message, notification, etc.)
• You need to think about an appropriate reaction & respond
• You need to be able to remember where the initial work came from and get back to what you were doing.

In the end, you easily lose several minutes with each interruption

Interruptions reduce the quality of concentration

In a context that requires the resolution of increasingly complex problems, loss of concentration represents a real threat to business performance. Indeed, the distraction and the interruptions they cause prevent in-depth work.

The high level of concentration required by completing complex tasks is only achievable when you focus continuously on a single task.

When attention is fragmented, effectiveness is divided. Your mental resources are scattered, your chances of making a mistake or forgetting information increase considerably. And as the number of distractions increases, the more attention is divided and the more you will be distracted from your main objective.

In other words, interruptions have devastating effects on productivity. It's even worse for people who work in demanding jobs and whose ability to work effectively under pressure is critical. For example, employees working in banking, finance, medicine, etc., cannot afford to let their attention be divided and make mistakes.

What are the solutions to prevent interruptions and loss of concentration?

Do you want to be able to focus better? Here are some solutions to avoid deconcentration.

Focus on one thing at a time

The Multitasking, the habit of doing several things at the same time, is a trap. Multitasking is a good way to stay scattered and not be productive. Indeed, when your attention diverts to another task, you necessarily lose momentum compared to the first task. It will then take some time for your brain to return to its initial state and restart.

The more tasks you have, the harder it will be to refocus your attention and remember where you were. Multitasking means fragmenting your attention and dividing it instead of concentrating your mental resources. To increase productivity, tackle only one task at a time.

Focus on one task and turn off all other distractions and interruptions.

Work in a work environment that is conducive to concentration

Trying to focus in a work environment full of stimuli and distractions is difficult. Make sure your environment is conducive to work.

You need silence, a good pair of headphones can eliminate extraneous noises around you that can distract you.

Remove all sources of interruption. Think of turn off all notifications irrelevant (emails, social networks, etc.).

Try to stay focused for longer and longer periods of time.

Focus is a muscle, train it and you will succeed in developing a deeper focus and avoiding dispersion. You can also do concentration exercises, such as relaxation, mindful breathing, focusing on the present moment, meditation, etc.

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