1. Why are interruptions so distracting?
Interruptions might not seem that bad, after all, it’s just five or ten minutes of 9 to 5 work schedule. There’s nothing wrong with taking a few welcomed breaks and spending some time with your kids. True, spending time with your children is very important but when you constantly have to interrupt your work, you won’t be able to get things done properly.
When interrupted at the office, most people require less than 20 minutes to get back into work mode and complete their tasks in time. According to researchers, this is called “resumption lag”, a period of time an individual needs to collect their thoughts after an interruption and pick up their task where they left off. Some people might need to reexamine, reread and even redo some of the things they did before they were interrupted. With 20 minutes of lost time per task, imagine how much time you can lose if you are constantly interrupted? Resumption lags are serious business when they add up.
