I am calling bullshit on the productivity experts (and myself) for saying you need to block out time to get certain things done. For example, to write my book, I need to block out a few eight hour days every week to get stuff done.
Well guess what, my clients don’t know I have blocked out the time, or don’t care. And why should they? When they have an emergency, it is far more important to them, than if I got a few more chapters done on my newest book. They call when they need me… and if they are a top customer, I am sure as hell gonna take their call.
So what to do? I still block out time, so that I don’t schedule something then, but I also have a pad next to me where I write down the immediate task at hand. I do this before I get started on the task. Then I get to work. If an interruption occurs during that time, I address it immediately, then look at my pad and easily get back to work.
I have found that interruption is normal (maybe even healthy). It is remembering where I was and getting back on track that is the big time suck. But with my little pad containing my “what am I doing now” item, getting back to where I was is a breeze.
