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Blog: The Organized Entrepreneur
 (Not) Saved By The Bell
We learned as children to obey the sound of a bell. The clanging sound of a bell determined whether or not we were tardy at the beginning of the school day. Another bell announced that the school day was over and play time had begun. Teachers, and even other children, expected us to respond immediately to a bell. We received positive reinforcement for obeying the bell and there were consequences when we failed to do so. This phenomenon even continued at home in the evening. One of the mothers on my childhood street who would step out on her front porch and ring the most obnoxious bell every night at 6:00 PM to call her kids home for dinner.
As adults, there are fewer "bells" controlling our schedule throughout the day. As mature, responsible people, we are expected to manage ourselves and meet our obligations without the audible cues. Most adults would find it offensive if the boss rang a bell at 8:00 AM to tell us that we should be sitting at our desk and ready to begin the workday.
Why, then, do we allow our computers to "ding" all day long, every single time an email arrives? Why do we drop whatever we are doing, even if it is important, when a telephone rings? We have been conditioned to this response since kindergarten. Deep in our psyche, we "know" that ignoring a bell will have negative consequences.
People who would normally consider themselves polite display the most appalling behavior whenever the ringing of a bell begs for their attention. Recently, I was dining at an upscale restaurant with my family. Soon after we arrived, a group of six young men were seated at the table next to us. I kept a watchful eye on their table because I was concerned about the language and the conversation topics my young children might overhear. It turns out there was no need to worry. There was no discussion among that group of young men – they were all too busy texting to engage in conversation!
Rudeness aside, the part of this Pavlovian response to "dings" that concerns me the most is its negative impact on workplace productivity. Frequently, I am in offices where the background noise is an almost constant staccato "ding" announcing the arrival of new email. How can anyone focus their full attention on any task when rarely a minute goes by without a distraction? (Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the need for an organizing consultant . . . )
A report published in 2005 by Basex, a New York research firm, estimated the cost of technology related interruptions and the resulting downtime at $588 billion per year. What piece of this can your company afford to include in its budget?
In our information-driven society, there is a constant nagging fear that we are missing something important. It is impossible to process and absorb all of the information that comes to us through email, RSS feeds, industry publications, telephone, television, etc. every day. This is a reality of our world that is unlikely to change. Fortunately, one of the greatest truths of organization is that even when we have no control over our environment, we can still achieve greater peace and order by controlling our response to the world around us.
One small step you can take right now to reduce distractions and achieve greater focus on the project at hand is to turn off the bell on Outlook. It is simple. Go to your inbox. On the navigation bar across the top, go to Tools à Options. On the Preferences tab, go to the email section and click on "Email Options". Select the button for Advanced Email Options. Remove the check mark by "Play a sound" under the phrase "When new items arrive in my inbox". You and your co-workers will enjoy a calmer office environment and the resulting increase in quality and productivity will go directly to the bottom line.
posted on: 3/9/2009 6:22:57 AM by Shana Prichard
category: Business
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The Organized Entrepreneur
by Shana Prichard
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About Shana:
Shana M. Prichard, MBA owns realign, llc, a professional organizing firm. realign, llc provides small business organizing services including filing system design/implementation, desk and time management and QuickBooks set up and training. realign, llc also provides home-office organizing services to individuals.
Shana's Website:
www.RealignOrganizing.com
What I'm Reading . . .
- "Raising Financially Fit Kids", Joline Godfrey
Common sense ideas and insight into raising kids who are wll-prepared to manage their own finances as young adults.
- "The Success Principles: How To Get From Where You Are to Where You Want To Be" by Jack Canfield
This book really got me excited about pursuing my goals and growing my business. There is a heavier emphasis on materialism than what I am comfortable with, but overall this is an inspiring book.
- "The Organized Executive", by Stephanie Winston
- "No B.S. Time Management for Enterpreneurs" by Dan Kennedy
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www.OnlineOrganizing.com is a service mark of Bradford, LLC.
