At work, establish OPEN house hours for visitors and reschedule any unexpected drop-ins for your open house time.
Set up some GUIDELINES about who you are willing interrupt your work for and who you will take care of later.
When you are interrupted, don’t be afraid to ask how LONG the interruption will take -- then decide if you have time to handle it.
When you are interrupted, ask if you need to be the one to hand the interruption -- if not, DELEGATE the job to someone else.
When you are interrupted, ask if you need to handle the problem right then -- if not, plan to take care of it at a LATER time.
At work, STAND up to greet people who enter your office -- that way you control the length of the interruption.
Don’t be afraid to tell people NO, shut your door, or put up a "do not disturb" sign to protect your work time -- you don’t need an excuse to be too busy.
When you are interrupted in the middle of a project, leave a MEMORY jogger -- so it will be easier to pick up where you left off.
