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It may not seem like a few short interruptions throughout the day have that big of an impact on your workflow but they add up to some pretty surprising effects on our productivity!
Research conducted at the University of California at Irvine found that on average, office workers are interrupted or switch tasks every three minutes and five seconds. And when they're interrupted, whether it's by a phone call, email or a visitor to their cubicle, it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task.
They suggest to maybe wear headphones if this is happening to you. They serve as a visual signal that you're in work-mode and don't want to be bothered.Hey! You could listen to 100.3 WNIC on your iheart app ;-)
When it comes to email, they say to also change your "away message" to saying you'll reply later in the day or tomorrow.
And here's an idea ... move offices or your workspace. Your colleagues can't interrupt you if they can't find you!