A Barrier to Productivity

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A Barrier to Productivity Improvement

One of the biggest barriers to productivity improvement, is the number and length of interruptions that take place daily.  Interruptions may include phone calls, interruptions by colleagues or staff, a lost file or tool and so on.  The difficulty with interruptions is that some of them are necessary and some of them are not.  Separating them out can be difficult.

Every time we are interrupted, it takes us between 20 to 30 minutes to get back to the level of concentration that we were at before the disruption.  We obviously don't want to eliminate all interruptions but we can reduce them and take control of our time and momentum more effectively.

If we are to increase productivity then we have to decrease the number of interruptions.  If we are in a leadership role we get interrupted about every eight minutes.  This makes it very difficult to actually get in the " zone" which is a state when we are completely concentrating on our work and totally oblivious to our environment.  We felt to keep time and through absolute concentration produce great work.

It's not easy to get in the "zone" because it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to start working at maximum productivity.  You can't get into the "zone" if you are tired or had a lot of interruptions.  This means that interruptions of any sort are an effective barrier to high levels of productivity.

Just think about your workplace.  Are there lots of interruptions that stop people working?  It's very easy to get pushed out of your "zone" because it only takes a phone call or the distraction of somebody asking you a question for your productivity and momentum to drop.  Some days you probably don't even get near working in the "zone" and this is why you go home wondering what you've achieved all day.

An interruption is nothing more than an unanticipated event.  To put it in perspective, on average, we experience one interruption every eight minutes or approximately six to seven per hour.  In an eight-hour day that totals around about 50 to 60 interruptions.  The average interruption takes approximately 5 minutes.  If you are receiving 50 interruptions in the day and each takes five minutes, that totals 250 minutes, or just over four hours out of eight.  About 50% of your workday.

Given the figures above, it is no wonder that some days you just don't seem to make any progress at all.  You go home at the end of the day exhausted and puzzled why progress has been so slow and results so small.


Peter Mitchell has been an advisor to businesses of all sizes and types for the last 35 years.  He has used all his experience to write a step-by-step guide for business owners and mangers which is complimentary.  If you download this FREE guide, you are eligible to buy his latest book "The Key to Productivity"at a special low price for a limited time.  It is available NOW at http://www.thekeytoproductivity.com