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I wholeheartedly agree with the techniques others are recommending for improving the situation, but at the same time I think you should look for ways to cope wi
by tbihl 7y ago
I wholeheartedly agree with the techniques others are recommending for improving the situation, but at the same time I think you should look for ways to cope with what you have as you make the transition.
I would best be considered a mid-level manager with 3-5 additional projects to tackle at any given time, and I face this problem on many different scales. Best case, I'm trying to get longer tasks done, and the longest uninterrupted intervals I can get are about 20 minutes. Other days, I need to complete 3 minute tasks and the longest uninterrupted time I can get is about 40 seconds. In either case, I outline the things I need to get done so that I can track where I am and quickly be reminded after an interruption. If the list ridiculously overflows the time in my day, I go further by writing down the priority order to make sure I don't lose track of that important detail. From there, I tend to get into sticky notes: when I'm interrupted, I write myself a note sufficiently detailed to quickly resume after the expected duration of the interruption. When people come to me with non-immediate concerns, those go on sticky notes to address when I'm not in the middle of things (or it can just stay in email if you're excellent at controlling and addressing your inbox). All sticky notes get addressed or stored before I leave. The handwritten aspect is important because sticky notes take up space, and each additional transfer of them takes time vs CTRL+V.
It's far less enjoyable than having a block of time to focus with minimized task-switching overhead, but maybe it can help you return some of your work to your actual workday while you improve the situation around you.