Welcome back to our December practice challenge series. Two weeks ago, I challenged you to eliminate redundancy in your writing. Last week, David challenged you to take one small step towards efficiency by improving your approach to just one routine aspect of your practice.

Today, we’re challenging you to increase your productivity by reducing the number of interruptions in your day. Want to watch this tip instead?

Interruptions waste time and money. Regular readers will know that we consider interruptions to be waiting waste under the W in DOWNTIME. Learn more in our Eight Wastes Workbook.

Think about your day.

• How often are you interrupted in the course of the typical hour by email, the phone, or someone who comes to speak with you?
• How often to you hear, “Sorry to interrupt, but can I ask a quick question?”

A growing body of research tells us that interruptions undermine our efficiency. That they “significantly increased task completion time and decreased task performance.”

I’ve seen research that suggest the average person spends as much as 30% of their work day dealing with interruptions and then getting back on track. Other research suggests that when you’re in the groove, deeply focussed on some aspect of your work, it can take as much as 20 minutes for your brain to get back into that groove after an interruption.

My challenge to you this week is to make a concerted effort to reduce the interruptions that interfere with the flow of your thoughts and your work.

For the next few weeks, try concentrating your work into discrete blocks of time—I’ve heard that periods of 35-45 minutes are ideal.

• Explain to your assistant, if you have one, and your colleagues what you are doing and why
• Turn off the notifications on your devices
• Forward your office phone to voicemail (or your assistant), and close your door, if you’re lucky enough to have one
• Maybe even put a small “Do Not Disturb” note on the door.

Set a timer for 35-45 minutes, and then dig in.

When the time is up, take a short 10-15 minute break.

• Get up, stretch your legs, change the air in your office and lungs
• Check your email and voicemail
• Ask your assistant for any messages
• Deal with anything that REALLY requires your immediate attention.

Otherwise, once the break is over, go back into Do Not Disturb mode and carry on with your work.

Reducing interruptions will reduce the time it takes you to finish tasks, improve the quality of your work, and make you more productive. It will also give you greater sense of accomplishment and control over your schedule…and let’s face it, we could all use that.

That’s it for this week’s tip. Come on back next week for your next practice challenge. By exception, our tip’s going out on Tuesday, December 24, rather than Wednesday, December 25, which we will be spending away from the office with family and friends.

Leave us a comment about how you’re making out on the first two of our December Challenges. If you have a question, contact us and we’ll be sure to get back to you.

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Thanks a lot everybody!

P.S. Stay tuned…we’ve got a special training session coming your way in January that will really accelerate your law practice for 2020.