Tom already had two pressing deadlines. The odds weren’t good for finishing them before he was sent a book manuscript to edit. He felt like a sailboat moving into a strong headwind. Mostly he moved from side to side, with only a little forward progress. What could he do?
His wife called. “I’ve locked my keys in the car,” she said. Besides taking two hours out of his day to help her, he lost another fifteen minutes getting back into a mindset for writing. Three emails popped up. His thoughts had already been interrupted, so he might as well take care of them. Then it was lunch time. The doorbell rang, probably the postman. He opened the package with the book he had ordered, sorted out the junk mail, and looked at the important pieces. The bank deposit came, so he balanced his checkbook.
By the evening, Tom was exhausted, but he hadn’t accomplished much. To meet his deadlines, he needed a cave where nobody could find him—a place free from noise and interruptions.
The next day, he closed his email and shut off his phone. If the doorbell rang, he wouldn’t answer it. As far as the outside world was concerned, he was unavailable right now but would be back in an hour.
In just two one-hour sessions without interruptions, Tom accomplished more than he usually did in a day.
We take pride in our multitasking abilities, but our writing would be much better if we could shut off interruptions for an hour.
Here’s a classic picture of distraction:
