2020-12-27 18:44
To break the grip that too many distractions and too much information has on you, I suggest the following:* When you get home, practice sitting in your TV room for 30 minutes without the TV… Read More
Blog Directory > Business Blogs > Management Blogs > Interruption Management management Blog >
Interruption Management Blog
interruptionmanagement.com
Tags:
complex
strive
testosterone
record
interruptions
unconscious
business
focused
distractions
management tips
Is the constant crushing burden of information and communication overload dragging you down? By the end of your workday, do you feel overworked, overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted?
2020-12-19 17:41
'Sleeping on it' is best for complex decisions: February 16, 2006 New Scientist (Vol 311, p 1005)“Complex decisions are best left to your unconscious mind to work out, according to a n… Read More
2020-12-12 18:47
"How to Think: Managing Brain Resources in an Age of Complexity" by Ed Boyden in Technology Review is a brilliant article, excerpted here:"When I applied for my faculty job at the MIT Media… Read More
2020-12-02 13:17
Lists of information management tips can leave me cold. The notion that merely following some set of guidelines without understanding the magnitude of the situation relegates any such list… Read More
2020-11-28 16:55
When you need specific information on a business or person, background checks can be done from $0 to $125 through:* Credit bureaus* County business records* Marriage and divorce records* Cli… Read More
2020-11-20 14:43
Valerie Iancovich, writing for the Discovery Channel in Canada says “It's not shocking news that a bikini-clad woman will affect many men's judgment. But now, a recent study suggests t… Read More
2020-11-10 20:32
According to Michael Masterson, interviewed years back in Bottomline Secrets, one simple habit that leads to success, is to get up early! "Early to rise" he says is not an absolute mandate f… Read More
2020-11-02 13:36
Get interrupted less, achieve more: With office and workplace interruptions on the rise, career professionals everywhere are experiencing monumental struggles to stay foc… Read More
2020-10-28 12:30
When you break free of the clutter syndrome, which is endemic to 21st century man and woman, and you both physically and figuratively create open spaces in your life, you gain an enhanced pe… Read More
2020-10-23 16:43
You need a game plan for your day, and for your week. Otherwise you'll allocate your time based on whatever information happens to land on your desk or whatever communications begs for your… Read More
2020-10-09 22:58
News you can use: In her blog, Grow Your Key Talent, prolific author and speaker Rebecca Morgan lays down a challenge to achieving interruption-free, consistent business performance:"You say… Read More
2020-10-02 20:52
In his book, The Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness, author John Templeton offers some rare gems in a world awash with self-help information. For example, he sug… Read More
2020-09-26 14:14
Dr. Piers Steel, an expert on the subject of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today:"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they… Read More
2020-09-12 13:39
Confucius, The Great Digest and Unwobbling Pivot (an excerpt) by Ezra Pound The men of old wanting to c… Read More
2020-09-06 22:18
From Distracted Driver Handbook, Office of Research and Statistics (July 2009) comes the very sad truth: half of people in the U.S. admit to cell phone use while driving: *… Read More
2020-08-25 17:06
Two of my books will help you in wondrous ways:* The "60 Second Self-Starter" (Adams Media, ($9.95), is an action guide to help career professionals become more accomplished and satisfied wi… Read More
2020-08-21 11:29
From the Wall Street Journal 10 years ago: the business of spying on consumers, portends a future of diminished privacy for everyone. Ain't that the truth Read More
2020-08-08 18:25
Information you can use: http://www.flightarrivals.com/ lets you know which planes are arriving when! Read More
2020-08-04 14:19
Five issues about surveillance posed by Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law at UCLA, and author of “The First Amendment” merit consideration. He observes that “surveillance is… Read More
2020-07-27 13:25
More than 50 million American workers might be fooling around on the jobs most of their day. They use company time to play on the computer, search for new jobs, and communicate with friends… Read More
2020-07-22 13:26
Only 3 percent of professionals get eight hours of sleep every night of the working week. According to a Travelodge sleep study, company directors are the most sleep-deprived of all, with 8… Read More
2020-07-15 16:32
"Logic suggests that having options allows people to select precisely what makes them happiest. But, as studies show, abundant choice often makes for misery." &n&hell…Read More
2020-07-03 00:18
Interruption without end: "The way in which people frantically communicate online via Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging can be seen as a form of modern madness," according to a leading… Read More
2020-06-29 13:00
Years ago Johns Hopkins University researchers concluded that using a cellphone -- even with a hands-free device -- will distract drivers because the brain cannot easily handle both tasks. T… Read More
2020-06-17 00:37
Researchers at the Federal Aviation Administration and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor found that while doing multiple tasks at once might appear to be more efficient, it actually is m… Read More
2020-06-14 17:41
Information yields all types of trend data, be it the rise of smartphone use, or the popularity of Twitter. What we never receive is how these trends add up: where things are going.When ever… Read More
2020-06-11 17:46
Have you noticed? It seems as if we've reached the point where a typical person in our society now has Attention Deficit Disorder, culturally induced. The rising decibel level in public spac… Read More
2020-06-08 17:19
How can you stay informed without being overwhelmed?* Choose to acquire knowledge that supports or interests you, not what you simply happen to ingest, or think you have to ingest.* Look for… Read More
2020-05-30 12:10
The reality of our times: potential distractions at every turn. In a typical year, in the U.S. alone:175,000 books are published100+ new magazines are launched7,600 movies are offered on Dir… Read More
2020-05-10 13:49
"Technology reduces the amount of time it takes to do any one task but also leads to the expansion of tasks that people are expected to do." – Juliet Schor Read More
2020-05-02 12:00
With 36,200,000 Google hits for the phrase "thank you for your patience," it seems that legions of people are presuming an awful lot about others Read More
2020-04-27 12:00
“Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails, and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study suggested years back. The constant interrupt… Read More
2020-04-19 21:22
Have you recently considered your approaches to information intake and determined how you can pare down? On a basic level, I suggest opening your mail over the waste basket; it's much easier… Read More
2020-04-10 18:46
As writer Kevin Donahue observes: a married father of two whose job requires him to be plugged in 24-7, began weaning himself from his cell phone. David Swink's goal was to leave office stre… Read More
2020-04-08 18:04
Have you noticed that your productivity is down because you're constantly checking email? If so, consider using a spare computer or laptop that is not connected to the Web. For certain types… Read More
2020-03-24 11:45
“Hundreds of new magazines are launched every year in the United States and Canada but most cover the same topics as what's already available on the newsstand,” according to a st… Read More
2020-03-24 11:44
What type of information are you sending? In a recent year, 22 percent of employers reported they had terminated an employee for violating e-mail rules, according to an e-mail survey from… Read More
2020-03-24 11:43
I find this highly disturbing: we are each subjected to personalized web viewing, propagated by the web gate keepers. Unknown to the general populace, for example, for the same Google search… Read More
2020-02-25 14:51
A reader says, “No matter how conscious I am of saving time throughout the day, I still find myself racing the clock. What, if anything, am I doing wrong?Answer: Consider the following… Read More
2020-02-20 19:36
For today, give yourself the benefit of working on one thing at a time. You may have to switch gears, such as when the boss comes in, the important phone call comes through, or you receive a… Read More
2020-02-10 11:50
During the closing days of my senior year of high school, I rounded up some of the items on the bulletin boards that I thought would make great mementos. I had a roster of all the letter win… Read More
2020-02-02 21:31
Information: a message received and understoodInformation: a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn, "statistical data"Information: knowledge acquired through study or exper… Read More
2020-01-27 14:06
Here are various proclamations about wasted time, resources, and days; sad if even half true!* Americans waste 9 million hours per day searching for misplaced items.* The average adult spend… Read More
2020-01-21 17:29
According to a New York Times article, citing a study by the Radicati Group, on average, corporate employees sent and received 105 e-mails a day, more than one new email every five minutes o… Read More
2020-01-14 11:46
What kind of information do you regularly receive from your favorite media sources? What type of picture do they paint about American society? Chris Michaud in a New York Post feature from 2… Read More
2020-01-04 00:26
Author, songwriter, and comedian Steve Allen was among the most prolific talent in broadcasting history. He wrote more than 9,000 songs, including "This Could Be the Start of Something Big,"… Read More
2019-12-29 15:08
How often do Americans check email or voice mail while on vacation: one survey, Harris Interactive for Expedia, got these results: constantly 6%, regularly 28%, sometimes 34%, and never 32% Read More
2019-12-22 12:38
As I wrote in my 2007 book, Breathing Space, the term "Information Explosion" has no meaning. The discharge of information spewing forth since the phrase "information explosion" was first co… Read More
2019-12-16 16:51
At 20 large U.S. banks, during one year the cost of complying with U.S. laws and regulations grew far faster than profit growth. Given this reality, each of us needs to build greater "admini… Read More
2019-12-05 11:30
* Hundreds of magazines were launched in the U.S. in the last two years, and within two more years most of them will fail.* There are more than ten times the number of radio stations today t… Read More
2019-11-22 11:22
From 22 years ago! "The average Fortune 1000 worker already is sending and receiving approximately 178 messages and documents each day, according to a study, "Managing Corporate Commun… Read More
2019-11-21 16:35
* The Smithsonian Museum adds 1,000,000+ items to its collection each year, most of which are not seen by the public. * The fully printed documentation for every feature and system on a Boei… Read More
2019-11-05 17:26
An article in the Boston Globe discusses why you can’t stop checking your phone. To fight such activities as texting and driving means confronting a bigger problem: that our technology… Read More
2019-10-23 16:35
Information overload abounds in our society. In a typical year:* 1,100+ new magazines are launched.* 720,000+ network and cablecast programs are broadcast.* 650+ films are produced.* The Smi… Read More
2019-10-12 12:30
Here's a useful article on CNN.com about "How to sell or get rid of your old gadgets." Read More
2019-10-05 15:38
Professor Neil Postman in his 1985 landmark book Amusing Ourselves to Death offers a brilliant portrait of how television consistently offers us a false view of reality. Here is an excerpt f… Read More
2019-10-02 14:07
Each day, at a minimum: * The Library of Congress catalogues at least 7,000 new items. * A minimum of 2000 books are published world wid… Read More
2019-09-29 14:10
Piles accumulate... be they stacks of mail, reports, survey forms, seminar announcements, catalogs, etc. Confront your piles head-on with a take-no-prisoners attitude!If you haven't no… Read More
2019-09-27 20:16
Piles accumulate... be they stacks of mail, reports, survey forms, seminar announcements, catalogs, etc. Confront your piles head-on with a take-no-prisoners attitude!If you haven't no… Read More
2019-09-19 16:31
Makes you wonder what is distracting them from basic science:American's Understanding of Science: From the National Science Foundation's biennial report issued at the start of this century o… Read More
2019-09-13 12:56
When you continually seek to reduce the volume of items you’ve retained, you have a better chance of staying in control:Rather than keeping a five-page report, retain only the single p… Read More
2019-09-04 13:14
Studies show that 80% of the items in a typical file cabinet are never used again! That means you could pare down at least 50 percent of what you're retaining. You don't even need to go that… Read More
2019-08-26 08:07
In a few days, we will "celebrate" Labor Day, a day for acknowledging the American Labor movement. We've homogenized our holidays, however..Instead of letting many of the holidays fall as th… Read More
2019-08-22 19:25
Living near airports, in addition to interrupting your train of thought, can give you cancer and heart attacks: U.K Mail Online and Boston Globe Read More
2019-08-17 16:51
When seeking answers, rather than assembling primary information by generating data yourself, instead find out who has already done the study or completed the report that answers your questi… Read More
2019-08-05 19:34
An article in Time Magazine reports that "reading literature makes us smarter and nicer" and that "deep reading is vigorous exercise from the brain and increases our real-life capacit… Read More
2019-07-27 13:01
I couldn’t help but be amused when I came across a Forbes article years ago on the dangers to a company when top executives are distracted by opportunities for “adulation.”… Read More
2019-07-23 19:15
If you have yet to visit my other two blogs, during these dog days of July, click below:* for the time-pressured: www.BreathingSpaceBlog.com* for meeting planners: www.OpeningKeynote.co… Read More
2019-07-23 19:14
The scary all-too-true reality of the data about you that the big websites collect, and store FOREVERWhat Google knows about youWhat Amazon knows about you What Facebook knows abou… Read More
2019-07-13 17:45
Notes from Double Your Brain Power, by Jean Marie Stine: * Short-term memory is more effective in the morning. Long-term memory works better later in the day.&n&hell…Read More
2019-07-03 13:44
Moderate exercise a couple hours before retiring aids in getting sound sleep. If you are too active too close to retiring, you may take longer to relax enough to doze off. Moderate intake… Read More
2019-06-29 14:03
Oracle magazine, in 2011, noted that "in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station there are vending machines that use facial recognition cameras to scan… Read More
2019-06-19 21:30
Each day the Library of Congress professional staff takes in more than 7,000 new items, organizes them, catalogs them and eventually shares them in various ways with people who want to know… Read More
2019-06-14 22:28
Michael Gartner, journalist, lawyer, and former head of NBC News suggests asking yourself the following ten questions as you read, watch, and surf:1. Is the guest expert being paid?2. Who po… Read More
2019-06-07 02:09
The noise of modern life may affect "speech and language development" in the very young, according to a study that found the auditory parts of the brains of young mice are slower to organize… Read More
2019-05-30 12:43
Go to bed when you're tired, not when you think you ought to. Let your body talk to you. It'll tell you when it's tired. The problem you've had in the past is that you have ignored the messa… Read More
2019-05-23 12:47
From an article in New Scientist magazine, April, 30 2005:The next time your boss complains you are not focused enough, blame it on email and phone calls. Even smoking dope has less effect o… Read More
2019-05-14 20:27
We are surrounded by far too many choices and distractions. For example, in supermarkets there are double the items now as compared to 25 years ago. In a few more years there will be even mo… Read More
2019-05-04 22:47
The ultimate interruption: Distracted Walking. In how many of the death's reported below might a pedestrian on a cell phone been involved?from the Wall Street Journal: Nationwide, pede… Read More
2019-04-29 13:04
Here is a guest post from by Karel Murray, CSP, on the importance of not becoming distracted by the "latest and greatest," cleverly using observations about marriage:An acquaintance of mine… Read More
2019-04-22 11:09
Years back, Jordan Grafman, chief of the cognitive neuroscience section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, was quoted in Time Magazine and said:  &hell…Read More
2019-04-11 15:13
My colleague, Bob Wendover, wrote a great little book on decision making called Figure It Out! Making Smart Decisions in a Dumbed-Down World. This quick read got me thinking about all the ti… Read More
2019-04-05 14:12
"Being able to choose has enormous important positive effects on us, but only up to a point. As the number of choices we face increases, the psychological benefits we derive start to level o… Read More
2019-03-29 14:19
Is the Internet replacing our own memory?"Can’t remember the name of the movie you saw last year starring Emily Deschanel’s sister? Or that recipe you used for chicken salad la… Read More
2019-03-22 14:37
Unquestionably apps help us to be more efficient throughout the day, but when does engaging them cross the line into something else? Studies now show that time spent with mobile apps is quic… Read More
2019-03-16 14:37
A newborn's brain is barely composed. For the first three months of life, humans experience the neural development that soon brings smiles, clear vision, and the ability to emit approximatel… Read More
2019-03-09 11:02
Twelve years ago, economist Robert Samuelson wrote in Newsweek: "Cell phones-and, indeed, all wireless devices-constitute another chapter in the ongoing breakdown between work and everything… Read More
2019-02-26 16:09
Early warning signs when you’re heading for an "out of control" situation: Control is always based on your perception; still any time you start stacking horizontal piles on your desk y… Read More
2019-02-18 11:08
Vast segments of the population have turned to online exhibitionism. Writing in the Washington Post, economist Robert J. Samuelson observed this eight years ago, and the situation has gotten… Read More
2019-02-08 12:34
If making product purchases was as simple as choosing supermarket items, we could all cope. But the tyranny of choice extends to large products, as well as services like insurance, retiremen… Read More
2019-02-01 13:17
The daily information and media shower leaves each of us incapable of ingesting, synthesizing, or applying the data before tomorrow's shower. You've got to break out of the mindset that so… Read More
2019-01-25 14:00
What is the fastest, most efficient way you can handle all the things competing for your attention? Prioritize them, and then handle them one at a time. It sounds simple enough, but this goe… Read More
2019-01-16 11:46
Years back, I had immersed myself in a sea of self-help books and audios to the point that I had no time left in the day for myself. Practicing ten minutes of this person's technique and 3… Read More
2019-01-03 14:50
"For all the hand-wringing about Generation M, technology is not really the problem... It's not so much that the video is going to rot your brain, it's what you are not doing that's going to… Read More
2018-12-27 18:44
To break the grip that too many distractions and too much information has on you, I suggest the following:* When you get home, practice sitting in your TV room for 30 minutes without the TV… Read More
2018-12-19 17:41
'Sleeping on it' is best for complex decisions: February 16, 2006 New Scientist (Vol 311, p 1005)“Complex decisions are best left to your unconscious mind to work out, according to a n… Read More
2018-12-12 20:36
Bottom Line Personal, a publication of Boardroom Reports, offered a most useful list: a Caregiver's "Emergency Kit"* Personal basics:Social Security number (original card or a photocopy).Key… Read More
2018-12-03 12:30
Here's a useful article on CNN.com about "How to sell or get rid of your old gadgets." Read More
2018-11-26 19:36
For today, give yourself the benefit of working on one thing at a time. You may have to switch gears, such as when the boss comes in, the important phone call comes through, or you receive a… Read More
2018-11-20 22:05
Society implies that it is your civic and moral duty to keep abreast of every tidbit of news and current events. Yet, in this era more, information is generated on earth in one second than y… Read More
Subscribe to Interruption Management
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!