{"id":21612,"date":"2020-12-30T20:59:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T00:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=21612"},"modified":"2021-01-03T19:16:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T23:16:48","slug":"handling-interruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Handling Interruptions: Don&#8217;t Get Thrown Off Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? What kinds of interruptions are there and what tactics can you use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interruptions happen every day in all areas of life. Handling interruptions can be difficult when you&#8217;re constantly having to set aside priorities to deal with other things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about handling interruptions at work and in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Handling Interruptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An interruption is something that prevents you from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-complete-a-task-successfully\/\">finishing a task<\/a> all in one go. <strong>The easiest method for handling interruptions is to come up with a set of rules for yourself and others.<\/strong> Once you\u2019ve set a precedent for not letting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/people-who-waste-your-time\/\">people waste your time<\/a> and everyone understands the rules, you have a self-enforcing system that you never need to spend brainpower on again. Your system will not only save you time\u2014it\u2019ll train everyone involved to be more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Three Types of Interruptions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This chapter will cover three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/types-of-interruptions\/\">types of interruptions<\/a>: those that waste time, those that take time, and those that require outside help or approval. You&#8217;ll need to make a plan for each one to get better at handling interruptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Interruptions That Waste Time<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interruptions that waste time aren\u2019t important and can be completely ignored. <\/strong>Often, the time-wasting interruption is a person wanting to talk to you via email, phone, or in person. To deal with these interruptions, limit people\u2019s access to you, and when you do allow people to access you, make sure the interaction is as efficient and action-focused as possible. Make it known that email is your preferred method of communication, then phone, then as a last resort, in person. There are some steps to streamlining each method of communication:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Email<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Email is the biggest distraction and interruption of modern times. To control how people access you via email:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Turn off automatic send\/receive and alerts.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Check your email only twice a day, at noon and at 4 p.m.<\/strong> (Most responses to your emails will have come in by these times. Additionally, if you don\u2019t check in the morning and instead reserve that time for your most important activity, you can\u2019t procrastinate by using email or lunch as an excuse.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>When you respond to email, try to anticipate all the options so you don\u2019t have to answer any follow-up emails.<\/strong> For example, if you\u2019re asking someone if something has been completed, ask the question, then write, if yes, do this, if no, do this. The \u201cifs\u201d can direct people to someone other than you for help.<\/li><li><strong>Create an auto reply to explain the new system to everyone who emails you.<\/strong> The auto reply will train people to reflect on whatever they have to tell you and whether or not it\u2019s actually important. In the auto reply, tell people that you\u2019re only checking at noon and 4 p.m. because you\u2019re very busy, and if they need you urgently, they can call. Finish by thanking them for understanding and stress that your efficiency benefits them. Ideally, set up the auto reply without asking for permission (remember the rules of breaking the rules). If you feel you have to ask, approach your immediate supervisor and suggest it as a trial. Tell your boss you have a lot to do and it\u2019s harder when you\u2019re being interrupted. You can even blame the interruptions on spam or external emails.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phone<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>To control how people access you via phone:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Have two phones or numbers, one for urgent matters, and one for non-urgent.<\/strong> <em>Always answer the urgent number unless you don\u2019t want to or it\u2019s an unknown number.<\/em> You can also let it go to voicemail and then immediately listen to the voicemail to judge if the message is actually important. This urgent number goes in your email auto reply. In contrast, <em>never answer the non-urgent number.<\/em> Turn off the ringer and set the phone to go straight to voicemail. Don\u2019t carry your phone with you 24\/7.<\/li><li><strong>Check your voicemail twice a day, the same as you\u2019re doing with your email.<\/strong> Your voicemail message should cover the same information your email auto reply did\u2014at what times you\u2019ll be checking voicemail, the urgent number, a thank-you-for-understanding phrase, and a note about how this system helps you serve people better. When possible, respond to voicemails via email.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>When you do get on the phone with someone, treat them with urgency.<\/strong> Don\u2019t waste time on small talk or how-are-you\u2019s\u2014as soon as the caller has introduced themselves, say that you\u2019re busy and ask how you can help them. If they say they\u2019ll call back later, don\u2019t let them\u2014make them explain the problem quickly. If they start to ramble, tell them you have a call in five minutes and ask them to send you an email.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In Person<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll probably offend some people as you cut down on in-person communication, even if you do it politely, but once people realize that it\u2019s your general policy, they\u2019ll accept it. To control how people access you in person:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Attend meetings only if they meet the following criteria: they have a scheduled end time, they won\u2019t last longer than half an hour, and they\u2019re being used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/be-decisive\/\">make a decision<\/a>.<\/strong> Even if a meeting does meet these criteria, you can likely more efficiently address the agenda via a call or email. The author hasn\u2019t attended a meeting in five years.<\/li><li><strong>Countersuggest email whenever anyone suggests a meeting. <\/strong>If they don\u2019t agree, suggest a call instead. Tell them you have other urgent tasks that prevent you from meeting. If they insist, ask them to send you an email with the meeting\u2019s agenda in advance. Say that you want to know what the meeting will address so you can prepare, and thank them in advance for sending you an agenda. The advance thank-you will make them more likely to actually send the agenda. Once you have the agenda, you might be able to address all the points in an email, negating the need for a meeting.<\/li><li><strong>Ask to be excused from a particular meeting \u201cjust this once.\u201d<\/strong> Tell the meeting host you\u2019re really overwhelmed and just this once you\u2019d like to sit out the meeting. Promise to catch up on the information. While the meeting is going on, make sure you\u2019re very productive and get more done than the meeting does. The next time you ask to sit out a meeting, mention how much you got done. Try to turn just-this-once into always.<\/li><li><strong>Control the meeting\u2019s time limit.<\/strong> A meeting shouldn\u2019t take any longer than half an hour. To keep meetings short, don\u2019t allow people to socialize or get off topic. If you can\u2019t keep the meeting short, plan to leave early. Ask the meeting host if you can present first because you have an invented commitment. Say it\u2019s at an odd time (9:20 instead of 9) to make it more believable. Alternatively, don\u2019t let anyone know in advance you\u2019re going to leave, and partway through the meeting pretend you\u2019re getting an urgent phone call.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Optional: be vocal about the unproductiveness of meetings.<\/strong> People will probably disagree, so be prepared to defend yourself or offer alternative ideas.<\/li><li><strong>Don\u2019t let people interrupt you at your cubicle or office. <\/strong>Put up a do-not-disturb sign (works better for an office than a cubicle), put in headphones (regardless of whether you\u2019re listening to anything), or pretend to be on the phone. If you use the phone method, if someone tries to come back later, handle it the same way you would a call to your urgent line. Don\u2019t chitchat, force them to give you the short version, and if they ramble, get them to send you an email. If you can\u2019t get rid of someone, pretend you only have a few minutes of availability before a call.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Handling <strong>Interruptions That Take up Time<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Things that take up time are things that need to be done but distract you from important, high-impact tasks.<\/strong> For example, returning phone calls and customer service need to be done but aren\u2019t high-impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The most effective way to handle these types of interruptions is to \u201cbatch\u201d them\u2014save them all up for a certain time and do them all at once.<\/strong> Batching saves time because every task you do requires set-up time. It usually doesn\u2019t take any more time to set-up to do a task once than it does to do it multiple times. For example, if you\u2019re making cookies, you have to preheat the oven and get the ingredients out of the pantry. You have to do both of these things regardless of whether you\u2019re making one cookie or six dozen. If it takes you ten minutes to preheat the oven and get out the ingredients, and you make one cookie per day for five days, that\u2019s 50 minutes of prep time. If you make five cookies once, that\u2019s only ten minutes of prep time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Interruptions That Require Outside Help or Approval<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interruptions that require outside help or approval waste the time of both the person who needs help and the approver.<\/strong> For example, getting manager approval to process a refund requires an employee to spend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-track-your-time\/\">time tracking<\/a> down a manager and waiting for them to arrive. The manager loses time because she has to stop whatever she\u2019s doing to take care of the refund. These interruptions are usually due to micromanaging. Learning methods for handling interruptions can save you time and stress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you\u2019re an employee, you need access to all the relevant information and the authority to make decisions.<\/strong> To get this, talk to your boss, emphasizing that you want more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> power so you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/be-more-productive\/\">be more productive<\/a> and interrupt her less. Come up with rules, such as if a fix costs less than $20, you can approve it yourself. Suggest a trial period, with your boss reviewing your decisions. Ask if it\u2019s reasonable\u2014it\u2019s hard for people to say things are unreasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you\u2019re an entrepreneur, you need to give your workers as much information and decision-making powers as possible.<\/strong> When you give people responsibility and trust them, their intelligence will exceed your expectations. And even if you could do something better yourself than someone else could, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a good use of your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? What kinds of interruptions are there and what tactics can you use? Interruptions happen every day in all areas of life. Handling interruptions can be difficult when you&#8217;re constantly having to set aside priorities to deal with other things. Read more about handling interruptions at work and in your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,30],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-21612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-work","tag-the-4-hour-workweek","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Handling Interruptions: Don&#039;t Get Thrown Off Track - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here&#039;s what you can do.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Handling Interruptions: Don&#039;t Get Thrown Off Track\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here&#039;s what you can do.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Handling Interruptions: Don&#8217;t Get Thrown Off Track\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\"},\"wordCount\":1762,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The 4-Hour Workweek\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Motivation\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\",\"name\":\"Handling Interruptions: Don't Get Thrown Off Track - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here's what you can do.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Handling Interruptions: Don&#8217;t Get Thrown Off Track\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Handling Interruptions: Don't Get Thrown Off Track - Shortform Books","description":"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here's what you can do.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Handling Interruptions: Don't Get Thrown Off Track","og_description":"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here's what you can do.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Handling Interruptions: Don&#8217;t Get Thrown Off Track","datePublished":"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/"},"wordCount":1762,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","keywords":["The 4-Hour Workweek"],"articleSection":["Motivation","Work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/","name":"Handling Interruptions: Don't Get Thrown Off Track - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-31T00:59:18+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T23:16:48+00:00","description":"Do you want to get better at handling interruptions? Of course, interruptions are stressful and waste time. Here's what you can do.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/handling-interruptions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Handling Interruptions: Don&#8217;t Get Thrown Off Track"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-on-phone-outsiders-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22638,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21612\/revisions\/22638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}