Here's the notes I took -
Senior executives consider surprise visits a good thing. They keep their plates clear so they can act according to the input and move on.
Take an input, put the placeholder/note in a place and then continue. Organization is key. Interrupted with input doesn’t mean you have to lose your place.
A good systematic approach to daily work makes all the difference.
Paper based folders – only work on one thing at a time. When you are interrupted put everything in that folder and react to the current item.
We can only work on one thing at a time.
People tend to work half-assed on 5 things at once…rather than concentrating on one thing at a time.
Need paper and paperless systems. We will never go completely paperless.
Changing gears quickly - If you are an environment where people can grab your time – you may need to block out time for yourself to be concentrating on some thing.
When someone interrupts you while you are working, ask - "Why don’t we schedule some time to talk about this later in the day – this is important." Train people not to interrupt each other. Don’t be a doormat. If you want to schmooze then that’s okay.
The red sash – Japan – put it on and no one is supposed to talk to you. If you live in prairie dog country you need some way to say don’t interrupt me right now.
Need to distinguish between interruptions (important stuff) and distractions (stuff that makes it harder for you to get to the important stuff).
