Inbound missiles are the death of everything that matters in our work. They kill productivity, creativity, efficiency, and deep thought. In our businesses, missiles are phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, knocks on the door, and everything else that comes popping up on our screens and our phones.

Each missile lands with a thud, causes us to turn our head, and draws us away from doing something smart. These missiles make us dumb, boring, and unproductive.

A Case Study on the Effects of Interruptions

I work with Ned. Ned is the guy responsible for keeping our office moving along smoothly. He’s the point person for the management of our support team, our marketing, and our technology. He supervises our financial operations, and he keeps the wheels firmly attached to the bus. He’s the glue that keeps things together as I flit from idea to idea and project to project.

Ned, like all of our people, works remotely. This year he has worked from Spain, Turkey, and Mexico. Right now, he’s working from Bulgaria. He’s almost always in a different time zone from the rest of us.

Sometimes Ned matches his schedule up with the office schedule. We’re open from 8:30 to 5:30. If Ned’s in Istanbul, then he’ll work from 3:30 PM until 12:30 AM. He sleeps late in the morning to stay on schedule.

At other times, Ned just switches to the time zone where he’s living. He did that when he was in Thailand last year. He didn’t want to work all through the night to stay on the same time as the office. He simply wasn’t available during most of our day because he was sleeping. Of course, he had a few 3 AM vendor phone meetings that were unavoidable, but mostly he slept when it was dark.

What’s the Impact of Distractions?

There’s a big difference in Ned depending on whether he’s sleeping on our schedule or the local schedule, and it goes way beyond the effect of having an odd sleep schedule. His performance is affected by his availability to the employees he supervises and services.

The impact of Ned’s sleep schedule is interesting.

Our Local Time

When he’s working on the same schedule as those of us here in North Carolina, he’s less productive. He brings fewer new ideas. He struggles to complete projects. His projects are more likely to require more feedback from me. Ned has made these observations about himself, and I have to agree with him.

When Ned stays on our schedule, he gets e-mails, calls, and instant messages all day long. He’s distracted by the minutiae. He’s pulled in one direction and then another. It’s never-ending chaos. These are the missiles killing his ability to contribute at his highest level.

His Local Time

When Ned is on his local schedule and is sleeping when we’re awake and working when we’re asleep, things get done. Projects get completed faster, and the outcomes are better. He’s able to think through the issues and dream up solutions. He anticipates and eliminates problems before they arise. He’s able to think. Thinking is good.

The fascinating thing about Ned being unavailable to us while we’re working is that we still get his help. We just get it a bit later. We don’t get the immediate satisfaction of an answer, but when we do get an answer, it’s well considered and reasoned. When we give Ned time to address the issue, we get a longer-term, more comprehensive solution. Interestingly, sometimes the issue we would have called to Ned’s attention simply resolves itself.

Are the Disruptions Worth the Cost?

The rest of us working in the same country as our clients and co-workers don’t have the luxury of being in a different time zone. We’ve got to force ourselves to disconnect and avoid the incoming missiles interrupting our work and our thinking. Cutting ourselves off from others requires that we take affirmative action. Most of us aren’t willing to stop the barrage, and we simply allow ourselves to take the continual bombardment.

• What does it cost us when we won’t stop the interruptions?
• What does it cost us when we divide our attention constantly?
• What does it cost us when we’re unable to provide our clients with our best thinking?

Are we willing to give our work our best effort? Are we willing to cut the cord? Turn off the phone? Kill the Internet? Are we willing to just think? Or have we abandoned our effort to function at our highest level of productivity, efficiency, and creativity? Are you willing to create your own special time zone?