工作时如何最小化干扰

译者 Daisyyu

How to Minimize Interruptions When You’re Working

工作时如何最小化干扰

Have you ever been right in the middle of something – a complicated email, a tricky paragraph of a report, a hunt for some vital figures – only for your concentration to be shattered?

　　你正在做事——一封复杂的邮件、报告中棘手的一段、寻找一些重要的数据——但是发现你的注意力被扰乱了？

Maybe your work day seems to be a string of interruptions. Maybe your colleagues want to chat constantly, or people keep phoning with trivial issues, or your housemates can’t understand that you want to be left alone to work on a college assignment.

　　可能你的工作时间似乎就是一连串中断碎片。可能你的同事想不断地聊天，或者别人不断地打电话处理一些琐碎的事，或者你的室友不明白你想独自一人处理学院的事务。

You’ll never be able to eliminate interruptions altogether – but you can do a lot to minimize them.

　　你永远无法消除干扰——但是你能尽可能地最小化。

Here’s how:

　　下面是你该怎么做：

1.Look Unavailable

1、看起来无法靠近

If you have an office with a door, keep it shut when you don’t want interrupting. It’s a simple visual cue to would-be visitors – and you’ll also keep out any noise from passers-by. If you’re working at home, ask your family or flatmates to avoid interrupting you when the door is closed.

　　如果你的办公室有门，当你不想被干扰的时候，就把它关上。这是一个对于潜在的拜访者的简单的视觉提示——同时你也能将过路人的噪音关在外面。如果你在家工作，门关上的时候，叫你的家人或室友不要打扰你。

Of course, you might not have a whole room of your own to work in. Try wearing headphones (even if you don’t have any music playing) – this often makes people think twice about interrupting you. If you’ve got a hands-free headset, you could even pretend to be on the phone while working.

　　当然，你可能没有自己工作的独个房间。试试戴上耳机（即使不放音乐）——这常使人再三考虑要不要打扰你。如果你有一个头戴式耳机，当你工作时可用来假装你在打电话。

2.Let People Know You’re Busy

2、让别人知道你在忙

I know this seems obvious, but how often do you actually tell people that you want some uninterrupted time? At home, this might mean explaining to your partner and/or kids that you’re going to be working on your novel for an hour.

　　我知道这看来很明显，但是你实际上又多长时间一次告诉别人你想要一些不受人打扰的时间呢？在家，这可能意味向你的伴侣或者孩子解释，你可能要一个小时来写你的小说。

At work, get in the habit of telling potential interrupters, “I’m right in the middle of something. Can I get back to you in fifteen minutes?” Chances are, they’ll be happy to wait – and they may well go and find some other solution which doesn’t involve waiting for you!

　　工作时，养成习惯告诉那些潜在的打扰者，“我在做事。十五分钟后回你好吗？”有可能他们乐意等一会——也可能他们走了，然后寻找其他的不用等着你的解决方法。

3.Set an Example

3、做出榜样

If you want other people to respect your time, be respectful of theirs. Try not to interrupt colleagues – and when you do need to have a conversation with someone, start off with “Is this a good time?” If you can see their calender, heck, use that an schedule 30 minutes at some point later in the day. Don’t use work time to chat, unless you want your colleagues to assume that you’ll always be happy to stop what you’re doing to listen to the latest office gossip.

　　如果你想要别人尊重你的时间，你要尊重别人的时间。不要打扰同事——当你是在需要和别人谈话时，先问问“有时间吗？”如果你能看到他们的日历，在当天晚些时候用用那30分钟的日程表。不要用工作时间聊天，除非你想让你的同事认为你总是乐意制止你确实听到的最新的办公室流言。

You might find that several colleagues (or other people in your household) are getting frustrated by interruptions. If so, look for some way to make things easier for everyone – perhaps by spending the mornings on focused work, and encouraging more discussion and collaboration in the afternoons.

　　你可能发现，有几个同事（或房间里的其他人）很沮丧被打扰。如果是这样，寻找一些方法让每个人都舒适一点——早上做需要聚精会神的工作，下午鼓励更多的讨论和合作。

4.Don’t Answer Calls and Emails Straight Away

4、不要马上接电话和发邮件

Most of the interruptions in your day probably don’t come from colleagues or housemates who drop by your desk. They come from people phoning or emailing.

　　一天中很多的干扰不是来源于路过你桌边你的同事或者室友，而是来源于电话或者邮件。

Unless you work in a job which requires it, there’s no rule which says that you need to answer your phone as soon as it rings. Further, just because they call it "Instant Messaging", you don't have to respond this instant! You can let it go to voicemail and you can let your chat window blink for a bit. You can switch off your mobile, too.

　　除非你的工作需要接，没有规定说只要电话一响你就必须要接。进一步说，只是因为它们称之为“即时消息”，但你不必即刻回复！你让其留语音信箱，也让你的来电显示一直闪烁，你还可以关机。

The same goes for emails: you don’t have to leave your inbox constantly open. You’ll work much more efficiently if you process emails in batches, rather than trying to deal with them as soon as they come in.

　　邮件也是一样：你不必一直开着收件箱。如果你不是只要已收到了就去处理，而是批量处理这些邮件的话工作会更有效率。

5.Work Early/Late in the Day

5、早点或者晚点工作

This is a bit of a radical step, but worth considering. Can you shift your working hours so that you avoid interruptions for at least part of the day?

　　这可能是有点极端，但是值得考虑。你可以改变你的工作时间，这样你能避免你的时间被中断成碎片？

If you get into the office at 7am, for instance, you’ll have at least an hour or two to work before most of your colleagues arrive. If you stay up late at home and write your essays after the kids are in bed, you’re much less likely to be interrupting than if you try to work on Saturday afternoons.

　　比如，你早上七点进办公室，你就可以在你的同事来之前有一到两个小时来工作。如果在家熬到很晚，等到其他人都睡了你在写论文，你就可能比星期天下午写的时候被打扰得更少。