15 Control Interruptions
FIFTEEN
UNEXPECTED ANDunscheduled interruptions are among
the biggest time wasters in business and industry. These
interruptions can be in the form of a bell going off on your
computer, a telephone ringing, an SMS message coming in
on your smartphone, or people just walking into your office
because they need to talk.
It turns out that people are the greatest time wasters in
the world of work. As much as 50 percent of time at work is
spent in idle chitchat with coworkers. Many people come
into work in the morning and begin chitchatting with their
coworkers, and then continue for the next two or three
hours. In many environments, people don’t really start seri-
ous work until about 11:00 a.m., and then soon it is time to
break for lunch. After lunch, they come back and chitchat