Remember the old saw about the “See-food Diet” – If you see food, you eat it? Some of us live life by the “See-task, do-task” approach. In other words, we live in the reactive mode – reacting to things we happen to see, happen to think of, or to a request from someone else. Not only do we make ourselves victims of interruption, but we constantly distract ourselves from the task at hand, jumping from one to the next on impulse.

You may even convince yourself that you're more efficient by doing things as you think of them. Then, you reason, you don't even have to write it down on your endless to-do list; you saw it, you did it, and it’s done. That approach works fine if you're heading downstairs and happen to spot an item that should be taken down to the storage room while you're on your way. But when you interrupt a multi-step task, or one that requires a lot of mental energy because the phone rang or and email arrived, you are sabotaging your productivity. Studies show that it takes up to 20 minutes after an interruption to fully immerse yourself again in a thought-intensive task such as writing. Multiply that figure by several times a day and you've lost an hour or more of productive time each day.

Schedule it - Instead of acting on impulse each time you think of something, learn to capture your idea and schedule it. You don't need to schedule it for an exact time. Just get it on today’s task list. Then, during your next Daily Planning Session, give more thought to when you should do it and schedule it.

Call yourself - If you're out and about and don't have access to your calendar, call yourself and leave a reminder message that you can record on your calendar when you return.

Make an appointment - There are some interruptions that we must respond to – a request from our boss, a crying baby – but most interruptions can be deferred. When it’s a non-urgent request, develop a programmed response. “I'm in the middle of something right now, but I'd be glad to talk to you (check your schedule) at ......” Then write it as a task on your schedule – “2 PM, Call Shirley about conference registration”

By trying to respond to every request immediately, you are ignoring your own agenda, and your earlier commitments to yourself and others. So often, when you drop everything to please the person who is interrupting you, you're displeasing others by moving your commitments to them further down your priority list.

Extra bonus for scheduling distractions and interruptions.... Have you ever had difficulty explaining to your supervisor why you haven't finished something? You know you've been working non-stop, but you can't really recall what’s gotten in the way. If you always schedule your interruptions by recording them on your calendar for the day (even those from your boss, like when she casually drops by for an unscheduled 20 minute discussion), then it’s very easy to show how you've been using your time.

The Skoach Approach. Keep your Skoach page open at all times on your computer when you're at your desk, and make it a habit to record new tasks that occur to you and new requests that you receive from others. The Skoach advantage is that you are automatically prompted to estimate the time each task will take and when you'll do it – so it’s not possible to unwittingly create an un-do-able task list. Because Skoach links tasks and time, you'll always know when you're over-committing.