Time management - dealing with interruptions
It is amazing how much of our ordinary working day is lost through interruptions of one sort or another - either ones we can do something about (the 'ping' of Outlook announcing the arrival of a new email) or ones over which we have little control (someone knocking on the door).

Before passing on to the actual piece of software I want to present to you this week, let's deal with Outlook and its annoying habit of distracting you from your real work in order to tell you about some new junk arriving in your email inbox. This is how you switch this function off (in Outlook 2003 and similar for 2007) - and my life has improved a lot since I have:

1. Tools > Options > E-mail Options...
2. Advanced E-mail Options...
3. In the second box down (When new items arrive in my Inbox) untick the last box, titled, Display a New Mail Desktop Alert
4. Click on 'OK' to save the changes, as normal

 
Now let's get back to the main issue - time management. There are lots of time management applications on the market, the vast majority of which have nothing to do with 'time management', they have to do with 'time recording' and the subsequent production of invoices based on that time - i.e. they're invoicing applications, not time management applications! OK, I know this may be going a bit far, but you get the general idea.

'Interruptron' by WorkingCogs
I've been interested for a long time now in something that will help me make more effective use of my time right now, as opposed to something that helps me plan future time better, or tells me in great detail where I squandered time that's already past. This is exactly what Interruptron does, as produced by WorkingCogs. It's a super little application, easy to download and install and totally free.

The download link for Interruptron is at the bottom of this page:

The tool itself is quite well documented, so I won't go into great detail here, but I will give you a general overview of how it works and what it looks like. Essentially you end up with a small "always on top" pop-up that contains three digital clocks, in yellow, red and green. The yellow clock records 'working time' and the green one 'scheduled rest time'. The application allows you to customise these variables. The red clock records 'interruptions' - triggered (for example) by lack of keyboard/mouse activity, or by booting particular software applications (browsers, music programmes and the like).

Here's a useful overview YouTube video (2:49) where you can see Interruptron in action - not made by me, by the way.

It works - and it's free. That makes for a massive ROI in my books.

Just to be clear - I have no connection, commercial, social or otherwise with WorkingCogs or Interruptron. I like the tool. I use it. It works very well for me. I hope it does for you too.

That's it folks for this week - as usual, your comments welcomed and appreciated, particularly with reference as to what you'd like to hear about. I do get quite a few emails by the way, and I read them all, so please don't feel shy about getting in contact.

Best wishes for the coming week.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com