What do you do if your work is constantly interrupted by distractions?

1 What is motivational interviewing?

Motivational interviewing is a technique that helps people explore and resolve their ambivalence about changing their behavior. It involves asking open-ended questions, listening reflectively, affirming strengths, and summarizing key points. The goal is to elicit and strengthen the person's own motivation and commitment to change, rather than imposing external pressure or advice.

2 How can it help with distractions?

Distractions are often a result of conflicting goals, values, or beliefs. For example, you may want to finish a project, but you also want to check your social media, or you may value your work, but you also value your relationships. Motivational interviewing can help you clarify and prioritize your goals, values, and beliefs, and identify the pros and cons of changing or not changing your behavior. By doing so, you can increase your awareness of the consequences of distractions and the benefits of focus, and reduce the resistance or ambivalence that may prevent you from taking action.

3 How to apply it to yourself?

Motivational interviewing can be applied to yourself by using a decisional balance worksheet, which helps to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of changing or not changing your behavior. This tool can be used to analyze how distractions impact your life and work, and how focusing more may improve your outcomes. To use it, begin by writing down the behavior you want to change (e.g., checking your phone every 10 minutes) and the alternative behavior you want to adopt (e.g., checking your phone only during breaks). Then, list the benefits and costs of changing your behavior in one column, and the benefits and costs of not changing your behavior in another column. Rate each item on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is low importance and 10 is high importance. Lastly, add up the scores for each column and compare them - the higher the score, the more motivation you have to change or not change your behavior.

4 How to apply it to others?

Having a conversation with someone who can support you in your change process is another way to use motivational interviewing. This could be a colleague, a friend, a coach, or a mentor. The goal is to help you express your thoughts and feelings about distractions and focus, and to elicit your own reasons and plans for change. To ensure a productive conversation, it is important to ask for permission and explain the purpose of the conversation. Open-ended questions should be used to explore your current situation, goals, values, and beliefs. Reflective listening is an effective way to show empathy and understanding, as well as check for accuracy and clarity. Affirmations should be used to acknowledge strengths, skills, and efforts. Summaries are also helpful for highlighting the main points and transitioning to the next topic. Finally, arguments, judgments, or advice should be avoided in order to respect autonomy and choices.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?