Quick Tip: How to Discourage Co-Workers from Interrupting You

Situation: You are working on something important and don’t want your office colleagues to interrupt you during that time. How do you achieve this?

Solution: The first option is that you hang a huge “do not disturb” sign outside your cubicle and pay no attention to the co-worker who just dropped in for a quick chat.

OK, since that may sound a bit rude, here’s a better alternative – wear a pair of headphones (even if you are no fan of music) and this should alone discourage your co-workers from interrupting you.

The idea is that if you are wearing a single headphone, it should convey the impression that you are open for chat as long as its brief but if you are wearing both the headphones, the other person should not bother distracting you.

Another advantage of wearing headphones at work is that you are less likely to get distracted by surrounding noises like that ringing phone or the coffee dispenser.

The video tip was original published on Facebook by Blank Spaces. But please don’t play this at work as the video uses slightly NSFW language somewhere around 00:25.

Related: Make Noise-Blocking Headphones at Home