The Easiest Ways to Signal That You Don’t Want to Be Interrupted at Work

Technology often makes it easy to signal when you don’t want to be disturbed. You can turn on Do Not Disturb if you’re using an iPhone and anyone who tries to text you will be notified, for example, that you won’t see their message right away. You can put on headphones and people will know that you are busy with something. But what about when you work from home or the office? How can you show that you are on the topic of the project or need solitude without telling everyone who passes by? Here are some ideas.

What to say if someone interrupts you at work

If someone impinges on your productivity, know what you’ll say: come up with something ahead of time, but make it straight and simple. You can try: “Hey, I’m busy right now, but I’ll contact you when I’m done, in about an hour.”

Don’t ask if you can get in touch later or the question can wait; it just gives the other person the opportunity to jump in and say their need is urgent. Instead, give them clear deadlines for when they can expect to hear from you – this works on Slack, via email, and in person.

Use preset signals

In order not to explain that you are busy at the moment, set some signals in advance with your colleagues, family members, roommates or anyone else. Several options might look like this:

• When your door is closed, it means you are busy.
• When you have a note on your computer monitor, it means you are busy.
• When a certain item ( for example, a plush toy that indicates mood ) is on your desk, it means that you are busy.
• When you work from home, it means that you are busy and will only send necessary and urgent messages.

Whatever you come up with, explain it in advance to the people who are going to see it. A plush toy on your desk means little to someone who hasn’t been instructed.

There is an inexpensive technical option that you can also look into: the busy indicator. This is a small LED flag that is attached to your computer monitor or table and has the ability to change color. Red might mean you’re busy, green might mean you’re nice to talk to, and blue might mean you’re at work but available for urgent needs. Try it on Amazon for $40 .