that is reassuring to your customer. Writing on little scraps of paper or 3M Post-it Notes has the opposite effect.

Never try to remember the item in your brain only. I've already discussed keeping the front part of your brain free for more important things. Don't try to remember the customer's request. You're a smart person (and good-looking, too), but don't trust your brain to do something that paper can do better. Record it, then let it go. Free your brain. Which leads us to....

The Hallway Ambush

When someone stops me in the hallway and asks me to do something, I record it in my to do list. However, if I am without my organizer, I would rather refuse to acknowledge the request than trust my brain to remember it. I'm honest but blunt. I say something like, 'OK, so I agree that's the best course of action. However, I'm in the middle of something, and I don't have my PDA with me. I don't want to risk forgetting this. Could you do me a favor and email me the words 'install web monkey' and that will jog my memory.' By giving the person the exact words to use, the task becomes less of a burden on her. However, this tactic also unburdens your brain from having to remember the exact request.

If this situation happens while I'm near a computer that can send email, I'll ask the person at the computer to email me the reminder, even if they weren't part of the conversation!

Oh, and that reminds me. How dare you go somewhere without your PDA/PAA! Always keep it with you.

Do it

The third option is to do the request immediately. Your focus will be lost, but at least you made two good attempts to first deflect the task. If a request should take less than two minutes, it can be less work to do it than to record it and pick it up later.

Of course, if the issue is an emergency or a major outage, there's no other good choice. Heck, the major outage might also affect you, so it's worth doing right away.

I highly recommend that your organization create its own definition of major outage. This can give newer SAs direction and guidance, and if it's stated on your policy web site, it can set expectations with your customers. For example, a LAN group I worked with once defined a major outage to be any outage affecting more than 10 people. Other businesses define a major outage based on whether a deadline is in jeopardy or a Service Level Agreement (SLA) will be missed.

Before you do the customer's request, take a moment to record where you left off, or at least save your work. That makes it easier to return to the task. It also helps you focus on the new task because your brain isn't cluttered with trying to remember where you left off.

Summary

Focus is important. You gain focus by removing distractions and dealing efficiently with interruptions.

Interruptions are, essentially, someone else controlling your time. Interruptions are the natural enemy of focus, and, therefore, time management.

Interruptions are bad because they delay your current work but also because returning to the prior task can lead to errors. Fixing those errors can take more time than the original task.

Removing distractions helps you to keep focus: clean your desk and your computer desktop, and remove distractions from your office. Disable IM, new email notifiers, and so on.

Everyone has a different peak time for mental and physical activity. Discover yours, and then schedule appropriate tasks for those times.

The first hour of the day can be your most productive, since it has the fewest interruptions. Getting to work slightly earlier than coworkers increases this productive time. Don't waste that time with maintenance tasks; use it for important projects.

Some General Advice

Sadly, this book can't give much advice about how to do the task. I don't even know what operating system you are using. I can, however, give you these general recommendations:

Measure twice, cut once. Be extra sure before you make a change you can't undo.

Make a backup before you change a file. Having a backup of a file can get you out of trouble. However, this only works if you make the backup first!

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