Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

When I drive and listen to an audiobook, I sometimes have to stop, make a note, and only then I can keep driving. If I don't stop to make a note I am going to miss either the rest of the audiobook or the idea I just had.

Writing the idea down lets me safely "park it" for later and focus on the rest of the audiobook.

This only works when you can trust the idea comes back when you can do something about it.

I am using a compromise/modified GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I have a bunch of folders for my projects and each has special NOTES document where I write down anything pertaining to the project. So the next time I come back to think about that project the idea/task/whatever I just wrote will come back to me and I will be able to do something about it.

- Disable all notifications by default. Emails, chats, phone, apps, services turn them all off. Very few things in life actually require immediate response. Try to setup, that only notifications for those come trough.

- Timebox everything. Instead of just starting doing something, define how much time you are going to spent on doing x (might be a task, fixing a bug, preparing an event, solution exploration, etc.). When the time is up, take a step back, revise your work and decide whether it is done. If not, define what is missing, its importance and the corresponding time box. This really helped me getting lost in rabbit holes.

- Try to work in a way that is more resilient to interruption, so that it can more easily be left aside and picked up later. E.g. only doing one thing at a time, breaking up tasks, planning the day in advance in the morning so scheduled meetings don't come as surprise, etc.

- Communicate and manage expectations. Whether co-workers, family, partner, if they interrupt you, they usually don't do so maliciously. But if their interactions with you bother you, you need to talk to them to find a solution. Just being grumpy about it won't help.

Also, efficiency is not everything. We are not computers that can just chug away on tasks infinitely. Any non trivial work, you won't be able to finish in one sitting. Some interruptions are inevitable and healthy and whatever methodology, you will lose some progress on the way and have to rework things. And it's also about priorities in life. Is the work-related, unfinished task really important / interesting enough to get stuck in your head outside of work hours? Maybe the problem is not getting interrupted, but ability to interrupt yourself and separate different aspects of life.