Wow, this was an interesting article I must share!

TNS Research did a study way back in 2005 for Hewlett Packard to discover the truth about how distractions hurt productivity. [Source: CNN.com]

This article was recommended by the folks @ the Effective Edge (which by the way, their ‘Getting the Edge‘ course is EXCELLENT and REALLY does work.)

Basically it touches on a well known but often overlooked fact when we discuss productivity, the raw amount of time we take to check our messages and simply PROCESS information. How much time do you spend on managing your inbox? Does your inbox, text messages, and voicemails run your live, or are you using them as the tools they were designed to be? And no, I’m not talking about the time you spend reading emails while you crap, or wait on a elevator (albeit, I can probably argue you under the table about why THAT’s bad also )

Trust me; from a guy who does it too sometimes, those messages really aren’t all that important -even if they’re from work. Seriously.

Think about it. How much time do you spend managing your information pile before you actually start getting your work done? How many times have you interrupted what you’re doing in order to check a text or a email that just came in, possibly letting it throw you off of what you were previously doing, leaving unfinished work you just have to finish later?

Think about it.

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