You’re a nice person and I really like you, but please, stop interrupting me. I don’t want you to misunderstand me, I’m not mad at you, but I do need you to stop. Every time you ask me to check out twitter, to read a blog post, or to strike up a conversation, I lose time. Time I could better spend by being productive and achieving my goals.
It’s not just the amount of time the interruption costs - which is in itself noticeable - but it is also the time it takes to “context switch”. I lose time because I’ve lost my train of thought, because I’ve lost momentum, because I have to find my groove again. It’s never just a minute or two, it’s always 10 to 15 minutes or more (1). And the more frequently you interrupt me, the harder it is for me to recover (2). “…programming is the kind of task where you have to keep a lot of things in your head at once. The more things you remember at once, the more productive you are at programming.” (3) But the more you interrupt me, the less productive I can be as a programmer.
Time is the most valuable of resources, and once lost it can never be regained. Men dream of becoming wealthy, but ruin themselves financially as they squander their financial resources away a nickle at a time. I too dream of being successful, but I can’t do it if you insist on distracting me; if I continue to lose my time minute by minute.
No more interruptions and no more distractions.
Alternative title: A Letter to Myself