How to cut down on stress and deal with telephone interruptions

I can't speak for you...but I get tons of phone calls per day than I would want to admit. Even with my phones on the National "Do not Call" registry, the calls still come. So, how do I deal with this calls, while, at the same time keep the stress level under control. Below are a few tips. Hope you can use them.

Telephone interruptions

1. When you are working on a project, and don’t want to be
side-tracked, take the phone off the hook. If you are like
most people, and have a answering machine or service through
your telephone provider, the caller will leave a message and
you can answer and return the calls on YOUR schedule. It is
OK not to be at everyone’s beckoned call 24 hours a day.

2.Most phone systems have a method for leaving an "out of
office" message. Do it. Say something like "I am in
conference at the moment and unable to get to the phone---
but will return your call as soon as I am free". Most
people will understand your dilemma, and wish they had
thought of using this technique themselves.

3. When the phone rings and it is someone who asks that
really dumb, stupid question, you can just say I am with a
client or can’t talk right now. Say you will get back to
them at your earliest convenience and then say "goodbye".
Chances are, you are just a "habit" they formed along time
ago to call to answer their questions. What might happen is
they will go down the list of numbers they have until they
find a willing victim. Either way, you are off the hook.

4. If you learn to rate the call on a scale of 1 to 4, then
it becomes easy to determine what call is really important
and which one can be put on the back burner and dealt with
at a later time. It’s up to you which number is lest
important and which is most important. What IS important
here is what you control.

Until next time...
Stay stress free
/Brad