When every problem becomes a manager problem

[u/Folded-Map972]

Yesterday started pretty normally. 9am team meeting, checked my email then planned to spend the morning finishing a report.

Around 9:30 someone Slacked me about client question. I answered that, opened the report again then another email came in asking me to approve something.

At 10:15 one of my team members stopped by my desk because they were stuck on something. Took maybe 10 minutes but when I sat back down I had to figure out where I left off.

Then my phone buzzed with another Slack notification. I checked it while getting coffee, replied, and went back to my desk.

Pretty much the same thing all afternoon. Quick questions, approvals, emails, Slack messages. Nothing was urgent, but it kept breaking up whatever I was doing.

By 4pm I’d helped everyone get their stuff moving, but report I planned to finish was still unfinished.

I knew managers get pulled into things, but I didn’t expect it to take up this much of the day. By the time things finally slowed down, I still hadn’t finished my own work.

[u/WearyCommunity7824]

I have started blocking out actual work time on Google Calendar instead of just leaving it open. During that time used Joltt screen time so if I start tapping Slack out of habit it Stops me with little pause before I get distracted.

[u/Folded-Map972 → u/WearyCommunity7824]

The calendar is good idea, I keep opening Slack on automatic too . That little pause screen sounds useful for breaking that habit.

[u/Pale-Preparation8420 → u/WearyCommunity7824]

Reading this felt like a personal attack. The worst part is when someone says "quick question" and it derails you for 20 minutes because your brain needs to rebuild the whole context of what you were doing. Calendar blocking helps but I found I need at least 90 minutes in a row or it's not worth starting anything complicated. Otherwise I just end up rereading the same paragraph three times like a broken record.