If you don't know what Plaxo is, you're one of the lucky ones.

Plaxo is a free contact application that automatically updates address books via e-mail. You send emails to your Contacts asking them to update their information outlined on the Plaxo version of your business card. Once you update the information, the sender's database which has been turned over to Plaxo's servers! is updated.

Again, people who use this service are turning over their entire database to a third party!

As more people sign up for this service, I'm sure aggravation levels are rising. Often, you won't even know the people who are sending you a request to update your info. They may have gotten your business card at a networking event, or you may have contacted them via email, and they added your email address to their Contacts with no other information. Now, to make it more convenient for them, they want you to continue to stop doing what you're doing to update the darn card!

In the past, if someone sent a Plaxo email to me, I'd ignore it when they came from someone I didn't know. If I knew the person, I have a script written for a Reply stating that "I don't do Plaxo, and to remove my name from this database."

But recently, I went to the Plaxo Website and discovered that I can block all future Plaxo emails! Thank goodness! Hopefully this will work, and they will stop.

Think first before using these free services. Their privacy policy says they don't share, but no way I'm believing this.

Every time I sit down thinking I'm going to get some work done, I get interrupted. Please give me some tips on what I can do to manage this.

If your job does not require that you be constantly interrupted as in customer service, try these tips to help you better manage distractions.

Create a Do Not Disturb sign for your door or cubicle, and get the word out that you are serious about it. 

Develop a spiel for unannounced visitors. It can go something like, "I definitely want to talk to you about your report, but I really need to spend the next couple of hours working on this project. I have some free time tomorrow morning. How about 9:00?"

Move your office furniture around so you cannot make eye contact when people pass by. 

Keep chairs to a bare minimum. Keep a book in the seat of one, leaving maybe one available chair. 

Stand up to talk to drop-ins. They will not stay long. Glance at your watch or begin to head toward the door and ask them to talk to you on the way to the restroom. (Stand up meetings are getting more popular too!)

Get organized! People have very little confidence in your commitments when your office looks like a blizzard hit it, and they will constantly interrupt you for status reports. 

The clutter also keeps you distracted. Every time you sit down to work, something in a pile will catch your eye (and your attention) so you constantly interrupt yourself.

Set up weekly staff meetings and individual meetings to discuss miscellaneous items that can wait. Have everyone set up folders in their desks to house items to be discussed at the next meeting.

Don't be the librarian for facts, figures, and files. Encourage everyone to maintain their own system so they can find what they need when they need it. 

Train employees sufficiently so their need to interrupt each other is minimized.

Reduce outside annoyances around you that interrupt your workflow. Examples include co-workers listening to voicemail out loud or talking on a speakerphone. Some people listen to music or watch TV while they work, not even realizing how much of a distraction it really is.

Decide if certain technologies are your friend or your foe. Pagers, cell phones, email, etc., can all rob you of precious time. You do not have to be available for every call or email the instant they arrive.

You have the power to manage interruptions. Take control of your time and how you spend it.
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Peggy Duncan is a personal productivity expert. Visit her Website at www.peggyduncan.com.