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Now I’m not sure if I want the phone to ring or not. During the day it always seems to happen at just the wrong time. I’m trying to do year-end cost reports for the 48 different jobs the company worked on last year. I’ve never had to do that many cost reports at once before, and each one takes more concentration than I’m used to.
That’s why (a) I need a break every so often and should welcome an occasional interruption, and (2) every time the phone rings I lose my place and lose my concentration, so that I have to go back to a starting point.
The worst part is, either way I’m more likely to make mistakes. An interruption that takes me out of the flow of creating a spreadsheet is an invitation to screw it up when I get back to it. But endless hours of nonstop data entry and manipulation are probably even worse. Everything gets blurry, and not just because I need new glasses (although that doesn’t help matters any).
One reason I need the breaks is that my back tends to stiffen up if I work too long at a time. Most of the year, let’s say every month that isn’t February, my job is totally different. I’m jumping in and out of my chair and racing around the room from file to file all day long, so it’s not so much like a desk job. But right now, that’s exactly what it is, and it’s a painful one at that.
Here’s the weird part. My wrist hasn’t bothered me at all during this intense period of nonstop typing. I think it’s because I moved the mouse to the left side. That’s taken a lot of pressure off my right hand, where the pain that knocked me out for several days last month was centered. It was the best decision I could have made, and it has probably saved me from having to take even more breaks. | 
