I, myself, am someone who is constantly busy at work, in life, in general. My job is particularly “busy” because it requires me to switch context at the drop of a hat.

I can be classified as absentminded, focused, all-over-the-place, and kind-of-an-ass all in the same day.

Through understanding my own cognitive limitations and knowing that communicating is often, simultaneously, the easiest and hardest thing to do, I have decided to provide a set of tips for successfully talking to someone who has a head full of stuff.

CHECK THE TIME(ING)

Assuming what you want is important, just make sure that it is also relevant in terms of time.

Can it wait until a less busy time?

Is this information likely to be forgotten before it becomes important?

Is starting this conversation right now going to result in an outcome that you want?

Save yourself the pain of repetition and misunderstanding and check to make sure the timing is right.

START BY SAYING SOMETHING UNIMPORTANT

Start with a word like “Hey” or something that is meant to simply gain attention from whatever they might be doing or thinking. You can throw in niceties like “how are you”, or “is this a good time?” but you might end up derailing your effort.

If you start by directly asking the question, you will be doomed to repeat it because they will not have heard you.*

You know this interaction well. Sometimes someone will say “What” and then start processing what you said and answer you midway through your repeating of the question.

*This is only applicable to verbal conversations, not written communication. If you drop into my Slack or Whatsapp and say “Hey” then wait for me to respond, good fu*king luck. For written communication, skip to the context part always.

PROVIDE CONTEXT

Before you ask or say whatever it is, provide a bit of background to get their mind into the right frame of understanding.

Your CEO might be preparing for their next board meeting and also an investor meeting, and also a speaking event at some conference, while you, the PR manager, walk into their office and blurt out, “Is the presentation ready yet?”

What presentation? When? Who? WTF.

This is awful for everyone involved. Just provide context every single time.

“Hey, so about your speaking event at the X Conference this Friday, is your presentation ready yet? We need to run it by the design team to make sure all the visuals match the content.”

☝🏼See how much better that is. Now they know what it’s for and why it is important to you.

Magic.

PROVIDE A WHY

Just to make sure you remember this one. That “Why” we saw before? Where we say that we need the CEO to look at the presentation for a specific purpose?

Yeah that is super important. How else is a busy person supposed to internally prioritize and process this new information?

Always give a reason why you need something or why it is important.

FOLLOW UP (TO GET WHAT YOU WANT)

Poke them again somehow.

Leave a note, mark something in their calendar, send them an email or a document that summarizes what you said or what decision was made.

This makes sure the information appears in another place and can act as a standing reminder. But whatever it is that you do, make it value adding to the original conversation.

And really, that’s it, a simple 5ish step formula for talking to a busy person with a head full of stuff.