Even if you have good intentions, it’s easy to get dragged down by distraction.

As you saw, the well-meaning coworker threw his convictions out the window and got sucked into the black hole of work place distraction, thereby punting on productivity and even sales. Sadly, counting down to Happy Hour doesn’t pay the bills.

If you’d like to avoid this dangerous pitfall ,but not be that guy (you know, the one who complains to the boss), try a free white noise generator (and maybe a new cubicle).

Tossing & Turning

Do you lie awake at night, tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep, only to watch the seconds and minutes slowly tick by, knowing that you’ll feel like a truck hit you the next morning?  There are so many reasons you could be sleeping poorly- from stress and anxiety to actual insomnia, not sleeping is a fairly common problem.   Even knowing that, though, doesn’t mean you’ll magically talk your mind into relaxing for sleep.  Sadly, you just keep thinking about sleeping (or not sleeping) and your level of frustration will only escalate.

This is not exactly beckoning you to sleep.

Have you ever had one of those Hollywood–esque ideas that is so crazy it just might work?  Well, here is one of them, except it’s really not that crazy.  Since stress and anxiety are leading causes of sleep disorders, it’s not a far jump to suggest that less clutter and better organization might aide in better sleep.

For example, when I sit on the floor with my kids, my eye naturally travels under the couch and on top of tables and in nook and crannies.  So, instead of spending quality, in-the-moment time with my children, I am mentally cleaning and that’s all I can think about (OCD, I know- it comes with your first child).

How much more, then, when you’re bored out of your mind and should be sleeping but can’t, are you focusing on the clutter and disorganization around you instead of allowing your mind to turn off?

Some decluttering tips for better sleep

Before it’s time to sleep, take the hour or two (tell me it’s not more than that) to clean your room.  I don’t want to sound like your mom, but you need one right now.

• Hang up your clothes or throw them in the laundry basket (then make a mental note to actually do the laundry tomorrow)- the floor is not made for clothes.
• Dust.  Use a spray or wet cloth or whatever you need and rid yourself of its pesky presence.
• Simplify.  More is sometimes more.  An over-decorated or even over-furnitured room can be mentally overwhelming.
• Spring for a relaxing paint color, such as pale green or a warm cream, instead of stark white or distracting, bold colors.
• Use white noise to block distraction.  Here is a free white noise generator you can try out.  However, a portable sound machine is your best bet so you don’t run your computer all night- plus there are tons of options.  Alternatively, some people use sleep assistants to help clam their minds and bodies.  Go with what works for you.

With minimal effort, you can be more relaxed and sleeping better in your peaceful bedroom.  You’ve got nothing to lose and many hours of sleep to gain.  And, as an added bonus, you’ll get an organized room again.

A lot of offices have casual Friday when you can kind of ‘let loose’ with your wardrobe and wear more casual clothes to work. This is all fine and good, except when your coworkers take the idea of casual Friday a little too far. We all know you’d never do that, but just to make sure, we’d thought we’d give you some tips to still look professional and casual, but not distracting. Because even though we here at Noisy Coworkers love us some white noise, it can only help so much with certain distractions.

Tips for Casual Friday

1. Wear clothes that fit. This seems obvious, but it  is not always a given.

Wow! I think this woman violated every rule but number 5. What do you bet she is wearing white tennis shoes?

If you have flesh bulging out anywhere, it is safe to say that you should probably just put that back in the closet (or the trash can). For good. If it looks like you painted the clothing on or have to really squeeze yourself into, again, please put that back in the closet.

2. Don’t wear clothing that is too revealing. Nothing too low. Nothing too short. If you would wear it to a night club, then please don’t wear that to work.  Another good rule of thumb is that if you have to keep adjusting your clothing, it might not be a good fit (pun  intended).

3. Don’t wear clothing with holes in it. I know the fashions come and go about whether having holes in your jeans is cool or not, but at the office, it just looks like you didn’t care enough to change into some decent clothes. If there are holes in the article of clothing, or if you have ever worn said clothing to do yard work in, then these items are also a no no at the office.

I know these are supposed to be fashionable, but this is definitely not professional.

4. Please try to match. My husband once had a professor whom we wondered if he didn’t close his eyes every morning, reach into his closet and pull things out and then put them on in the dark and never look at this outfit again. Seriously, they were hideous.   Don’t mix patterns. Black and brown do NOT look good together. (I know some would argue, but I’m sticking with this one.) No day glow colors. Simple principles like that. (If you are in the fashion industry, please disregard everything I just said. You guys make up your own rules, it seems.)

5. No tennis shoes, especially white ones. There are lots of other nice looking and comfortable shoe options out there. It looks a lot more professional if you don’t have tennis shoes on. (Unless you work at a gym. And then I still don’t like white tennis shoes.  How hard is it to throw in some blue or, Lord forbid, yellow?)

6. If you would wear it to bed or to exercise in, then leave those in the gym bag or the laundry room. Definitely not work wear.

7. Just because you are dressed casually doesn’t mean you need to act too casually. Keep it professional, people.

I’m sure you could think of a lot more rules regarding this subject, but if you follow these, you’ll be well on your way to looking good. And for all your other coworkers who don’t read this? Feel free to print this out and post it somewhere highly visible. You’ll be glad you did.

I recently found a site that talked about avoiding distractions at work.  I enjoyed reading some of the comments left:

One (wo)man's gain is another man's distraction.

Background Noise

Thanks for all of the tips. The background noise thing is huge for me. If I can hear other people’s conversations, then my mind automatically tries to zero in on that rather than my task at hand. If I am really having trouble, I will turn on some white noise so that way I can’t hear the conversations as well. There are lots of free online noise generators.

Agreed.  In fact, I can even supply you with a free online generator.

A woman amongst Men

I am the only woman on a floor with all guys. The locker room banter and bodily noise demonstrations along with the spontaneous outbursts of sounds, whistling and general turrets behaviors is my biggest distraction.

As a fellow female, I sympathized with this poor woman.  Then, I laughed.  Boys will be boys, I suppose.

The 2-Minute Rule

As our office has grown and the faces and dynamics have changed, I wondered if I was just being overly sensitive, so I counted. I used a post it note and every time someone made an unnecessary, rude, disturbing noise I made a tick mark. After four hours I tallied them to find that someone had made a random, useless outburst every 2 minutes. At least I had something to bring to management. I told them I didn’t want anyone punished, after all the bahavior had been tolerated by other workers and management alike, but that I needed a slightly more subdued work environment to focus. There were some seating changes and some new rules. The guys can still be social, but now at least I can get my work done.

Dealing with Distractions

I imagine this last one is pretty normal.  Distractions and interruptions are part and parcel to working amongst others.  Even working from home can be distracting.  The bottom line , though, is to be proactive.  Ask management to look into it for possible solutions.  If you’re not comfortable with that or you feel you are ratting out the very people amongst whom you must work every day, then be a self-starter and take action on your own. Here are just a few pointers for being  less distracted (and therefore more focused) at work:

• Draw some boundaries.  Everyone needs a (coffee) break, so do your socializing then and only then.
• De-clutter your desk so you don’t fell overwhelmed every time you look up.
• Try the free white noise generator.  It doesn’t work for everybody, but most people will say the low-level background noise helps cover otherwise distracting sounds/bodily emissions/unnecessary interruptions.
• Have tech-free minutes, even hours, where you devote time to written work or organizational needs.  IBM mandated “quiet time” for some of their engineers.

As a result of proactive techniques such as those listed above, many workers  found they were able to quit working evenings and weekends due to the increased productivity.  That sounds good, doesn’t it?

At sundown today the first annual National Day of Unplugging ended? Did you participate? Did you even know about it?

There has been a lot of buzz around the internet about ‘unplugging’ lately in light of this day and I starting thinking, “What better way to ‘avoid noisy coworkers and other distractions in a loud world’ than by unplugging?”. The group behind the National Day of Unplugging also advocates observing a weekly day of rest, which would include unplugging from technology, getting outside, and reconnecting with loved ones, among other things. Those all sound like things I would like to do more of!

I think one of the best things you can do to avoid distractions is to slow down at least one day and do things where it doesn’t matter if you are distracted. (Or, if there are ‘distractions’, they are good things!) I have heard it called ‘Taking time to just be.” Just exist. You don’t always have to have a plan or a to do list. By removing yourself from the harried pace of the workforce  for just a day (and giving yourself some grace with your home projects!), you can go back to work feeling refreshed and perhaps better able to deal with your annoying co-workers’ loud telephone conversations and all the other irritating habits they have. (Because we all know it is never you annoying them.)

If you work from home, it gives you a definite break in the work week–no feeling guilty for not constantly checking your email and answering your phone when you have scheduled your day of rest. And it also gives you something to look forward to all week–a day to rest and regroup is waiting at the end!

So go ahead. Plan to read a book, go on a hike, spend some time with your significant other and/or your kids, take a nap, or whatever makes you happy. Your mind set (and consequently your work place and coworkers!) will be better for it.

In November of 2008, an Irish court ruled against meat factory worker Hans Kelder who got his hand caught in a ham slicer at his workplace. Of course, Kelder was suing his workplace for this incident. Of course the fact that he’d let his mind wander while chatting up a coworker was his employer’s fault. Of course he should sue. I mean, who blames hiself for an injury sustained while distracted (by his own chatty tendencies no less)?

If I were Jim Halpert, I would just stare at the video camera. Seriously?

Thankfully, the court was just and the judge was wise, calling Kelder “the author of his own misfortune.” Now, it’s not that I don’t feel for Hans- he did lose a good chunk of his hand. However, suing the company for being distracted seems a bit extreme. At some point, we have to take responsibility for our own poor choices. I tell my children that, and they are 1 and 3. Hans, it’s time you took some initiative. Since you obviously felt you had no other recourse, I will help you:

1. QUIT talking while operating heavy machinery.
2. Make a pact with fellow workers for them to ignore you if you break rule #1.
3. Invest in some ear plugs or headphones to keep you from chatting.
4. Should you find the music the aforementioned headphones stream too distracting itself, rid yourself of said implements of injury and possible death and resort to ear plugs.
5. If all else fails, find another job.

Most of us don’t slice deli meat or operate deadly heavy machinery.  But, we too might occasionally (or quite regularly) find ourselves the victim of endless workplace distractions.  Should that happen, and should you find your focus blurry or your productivity diminished, you might also need to be proactive.  I’m gonna be bold- quit blaming other people, and do what you have to stay focused.  I’ll supply a list for you cubicle dwellers, as well:

1. Limit your chat time.  Most people need a few minutes to unwind and take a break.  Drink your coffee, stretch your legs, get your gossiping in, and go back to work.
2. Set boundaries.  In a nice way, maybe let your fellow cubies know that you (and they for that matter) have a lot to get done and you don’t really want to sacrifice the weekend because you’re not getting enough done Monday-Friday.
3. Tune it out.  Use ear plugs, headphones, or white noise.  I prefer white noise because ear plugs get itchy and make my ears sore (maybe that’s just me?) and headphones are equally distracting (and a wee bit unprofessional, not to mention what they do to my hair).  White noise can be adjusted and turned off and on quite quickly without looking waxy or flattening my hair.
4. Whatever you do, don’t try to sue your company for having distractions.  Deal with them.  You are an adult.

You’re welcome.

There are a lot of distractions at the office…

Evidently, most of them are a direct result of your own doing. Go figure. Here are a few tips to help you:

1. The key board is for doing work- go ahead and keep that one.
2. The mouse is also pretty useful- you might wanna keep that one around too.
3. Use the disinfectant and put it away.  Like in a drawer.
4. Play your games at home.  Unpopular, sure.  But work is for work- if you don’t want to work evenings and weekends, be more productive during the day.  Revolutionary, I know.
5. Quit videoing your desktop and try white noise.  It might keep your attention in place.

Recently I have been thinking about how I use my time. I am HORRIBLE about wasting time. Like just now, when I was supposed to be writing this blog post, I might have wasted an inordinate amount of time on Facebook and reading blogs. When I was working in an office it wasn’t the internet that kept me distracted, but it was conversations with my co-workers. If there was a conversation, I wanted to be in on it! (Can you tell I am an extrovert?) I am not a task oriented person if other people are around that I can interact with. Consequently, I ended up taking longer on a project than I needed to or causing myself undue stress trying to meet a deadline. Now, since I work from home, I end up working at undesirable hours because I might have squandered away the desirable hours wasting time. I know I am not the only person who struggles with this.

Obviously I need to be more purposeful with my time. I know this is a cliché, but it works and it is true. I need to:

Work hard: This is simple, but it is really difficult for me to do sometimes (especially when I am supposed to be doing

Git-R-Done

it). Work hard when you are supposed to be working hard so that you can stop when it is time to stop and not feel guilty about it. For myself, that means getting away by myself so that there is no one else to interact with and buckling down. That may not be possible for others, so you could use headphones to listen to music or white noise to drown out the distractions in the background so that you can concentrate on the task at hand. As my father in law likes to say (and incidentally Mater too): Git R done!

Play hard: Since you have finished you work, you can now play hard. Whether this means spending time with your significant other, your kids, or just watching TV, you can do it with a clean conscience. This is what this time has been allotted for, so enjoy it!

Sleep hard: You have to have enough rest to be able to accomplish the above tasks. Do whatever you have to do, but getting enough sleep is important.

Now if only I didn’t need the internet to do my work so that way Facebook wasn’t always calling out to me…..

I usually address the needs of the distracted worker in a cubicle.  I digress at times, but largely, I write for the rights of the interrupted  soul just trying to get his or her work done.

Today, however, I am writing to you, O Distractor.  Whether you are making inappropriate jokes, clicking your finger nails, tapping your heels, emitting bodily odors and sounds, overly rejoicing over a sale (it had to happen some time, right?), arguing too loudly with your other half via an office-traveling phone call, eating odiferous ethnic foods or just plain old tuna, this is for you.

And I’m not sorry.  You deserve it.  Maybe now you’ll work instead of irritating the rest of us.  Until that day, I will block you.

Quiet Time at Work?

Maybe there really was something to the quiet game.

I’ve heard of quiet times for children and of quiet times for spiritual meditation, but I’d never heard of quiet time for work.  According to a recent BNET article, IBM , Intel , U.S. Cellular and Deloitte &  Touche have taken charge of their employees’ time like this: