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30
Sep 2011

3 Tips for Fewer Distractions at Work

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Office Noise Doesn’t Have to Become Distraction

Getting distracted at work is a common complaint that seems to have no real solution.  Some people work just fine with a circus around them, while others seem more prone to get caught up in the show.  Interestingly, the average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day, which seems to negate the idea that some workers can ignore the chaos.  While distractions can be both internal and external, the most bothersome ones are external and usually are noise-related.  Chatty co-workers, water cooler gossip, loud sales guys, etc.  The noise just never stops.

There really are a million distractions at work.  However, you do not have to be held captive to them.  You have several options:

3 Tips for Fewer Distractions

  1. Talk to them.  It may sound hypocritical- talk to co-workers about their loud talking…however, dealing with the problem head-on and in a respectful, straight-forward manner may just be what needs to happen. One way to ensure you are not too forward is to ask if there’s anything you can do to make their work day a little smoother.  Compromise can go a long way towards keeping a healthy work relationship.
  2. Time block.  Some people find it helpful to lay out their schedules and physically block off time for emailing, phone calls, ad computer work.  Some also find it necessary to escape their desks for various blocks of time and choose to reserve a conference room.
  3. Try a sound machine.  It may be that option #1 simply isn’t going to cut it with your co-workers and option #2 doesn’t alleviate enough noise.  Some temperaments just can’t handle such dialogue without becoming defensive or retaliatory.  If that’s your situation, a desktop sound machine is just the ticket.  It’s loud enough to cover office noise, but low enough to not be a distraction for others.  There are a variety of options, so it’s important to consider your needs before choosing one.

Office noise is inevitable, but office distraction doesn’t  have to be.  Try sound masking with a sound machine for better focus and increased productivity.

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28
Sep 2011

Tips for Being More Productive at Work

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It’s probably not a big leap to say that you feel dead at the end of the day.  However, if you’re like me, you feel drained even before the end of the day.  It’s frustrating to feel behind before you even get started and to watch your productivity leave you {or never even join you in the first place}.  If you’d like to recover your wasted energy, check out these tips.

  • Maintain Good Posture. Surprisingly, bad posture can really drain you because slouching or sitting in an awkward position requires extra work by the major muscle groups in your back and arms.  In addition to how you sit, it’s critical to try to maintain a neutral typing posture where your muscles are at their lowest strain and are even relaxed.Ergonomic chairs are specifically designed to support good posture for long periods of time and have adjustable arm rests to help support your arms for good typing positioning.
  • Start Using White Noise. Distractions are massively draining- the average worker loses more than 2 hours a day to them!  Start by establishing a distraction-free time with no e-mail or phone calls – maybe even hang a sign indicating when you will next be available for interruptions — and turn on a white noise machine to block out office conversations and noise around you.
  • Upgrade Your Keyboard. In the same way that poor posture strains you back and arms, poor positioning of your hands and arms wastes energy and can strain muscles. Ergonomic keyboards are wonderfully designed to improve hand posture and reduce the energy and muscle movement required for typing. You should try the many different designs and sizes to find one that fits your hands and needs.

We all encounter distractions and interruptions that drain us of our energy and break our concentration. Set aside a distraction-free time and use a personal sound machine to help you focus and make the most of your time.

 

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23
Sep 2011

Airplanes & White Noise

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Babies Aren’t that Bad on a Plane..

I ran across an excerpt on one of my friend’s blogs that captured so many airplane-related travel issues so well…one of which is the unfair shake babies usually get on a plane.

As I approached my seat, which incidentally was supposed to be the window seat, I was greeted by two wide-eyed and frantic-looking parents trying to console their fussing 7 month-old. The mother was attempting to breastfeed her overtired baby while the father looked on in ineffective desperation. With a deer-in-the-headlights expression he said, “Do you mind if we stay where we are?” I told him it was fine and a few minutes later leaned over to reassure him that I had three small children and the crying didn’t bother me. He relaxed slightly explaining that this was their daughter’s first flight (I tried to suppress the look of “no kidding?” that fought to flicker over my face) and tried to encourage him that his baby would fall asleep as soon as we got up into the air, lulled to sleep by the noise of the engine. After all, I’ve been through it a couple of times. He nodded eagerly and said that they were hoping that would happen as this was when their daughter was usually asleep.

Sure enough. As soon as we disembarked and were airborne, the baby fell peacefully asleep and stayed that way the entire flight to Atlanta.

Adults Can Be Much More Obnoxious than Babies

Her sad conclusion was that even though the baby conked out with the white noise provided by the engine, the should-be happy ending was not to be.  The parents began to bicker as their frustration with each other and travel began to have an outlet.  Man, I’ve been there.  There is so much planning and packing and preparing you have to do to get ready for a trip, which is only multiplied with each child, especially babies.  While you don’t have to carry many snacks or activity books or games with you, you do have to think about how much their schedules are being disrupted and how you’re going to restore order to their little lives.  Sleep, in the form of good naps and night time sleep, can be hard to come by.

How to Avoid Travel Stress

I will say that, like my friend, my husband and I have traveled a lot with little kids of varying ages, including 7 or 8 transatlantic flights, as well as that many British and European flights.  And we are just as susceptible to bickering as the couple on the plane.  However, we have found that by dividing the prep between us alleviates the tension of feeling like you’re the one doing everything (or to blame for everything that goes wrong!).  In a nut shell, he finds the best deal, books the tickets, plans the trip.  I prepare the children, pack, and bring everything I think we might need.  Our top pack is a portable travel sound machine.  I’m not kidding.  Losing sleep (the baby, the toddler, the preschooler, or us) is never ideal on a trip.

Lack of sleep and stress can trigger marital discord when traveling.  Do what you can to prevent it by being prepared and providing the best sleep environment you can with a travel sound machine.

 

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21
Sep 2011

Tips for Staying at Home & Working from Home: Part 2

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I recently posted some basic tips for balancing working from home with small children. I mentioned the importance of setting a schedule and trying to stick with it.  This is definitely easier said than done.  Thus, why not offer some tips for actually finding the time to work while you stay at home.

Tips for Finding the Time

  • Before they wake up & After they go to bed Two main times to work are before your kids awake up and after they go to bed.  It’s possible to work both those times, but most people have to choose based on whether their kids are early risers or early to bedders {Lord help you if they’re early risers and late to bed!}. Regardless of which you choose, I know it’s sacred down time, but it might be some of the quietest, most focused time you get during the day.
  • During Down Time An alternative is to work during preschool, nap time, or movie/down time.  Whether your kids are napping, watching a movie, doing a craft, or enjoying some individual play time, this early afternoon work time can be a nice down time for them.  For me, it works best if we’ve spent good, quality time together in the morning so that this alone time isn’t painful or hard-won.  In addition, I try to have something quiet that my child likes and can look forward to doing while I work so that she doesn’t have negative associations of my work.  There might be a special toy or puzzle or movie you can save for these times.
  • Co-Op Lastly, you might consider switching off with another stay at home mom.  You would each take turns watching kids so each of you gets some time to yourself.  Even if she doesn’t work from home, she could certainly use some by herself errand time.

Regardless of when you work, distractions are inevitable.  I have been working from home for 3 years now, and from kids being rambunctious to dogs barking to neighborhood sales kids with cookies, there is an abundance of noise.  I can honestly say one of the best investments you can make is a sound machine.  Choose one that suits you and your needs (it can even double for a sleep aid at night!) and use it so you can tune out a distracting world around you.

Finding the time to work from home can seem impossible, especially when you have to tune out distractions.  Try these simple tips for carving out some work time so you can balance home and work life.

 

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16
Sep 2011

Tips for Moving House & Rooming Your Kids Together

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We recently moved flats {a fancy word for apartment or duplex}, a move which has necessitated several important changes for our family.  Besides a change of address of form and reorienting ourselves to driving places from a new location, we had to prep our small children for the changes they would face.  We had just been robbed at our old flat, so it was important to me to have our kids not only be physically close to us, but also for them to feel safe.  In addition, we will be having a baby in a few months, so we needed the kids to share a room.  Lastly, our 3 year old had been sleeping in a loft with a precarious ledge and 2 steep stair cases away from the ground floor and bathroom.  Thus, we had not moved him out of a crib yet.   So…a new home, a shared room, and a big boy bed- all in one night!  Bring it on!

Honestly, the whole change went much better than I anticipated.  I will say that one of main successes was talking it up before the day of the change.  We drove by the new place a lot and talked about how we would be living there and how fun it would be to have a new room.  We enlisted our older child’s help in being excited about the shared room and what a big boy the younger one was to get to share a room and have a big boy bed!  I made sure not to say things like, ‘The baby will need your crib…” because I didn’t want him to feel kicked out of his familiar place.  Rather we talked about how he got to sleep in a big boy bed like his older sister!

Additionally, one of the first things we made sure we had set up were their beds and their room so that they could practice getting in and out and know where they were.  Conversely,  we did not set up the crib so that it remained out of sight and out of mind.  Lastly, we walked the kids from their room to both the bathroom and to our room so that they would know how to get to both places.

One of the best things we did was to use a  sound machine in their room.  We debated about it, but decided that since their room was close to the bathroom and the front door, it might be nice to shield them from the inherent noise that would inevitably result.   Plus, usually the littler one wakes up before the older one {because he still naps, bless him}, so the white noise provides a a small barrier between his early morning chatter and his still resting sister.

All in all, moving homes and rooming our kids together was successful- mainly due to preparation and a good sound machine.

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14
Sep 2011

Tips for Staying at Home & Working from Home

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I know this blog is named “Noisy Co-Workers”, thus implying fairly concretely that our readers do actually have co-workers.  Some of you might be more like me, though, in that you have left your office to stay at home with your babies…and then started working from home, too.

Being a Mom is a Balancing Act

Working from home can prove quite challenging.  Squeezing quality work in between quality time with each child can feel nearly impossible.  However, after working from home with 2 kids at home [and a third on the way!}, I have found doing both is possible, though you must be purposeful.  I will say that each stay at home, work from home mom will have to do what works best for her, but here are some tips for balancing home and work that should apply for all.

First and foremost, be reasonable in your expectations.

  • Make a rough schedule that accounts for when you will work and what you will get done.  It doesn’t have to be carved ins tone, but playing it loosey goosey doesn’t bring in a sizeable pay check.  Try it out and adjust it as necessary.
  • Set up specific time to work.  This might just mean following your schedule.  Slot out several hours that are for work and not anything else.  If you have some kids at home, try taking advantage of down time or nap time to work.
  • Be sure to treat work like work- it’s not a hobby, nor is it 24/7.  It works best for me to try to get my quota in Monday through Friday, though if I have to take time off during the week, I make up for it on the weekend.  This will vary based on how you’re paid- you may need certain hours or it may be a task-finished kind of payment.

Set up an ergonomic work station.

One of the most common mistakes work from home moms make is to treat work a little too comfortably.  They don’t realize that typing with one hand while wiping a bottom with the other may cause injury, not to mention a very dirty keyboard.

  • Thus, be sure to set up a work space that is conducive for work.  If you are a crafter, you need a craft corner that has all of your supplies in easy reach. If you work from a computer, you need a desk that houses all your equipment ergonomically.  You should make a habit of working from the desk, even if it means docking your laptop.  Your monitor should be at eye level to avoid eye strain and your keyboard should be centered, with the mouse right next to it.
  • If at all possible, adjust your chair to support your back.
  • Just because you don’t have actual co-workers doesn’t mean you don’t have noise problems.  Plug in a sound machine to tune it out, or try this free white noise generator.

Balancing kids and working from home can be challenging.  The key is to treat work professionally, even going so far as to set up an ergonomic work station, to ensure that you get your work done!

 

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09
Sep 2011

Getting Undistracted at Work

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Lost At Work

Do you ever just feel lost at work?  You’re sitting at  your desk with a thousand things to do, yet you can’t seem to get on track.  Does this sound familiar?  It’s no wonder- studies say that the average worker is distracted about 2 hours a day.  There are all kinds of distractions, of course, but interestingly, the main culprit is actually conversational distraction…you know, getting caught up in a little gossip or replay of last night’s game, or even just overhearing someone else’s lame {or fairly interesting} chatter.  Other distractions like email, internet shopping, and social networking rank, too, of course.   So, what can you do about it?

Try re-working your desk or work space.

You may have a corner office or be relegated to a cubicle…or even work from a corner in your living room.  Regardless of your physical square footage or geography, getting a fresh perspective can be really helpful.

  • Get rid of any junk or old papers, etc.  Clutter can be unattractive, discouraging, and even distracting.  So, recycle or file or just throw away what you don’t need on a daily basis.
  • Physically rework your space.  I know we’re talking about getting rid of distractions, but sometimes we waste time because our stuff isn’t set up as well as it could be.  Make sure your monitor is at eye level and centered in front of you.  Next, center your keyboard and pull in your mouse as close as you can to minimize movement.   Lastly, adjust your chair to fit you and support your back.
  • Try a sound machine.  Since noise is the number one documented distractor at work, why not treat it?  It’s nearly impossible to ignore or tune out noise on your own, even when you try really hard.  You just end up getting more distracted.  Thus, a good solution is white noise, which keeps your brain from focusing on any one specific sound, thus freeing it up to work again.

The average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day.  Re-working your own space and trying a sound machine can help you regain focus.

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07
Sep 2011

Tuning Out Noisy Neighbours

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Flats

We recently moved flats…that’s just a fancy British term for apartment.  The interesting thing is how different “flats” can be.  Our first flat was a traditional apartment- on the “first” floor, called the second floor to Americans, surrounded by numerous other flats with all the traditional noise.  Our second flat was more like a shoe box turned on it side- it had a basement, ground floor, first floor, and loft with neighbours on both sides but no one above or below us.  Our most recent move has brought us to a semi-detached “house” of flats.  It is like a little house with neighbours on one side.

Noisy Neighbours

The common thread through them all is that we have neighbours who share at least one wall with us.  I can’t say what their feelings are on the matter {well, I can tell you about one set’s opinions but I’ll spare you the gory details}, but I know for our part it has been tricky.  Going from owning your own home to renting a place with other renters all around you can  prove quite a disconcerting change, especially with regard to sleep.  It may seem strange to mention sleep, but when you have to factor in other people’s schedules {or lack thereof}, your own schedule gets rocked, and that includes sleep.

For us, a workable solution has been a sound machine {or 2 or 3}.  We moved to  the UK with a 2 year old and a 4 month old…they are 5 and 3 now.  Though they are not as sensitive to noise as they were, they now share a room and are across the hall from the bathroom and down the hall from the living room where we entertain guests and watch movies.  Thus, for the last 3 years we have employed sound machines in their rooms and even in our own to cover neighbour noise, as well as seagulls calling and typical street and night time noise.

If you have noisy neighbours, it’s far better to cover their noise with a sound machine than to develop bad relations that will plague you daily and nightly.

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