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21
Mar 2011

Increasing Your Productivity {Remove Distractions with White Noise}

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I am always looking for ways to make the most of my work day. Here are some surprising, but effective tips to increase productivity and efficiency:

  • Prioritize your day – Always jump into the most important tasks first thing in the morning, before checking your email or answering phone calls. This guarantees that the priority tasks get done while you are freshest.
  • Use white noise – Random office noise, completely unrelated to you and your work consumes almost two hours a day for most people. Try out this free white noise generator to see if you could benefit from masking the miscellaneous noise at work.
  • Establish a ‘No-Interruption’ Mode – New studies have found that people distract themselves at work almost as often as they are distracted by other people. Designate a specific period of time to turn off all distractions (such as Facebook, Instant Messenger, Email and even your phone) in order to optimize your focus on the project at hand. At the end of your time, take a short break to check your phone and email, then go back to the ‘No-Interruption’ mode.
  • Take a break – Get up from you chair and walk around. About once an hour, stretch your muscles, look around and breathe deeply. This will help relieve stress, relax your muscles and increase blood flow to your brain.
  • Drink more water – Your brain is about 75% water. Getting even slightly dehydrated can decrease your productivity and energy by up to 20%. As a general rule aim for eight full glasses of water a day.
  • Sit up straight – Good posture one of the most important changes any computer user can make to improve comfort and productivity. The ultimate goal is to maintain a neutral typing posture while using your computer more productively.  Start with a good, ergonomic chair and adjust it to support your body. Move the back rest up or down to find the angle that best fits the curve of your back. Make sure your lower back has enough support, or add portable lumbar support. Lower your chair height so your feet rest firmly on the floor and adjust your arm rests to provide easy elbow and arm movement.
  • Get Organized – Clear off all the clutter on your desk and stop wasting time looking for things. Place the frequently used items, like your phone or stapler, within easy reach. Try using an adjustable keyboard tray to open more space on your desk, and to allow for better typing posture.
  • Upgrade your keyboard – Ergonomic keyboards are designed to help you type faster, more comfortably and more efficiently. Try out several different keyboards to find one that best fits your hands. Give yourself a few weeks to adjust to the new fit and style.

These simple tips can help you make the most of your time. Eliminate distractions by turning off your phone or email, and by adding a personal white noise generator to your work. Increasing your comfort with a well-designed, ergonomic chair or upgrading to an ergonomic keyboard can also help you remain productive all day long.

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28
Jan 2011

Sleep Well – On the Road or at Home!

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How well to you rest while traveling? Do you find yourself disturbed by the new and strange sounds at night? What about your productivity while traveling for work? Can you concentrate in a new environment, with new distractions?

My husband recently returned from a two-day trip for a conference. The lectures were great, and he enjoyed the networking. However, he found it was difficult to be productive during his down time because of the distracting conversations around him, and that he did not sleep well at night due to the strange sounds of a new city. He would have really appreciated bringing a personal white noise machine.

If you have never tried a sound machine, here are some practical uses that could benefit you:

Work – Did you know that the average person loses up to two hours of productivity because of distractions? This can be true whether you are traveling or sitting in your office. There are constant conversations and interruptive sounds that scream for your attention throughout the day. Portable white noise can cover those distractions and help you focus on your work.

Sleep – Do annoying sounds, such as a barking dogs or loud music, ever keep you from sleeping soundly? White noise (or other relaxing sounds, such as a thunderstorm or babbling brook ) can mask the interruptive sounds, giving you better sleep in spite of extra street noise, or unfamiliar hotel sounds while traveling. The result is a more refreshing sleep at home or on the road.

Relaxation – On a peaceful Sunday morning, while reading the paper and sipping coffee, the last thing you want to hear is annoying car horns on the street or the neighbor’s dog chasing a squirrel. Imagine, instead, how relaxing it would be to drown out that noise with the sounds of waves crashing on the shore or peaceful chimes blowing in a soft wind.

Personal white noise helps eliminate distractions and create a more peaceful environment. This can increase your productivity at work, or provide you with a more restful night’s sleep. Give this amazing technology a trial run to discover if you can appreciate the benefits of improved concentration and better sleep!

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17
Dec 2010

The Sweet Sound of White Noise Machines

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One of my favorite times of the day is after the kids have gone to bed. I settle down on my couch with my (not-so) trusty laptop and hopefully a cup of (decaffeinated) tea. I bask in the freedom of being able to sit somewhere for a few minutes without someone climbing on top of me, asking me to do something for them, or having to break up an argument. The background noise of my most favorite time is always two white noise machines–one in my son’s room and one in my daughter’s room. When I hear that, I know that I have made it through another day and my children are now sleeping sweetly in their beds.

My kids find the sound of the sound machine comforting too. They’ve always slept with one and don’t know any other way. About a week ago we forgot to click the sound machine on before we left our daughter’s room. Her shouts quickly made us run back in there and we made her little sleep world right again. In fact, when my children pretend to sleep during their play time, they go and turn on their sound machines before they climb up in the bed to “sleep.”

The beauty of using a sound machine to sleep is that it frees my children up to get the sleep they need–not only so they are in a good mood the next day, but for proper development. They are not constantly being awoken by other noises. Using a sound machine also frees me up to be able to move around the house without having to constantly worry about waking them. I like staying up late, so I usually exercise, wash the dishes, straighten the house, and sometime get some cooking done. My daughter’s bedroom is directly across from the kitchen, so most of that stuff happens literally right outside her bedroom door and she sleeps through it.

I really do appreciate those white noise machines.

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07
May 2010

Places You WISH Would Install Sound Masking

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I was in my kitchen cutting vegetables for that night’s dinner as both of my children were loudly playing behind me. My kitchen tends to be very ‘echo-y’ as there are 10 foot ceilings, ceramic tile on the floor, and not much of anything to absorb sound (besides my always present pile of laundry waiting to be washed). I was musing about how I wish my landlord would install sound masking in there, when I started to think of other places that would benefit from some sound masking.

Places I Wish Would Install Sound Masking

  • A little sound masking would be nice.

    Public bathrooms. It’s the worst when there are only two stalls, so you are sitting right next to each other with only a thin partition between you. Can anyone say ‘stage fright’? It gets even worse if for some reason you get caught out with an upset stomach. (Is it only me that has waited embarrassed inside my stall until the other person has washed their hands and then left before exiting?) I would most definitely appreciate a little sound masking in that situation.

  • Dressing rooms. Do I really want people to hear me as I talk to whomever I went shopping with if this particular pair of pants makes my derrière look large? No. And I don’t want to hear them discussing how awesome they look in some tiny swimsuit . Or hear me weeping when I try on a swimsuit. Dear department stores everywhere: please install sound masking. This would especially apply to places like Victoria’s Secret.
  • Waiting rooms. Its always so awkward when the only sound is the turning of magazine pages as you surreptitiously glance around and wonder why everyone else is there and if they are contagious. It is even worse if you brought someone along for moral support to your appointment. I always feel like I have to speak in a hushed whisper. Even a little bit of sound masking would help with the dead silence. The flip side of that is if you work in a reception area like that so the only sound is you answering the phone and speaking with your coworkers. Also awkward. (And a potential HIPAA violation, I might add.)
  • Funeral home. Its already a bad situation if you are needing to go to a funeral home, but the hushed whispers and sniffing from people crying during the calling hours can make it almost unbearable. Some well placed background sound (that is NOT elevator music) would be greatly appreciated.

Magic Sound Masking Key Chain

I was also pondering how a white noise key chain could provide lots of benefit. For example, you get behind a person on the bus who is discussing some matter on their phone that you are not interested in. I could pull out my white noise key chain and envelope my space in that nice peaceful sound. (I think what I am really wanting is a magic key chain!) Or how about when you get around some potty mouth person when you have your kids with you. “Children, employ the white noise now, please.” Magically, they would not be able to hear those words as they sit peacefully while the white noise rushes around them, protecting their delicate ears.

So the technology isn’t there yet (and I doubt it ever will be!) but there are portable white noise machines. Perhaps I should just solve all my own problems and hang ups and just carry one with me wherever I go. So if you are ever out and hear some nice white noise surrounding a lady and her two kids, that’ll be me. Just smile politely, please.

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30
Apr 2010

Making Mundane Tasks More Enjoyable

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I came across a post on the Simple Dollar today and I thought it had some valuable advice that I wanted to share here. Trent writes about “slog work” (monotonous work that has to be done) and ways to make it more bearable. I think we all have slog work that we have to do, but that we dread doing because it is time consuming and boring.

I bet this miserable looking man would enjoy his work a lot more if he had some rockin' tunes to listen to.

At my previous job it was prepping  and making patient charts. Now that I am a stay at home mom, it is the dishes. In order to make this mundane task more enjoyable, I will often purposefully leave all the dishes until the end of the day and then I will either listen to music or a podcast or I will call someone and chat with them while I am working. Sometimes I bring my laptop in the kitchen and watch a movie. (By leaving the dishes until the end of the day, I actually have enough work to listen to the entire podcast or have a lengthy conversation.) My slog work gets done and I don’t even notice I am doing it AND I get to listen to something enjoyable or talk to someone I care about. This is a positive situation all around.

So I would encourage you to think about tasks that you put off because you dread doing them. Is there some way that you could make them more enjoyable to do? If you work in an office, it might be enjoyable just to put on some headphones and do your task without interruption. (Even if you don’t have music playing, you can still block out distracting chatter.) If it is housework or yard work, load up your iPod with some of your favorite tunes and get busy. The time seems to go much quicker when you don’t have to only focus on the mundane work at hand.

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22
Dec 2009

White noise for #2?

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I found these comments on this hilarious site:

I love when people around me (we don’t have cubicles either) listen to their conference calls on speakerphone because they would rather ruin my afternoon than hold the phone to their ear…

Count your blessings– we don’t even have cubicles. There is no conversation that goes un-heard, bodily functions are shared, and office slacking requires some very high-tech and creative solutions.

How about some kind of background noise in the bathroom as well. Is anyone else just a little bit uncomfortable when you’re enjoying a morning dump, someone else doing the same, and it is completely silent?

Awesome article. My employer has one of these white noise systems – I have one of the bee-hive looking things that broadcast over my cube. It’s barely noticeable, and you still hear conversations and stuff, but then one day it went out – holy crap does it make a difference! When it went out it was like that scene from Bruce Almighty where he starts hearing all the prayers in his head (anyone?)…White noise saves my sanity…

Cubicles are an invention of the devil. They should be soundproofed. I bet it would even be cost-effective: consider cost of sound=proofing vs. cost of lost productivity. No, I don’t want to hear the guy over there’s phone conversation, and I don’t want random coworkers to be able to hear me when I give a credit card number out on the phone when doing a business purchase. Or for that matter, when I’m talking to clients.

Okay, lazy conference calls and taking a dump made my eyes water.  If I weren’t already convinced of white noise and sound masking systems, I would be now.

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