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28
Feb 2012

Making the Most of Your Time at Work

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January and February can be difficult month for many people, especially at work.  They feel unfocused, unproductive, and possibly even depressed.    The holidays are long gone, as is the excitement and feelings of hope for the new year.  People may even feel bummed that they’ve already missed their new year resolutions.  Throw in typical office distractions, and frustration just rises.  If you feel distracted, unproductive, or even down and depressed, please know you are not alone.  Most workers are distracted, and millions are depressed this time of year.  Keep reading for some tips on dealing with distraction/ lack of productivity and depression.

Dealing with Distraction

First, let’s deal with distraction.  The average worker is distracted 2 hours every day.  Being that distracted makes you unfocused, prone to mistakes and high levels of stress.  Interestingly, a lot of distraction is due to office noise, namely conversations.  An easy way to deal with conversational distraction is to use a sound machine which emits very low-level white noise so that you can tune out it and the surrounding noise to get back to work.

Dealing with Depression

Next, let’s talk about depression.  Depression is not a fun thing to talk about, but it’s important to know that Seasonal Affective Disorder affects millions of Americans.  It’s a form of depression that occurs in the winter months, and usually due to lack of sunlight.  Like sound masking, an equally simple solution is light therapy .  Try a “happy light” at your desk to literally brighten up your mood because the light replicates the rays of the sun.  It’s surprising how much a little light can do for your peace of mind.

If you struggle with distraction (and you do) or seasonal depression, try out sound masking system and/or light therapy for low-cost, easy to use solutions.

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05
May 2011

Tips to Increase Productivity {with White Noise}

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We all want to make the most of our time at work.  But instead, we are constantly bombarded by distractions or discomfort at work. Here are some helpful tips to increase your productivity and efficiency.

1. Restore Good Posture – The goal while sitting at a computer is to maintain a neutral typing posture, where your muscles are almost completely relaxed. Improving your posture will make you more comfort and boost your productivity. Get a good, ergonomic chair that encourages good posture, and adjust it to specifically fit your body. Make sure you feet sit firmly on the ground and that your back is well supported; you can also add portable lumbar support if your backrest is not sufficient.

2.      Try white noise – Random office noise and interruptions consume about two hours a day for the average office worker. Most of us spend our day trying to concentrate through the conversations around us. White noise can help. Try out this free white noise generator to see if you could benefit from masking the miscellaneous noise at work.  White noise can help cover up interrupting noises and make surrounding conversations fade into the background.

3.      Set your priorities. Each morning, list out your most important tasks or projects and spend the first part of your day on a high priority task while you are fresh and motivated. Don’t default to checking e-mail or phone messages first thing. This will help lower your stress and make you feel productive.

4.       Eliminate distractions! A recent study found that people tend to distract themselves at work as often as others distract them. Set a period of time like a 30 to 60 minutes and turn off all your self-distractions, like your phone and e-mail, and turn on a personal sound machine to block conversations. Spend this time in focused concentration working on a high priority task. At the end of your time, take a short break and then get back to your distraction-free work mode.

5.      Take a break. If you are feeling stiff or are struggling with a project, stand up and stretch. This will relieve muscle strain and increase blood circulation to the brain. A study at USC recently found that standing can increase brain function by 5% to 20%. And drink water throughout the day; so even slight dehydration can decrease your productivity by more than 20 percent.

Increasing your productivity and efficiency can lower your stress and help you complete your work by the end of the day. Start by maintaining good posture with a good, ergonomic chair that is properly adjusted to support your body. Next, decrease the time-consuming distractions and office noise with a white noise sound machine. Working to make changes in your habits and environment can help you feel more productive and less stressed at the end of the day.

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25
Apr 2011

Recover Wasted Energy with White Noise

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Do you feel completely drained of energy before you even reach the end of the day? We all have those days when we are extra tired, but there are some habits we can change to help retain some of the energy we waste during the day. Try these tips help recover your productivity.

  • Maintain Good Posture. Slouching or sitting in an awkward position requires extra work by the major muscle groups in your back and arms, draining you of energy and momentum. Instead, strive to maintain a neutral typing posture where your muscles are at their lowest strain and even relaxed. Ergonomic chairs are specifically designed to support good posture for long periods of time. Also, make sure your back is well supported and add more lumbar support if your chair doesn’t provide enough.
  • Start Using White Noise. It takes a great deal of energy and effort to concentrate in the midst of distractions and noise. Most people lose up to two hours a day from interruptions at work, but a personal sound machine can help. 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. It is incredible how quickly and efficiently you can work when you don’t have to spend half your brain power just trying to focus.
  • 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.
  • Be Aware of Your Energy-Draining Tasks. Do you find that certain tasks or dealing with certain people drain you faster than your normal work? We all have things we don’t like to do and personalities that challenge us. Once you recognize what these are for you, be deliberate about how you deal with them. Find a good time of the day, when you are not too tired or easily irritated. Then set aside a short period of time to tackle these tasks, or calls these people. Afterward, take a break, drink some water and restore your focus before moving on with your day. If necessary, come back to finish the task a little later in the day.

We all encounter distractions and interruptions that drain us of our energy and break our concentration. Try using white noise to cover the constant conversations and noise present in any office. Set aside a distraction-free time and use a personal sound machine to help you focus and make the most of your time. Establishing new habits can help you restore lost energy and remain productive all day long.

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13
Aug 2010

If You Don’t Ask, The Answer is Always No

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As I was perusing one of the blogs I read, I came across a link to a very helpful article.  This gentleman has adopted as one of his mottos the phrase, “if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”  I have heard this before, but this time it really made me start thinking. I am always so hesitant to ask people things because I don’t want to inconvenience them or I don’t want anything to be awkward–even if I don’t know the person I am asking and will most likely never see them again.

I also started thinking about how this might relate to you. How could you use this to help yourself be less distracted by your coworkers and more able to focus? I thought of a few ways.

  • Tell your boss you are having difficulty concentrating due to all the conversational distraction and ask for help in this area. You could mention how beneficial sound masking has been in other places. Perhaps your boss didn’t even realize how big of a problem it is.
  • Nicely ask your coworkers to please not disturb you. This could be done in person or with a sign on your cubicle or on the front of your desk. A funny sign can get the point across without being offensive. (Passive-aggressiveness pays off sometimes!) Perhaps your coworkers don’t know that their constant chatter is really bothering you.
  • Are there other things keeping your from being able to concentrate besides your noisy coworkers? Sometimes changing the way your desk is set up so that it is more ergonomically correct can help to get rid of all those aches you get from sitting in front of a computer all day. Its hard to concentrate when your shoulders are killing you. You might want to ask your boss for a better chair or a different keyboard to help with this.

So, what is keeping you from a less stressful and more productive day? It might be just a simple question to the right person.

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28
Jul 2010

Office distractions {& how to thwart them!}

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The only helpful thing about fantasizing about the beach is if it motivates you to work harder. Otherwise, it will just be a distraction.

Office Distractions

It’s the end of July, and nothing is more distracting than a warm, beautiful summer day (even if it is nearly 100 degrees).  Your mind wanders as you gaze out the window and contemplate all the things you could be doing instead of working (well, let’s be honest.  You’re not really working, are you?  You’re fantasizing about the beach.)  Throw in a couple office chatters and the obnoxious sales guy who wants to make sure everyone in the office has his spiel memorized and you might as well go home for the amount of productivity you’re (not) enjoying.

Office Distractions & how to thwart them

Assuming you see these distractions as problems and don’t want to encourage them, here are some tips for facing them head-on.

  • Take your breaks outside if possible.  This will relieve your cabin fever and remind you that it’s blazing hot, so even if you were outside, you’d be miserable.
  • Pack a picnic for lunch, and enjoy it in some nice shade with a coworker. get your chatting/gossiping done then so you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone: 1) You’re outside again, and 2) You are less likely to feel compelled to lean over your cubicle to chat.
  • Try white noise.  You can use a free white noise generator or you can  buy a system that appeals to you and offers some combination of the following features:  portable, nature sounds, tinnitus sound therapy, etc.  What they all should have in common is keeping you attention on work and not elsewhere.

Tip: many workers enjoy systems like the Sonet which are ideal for individual office/cubicle use.  Heck, your boss may even spring for it you ask.

  • When you do go home at night or on the weekends, enjoy that time.  Don’t think about work, and soak up as much “you” time as possible.  That way when you return on Monday, you feel refreshed because you used your time well and you can look forward to doing it again soon.  I’ll even add, (though it may be controversial) quit super-scheduling yourself.  You don’t have to g to every event offered.  If you don’t enjoy something, stop doing it.  Again, this will contribute to your overall well-being.
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12
May 2010

It Could Be Worse……….

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Instead of your coworkers always talking and distracting you, they could also do stuff like this.  Do these people really have that much extra time on their hands?! I don’t know about you, but I find stuff like this  way more annoying. (Go ahead. You can call me a stick-in-the-mud. I can take it.)

I guess you could turn the tables and target those most annoying/distracting to you. You know, channel all those passive-aggressive feelings you have.

Just offering a little perspective for you on this bright and shiny Monday morning. Happy work week! May it be peaceful, quiet, and prank free!

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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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23
Apr 2010

Telecommuting = No More Noisy Coworkers

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Are you tired of your noisy coworkers and trying to think up new ways to keep them from distracting you? Have you ever thought about if your job could be done from home? Could you work from home even a couple days a week? Before you immediately answer ‘no’ ask yourself a few questions.

Questions taken from Telecommute Connecticut.
  • Do you have the right job? Obviously if you are a construction worker or a plumber, telecommuting is not going to work.
  • Do you have a good job performance record? If you are constantly on Facebook or talking on your cell phone, your boss is probably not going to agree to you working from home. If you won’t work when you are at work, then why would you when you are at home? Also, if you are a new employee, you wouldn’t be a good candidate because you are still at a stage where you need to get familiar with office procedure and it is helpful to have other people around to be able to ask a quick question if you need to.
  • Do you have the right home office environment? Will you have access to a quiet place to work that is free from distractions? If the only place you have to work during the day is at your kitchen table right next to your noisy toddler then telecommuting would probably not work for you. Its awfully hard to participate in a conference call when your kid is yelling and throwing food at your computer and you.
  • Do you have the right boss and organizational structure? If your boss is like Michael Scott, then it is probably a no go.
  • Are you an effective communicator? If you can communicate quickly and easily over email and on the phone, then that would be fine. If you are the kind of person that needs to have a face to face conversation, then that might pose a problem for you to work at home.
  • Are you self-disciplined, motivated and organized? Basically, are you going to be able to work when you are supposed to work and get your job done?
  • Do you have social independence skills? As an extrovert, I would fail this question. I am horribly unproductive when I am completely alone and have always been that way. Give me another person working quietly in the same room as me, and I am good to go. I would feel too lonely and isolated if I worked from home full time.
  • Are you susceptible to overwork? If you have trouble leaving your work at your work, then you might not want to bring your work into your home where you would then have no physical separation from it, making it harder to have any mental separation. You need to have time away from work in order to rest and recharge.
  • Do you see telecommuting as a way to balance work and other roles? If you are going to telecommute, you still need to give 100% to your work. You can’t expect to be able to work effectively while caring for a sick relative or trying to take care of your kids. Your family and your work deserve better than that.

If your answers to these questions look promising after you have thoroughly thought them over, then perhaps you should approach your boss and ask if telecommuting would work for you.

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20
Apr 2010

White Noise for Realtors

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The McCord Real Estate Team

Taking a Personal Interest in their Clients

My mom and dad are successful realtors in Dallas, TX.  My mom started real estate while my dad was still building houses, so I have watched her top the charts time and again and have marveled at how well she did even solo.  I believe her success is a result of her loyalty, friendliness, and faithfulness.  Each client feels taken care of from looking at the first house to closing day and beyond.  That’s because she takes a personal interest in their needs and wants, and she works hard to ensure they get exactly what they want at a price they can afford.  And now that my dad brings his construction expertise to the team, they are quite the dynamic duo.

Why she left her office

Recently we had an interesting conversation about why she left her real estate office and started officing from home.  The main reason was that she felt she couldn’t serve her clients well from her noisy office for the following reasons:

  • Distraction- too much office noise was distracting while she tried to work or make calls.
  • Overheard Personal Information- she didn’t want other agents or passers-by to overhear her personal information as she made calls.
  • Competing agents- there were times that the agent on the other side of a deal she was negotiating was present in the office.  The last thing she wanted was for that agent to hear her confirming a seller’s bottom price or a buyer’s top price.
  • Lack of professionalism- similar to distraction, ambient office noise in the background does not sound personal and professional to a client on the other end of a call or in a meeting at the office.

As a result, she moved her office home to batter take care of her clients.  However, it may be that you don’t have that luxury.  Perhaps your home is not large enough to house an office, or perhaps you have to work at an office because it’s more convenient for your clients.  Or maybe it’s just too expensive to buy all the equipment you need to work from home successfully, or maybe you simply aren’t productive enough when faced with home distractions.

White Noise

Whatever the case may be, an alternative solution for office noise is white noise.  White noise is basically a low-level background sound that helps your brain block out competing sounds so that it can focus on one task, one conversation, or one person at a time without becoming distracted.  In the case of clients, white noise can help them stay focused and not overwhelmed by all the background clattering while they are trying to negotiate a deal.  Furthermore, when white noise in employed office-wide (like in the case of sound masking) provides security since all parties can talk freely without fear of being overheard.

My mom has received the customer service award office-wide 5 times for a reason- she cares about her clients as if they’re family.  So, whatever it takes to make them feel personally cared for and protected is worth it to her.  Maybe you feel the same way.  Try this free white noise generator to see if it’s a fit for your style of business.

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16
Apr 2010

The Tyranny of the Urgent

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In 1967 a gentleman by the name of Charles Hummel published a pamphlet entitled “The Tyranny of the Urgent.” Over 40 years later his words hold even more truth today then they did back then.With the advent of cell phones, texts, and email, there are more ‘urgent’ things to do than ever before.

“Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.”

By prioritizing the important over the urgent, you will not end up like this stressed out dude.

There are so many demands on our time everyday. Its difficult to get everything done that we need to. In his short essay, Hummel argues that the urgent things crowd out the important things. For example, constant emails, phone calls, and text messages keep you from what is actually important–finishing projects at work, spending quality time with your family, etc.

Hummel writes, “We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that many important tasks need not be done today, or even this week.” The urgent is prioritized and the important is pushed to the side. My family and I have seen this happen in our lives over the past few years. My husband is in graduate school trying to finish up a PhD and we have two small children. There is constantly something urgent happening in a house with two small children (diaper needs changed, someone needs a drink of water, someone hit someone else). These are important and need to be attended to, but overall, my husband getting out the door and into his office so he can finish his thesis is ultimately more important for our family. (So he can graduate, get a job, etc.) We deal with the tyranny of the urgent every single day in many different situations.

If allowed to continue, it can often lead to a sense of frustration–‘Why can’t I get anything done, even though I feel like I am working or busy all of the time?’ One way to stop this cycle is to stop allowing the urgent to take precedence when you are doing the important things. Get rid of the urgent, if possible. This obviously has to be balanced with each and every situation, but if applied wisely, could help to relieve some of the frustration and allow you to actually do something that is important. For example, if you know you need to work on a project, then don’t leave your inbox up on your computer, don’t answer your phone, find a way to minimize discussions with coworkers, and get to work.  Not only will it take less time if you aren’t constantly being distracted, but you are accomplishing what you need to and that always feels good.

How do you deal with the ‘tyranny of the urgent?’ Any more suggestions for managing this while working with noisy coworkers?

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