A study recently came out from Stanford “showing that small amounts of social support, ranging from friends who encourage each other by email to occasional meetings with a fitness counselor, can produce large and lasting gains against one of America’s biggest health problems—physical inactivity.” Now, you may be wondering how this is applicable to this blog since the topic is Noisy Coworkers, not Unhealthy Coworkers. Stay with me for a minute while I explain.
Your Work Buddy may have to close the mini-blinds for you so you can actually concentrate.
I would like to propose that you could also use social support to help keep yourself on track while you are working. I know. Gasp! We are always decrying conversational distraction, among many other forms. However, there are just some days, like today when it is SO nice outside and I keep finding myself peering through the mini-blinds, wishing I was outside, that it would be nice to have a Work Buddy to gently encourage me to stay on track and to keep going. I suspect you might have the same problem occasionally–you have blocked out all the other distractions, but your mind just keeps wandering. Perhaps you could then inform your Work Buddy that it would be nice if, every once in a while, they would email you or just walk over and say “You can do it! Keep working!” or something similarly encouraging. It sounds cheesy, but based on the results of that study, I bet it would work.
So, I’ll be your Work Buddy today. “You can do it! Keep working!” (And now I am going to go close my mini-blinds so the gorgeous weather will quit calling out to me.)
