Monday, February 17, 2020
How to Block Out the World When You're Trying to Work
lifehacker.com: Sometimes, you want to be alone, but your coworkers, pets, or kids won’t go away. Goodbye, productivity. Thankfully, there are plenty of techniques you can use to carve out a little bubble of comfort for yourself when you’re trying to burn through all the items on your to-do list.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I find this article to be only semi helpful. I understand that for some people, a lot of their tricks help. But for me, I have when I'm trying to start focusing on work, however, once I start I get completely lost in my work and then realize that it has been 8 hours. I like the idea of using noise cancelling headphones. I usually like to listen to music while working, but sometimes I get distracted by the lyrics, especially when I am reading. So, I usually listen to instrumental music or classical music while reading or working. If I am doing something mundane, like house chores, I will usually listen to podcasts, audiobooks, or music with lyrics. The dark mode on computers and phones is super helpful at well for my eyes when I am working at night in my dark dorm room. The dark mode doesn't hurt my eyes as much and I can go to sleep easier than if I have the bright white screen on. For me, in studio, focusing while others are around me is hard, especially if the people around me are loud or talking. Sometimes I will remove myself from the room, but more often than not I try to power through. This article was a good read for people like me who have a hard time focusing.
I was optimistic going in to read this article. I would not consider myself a productive person - in fact, I get distracted and tired very easily. For example, I had an assignment that should have taken an hour but instead it took me about eight hours because my body was fighting against being productive. Some of these tips I knew that I wouldn’t find helpful, but some of these align with changes I’ve already made to my focusing habits. Switching to dark mode has been really helpful because I spend so much of time working on a computer and I need to wear glasses in order to help me focus for long periods of time - so dark mode is way easier on my eyes (meaning less headaches, less stopping, etc.). As for some of the other tips like using noise cancelling headphones and limiting all possible distractions - while these might be helpful for some people I have not found an effective way of ridding distractions - either I get distracted by people near me, or I isolate myself and get distracted by literally anything near me.
I think this article can be summed up with “if something is distracting where you are working, go work somewhere else”. I feel like this article was more of an ad (for the noise-canceling headphones and “helpful” apps) than an actual list of helpful tactics. For me, most of my procrastination is due to my lack of motivation to get the task done not because of outside forces that stop me from doing my work. Put yourself in a productive environment and put away distractions (very simple yet most of us don’t do it). The article talks about some pretty common sense stuff, and I did like the suggestions of apps, although I think the point is to stop relying on your phone as much and just get off the damn thing (Pardon my French). Personally, I have deleted social media apps off my phone and only keep productive apps on my phone (I get it I’m boring) but I try to put at least a little tension between getting distracted and I try to cue myself to be productive by making my phone a tool and not a distraction. But just put away the phone, put yourself in a quiet place, and just do the work. Sometimes it's just as simple as stopping yourself from making excuses.
I was fully expecting this article to have some handy tips (which I need, because I’ve been feeling especially distracted lately), but I don’t feel like I got much out of this one. Sure, it had a few good suggestions, but to me, most of them seemed like common sense or things that everyone already does, without needing to read an article: like popping in headphones when the surroundings are a loud room, or downloading an app to help you control your screen time. Personally, these things have never really worked for me, especially when I’m reeeeeeally not wanting to do my work. Methods that have worked (temporarily) for me include deleting social media apps off my phone or locking myself in the library until I get a certain task done. I guess the extent of my procrastination can only really be solved by having a big change of habits, which can only happen with a strong mindset going into a task.
I feel like anytime I read any such articles, I realize that none of the techniques mentioned ever can help me because my way of working changes every single time so any set technique does not necessarily help me until I switch the order up and the I have a bunch of permutations to apply and see what works best for me.
Not to mention, a lot of these techniques just seemed to me as being more about common sense rather than about working techniques which is fine because a lot of our working styles to stem from our way of living and how we factor in our work into our lives. That is why I do not know how much of this article I am going to remember because all the techniques are about common sense and managing time properly which is such a given but not really because these skills tend to leave people when they most need to be there.
There were a few helpful points in this article. Using music to block out other sounds is a good way to focus if there is a lot going on around you. Though, I’ve found that for me, personally, music with singing can sometimes be distracting as well, depending on what I’m doing. I know that there are some people who can listen to music with words as they are writing a paper, but that would drive me insane. So I tend to lean towards instrumentals. White noises like rain is a good option too. I had never heard of using dark mode to focus. That sounds legit so I may actually try that. To be honest though, if there is something really important that needs to be done and you really need to be focused, nothing beats the quiet floor on the library. When I was getting my undergraduate degree and found myself procrastinating a lot, or just found it hard to focus, I would drag myself to library and told myself that I wasn’t leaving or doing anything else (eating, socializing, etc.) until the work that needed to be done was completed. I would get very strict with myself and have an hourly schedule of how much I wanted to complete and if I didn’t, I’d be letting myself down. It worked every single time. It sounds cliche but when you’re at a single table between library books, in a fairly still room thats cool and the lighting is right, and you’re comfortable…the work gets done… Of course, this was only extreme cases. I personally am grounded enough to set a schedule for myself and complete my work in the quiet of my home but there are times when I’m not at home so I just go to an isolated area and work.
There have been a good stack of “life hack”/productivity articles on the blog lately, but I think that this one is a dud. In all honesty, there aren’t a lot of unknown ways to block out the world and get things done in a busy environment. There comes a point where you just either have to put up with the world around you or find a way to remove yourself from it. Expensive headphones will never block out the visual stimulation around you, there are always ways around any site blockers you place on your devices. I do like to use the Pomodoro method, but at some point it becomes more of a hindrance than a help when I forget to take breaks, set timers, or keep making excuses to take breaks. Also, I don’t think dark mode is a particularly compelling productivity hack, I just think it makes your screen easier on the eyes and potentially makes it easier to focus.
As someone who struggles immensely when it comes to staying focused in order to get my work done, I found this article to be both helpful and not at all. I have struggled with both ADD and Auditory Processing Disorder for a very long time, and this makes it incredibly difficult to block out the world enough to actually get some sufficient work done. I have tried using the noise-canceling headphones, and they do work for a short time before I start getting very visibly distracted. I had never thought about turning my device to dark mode when trying to work. When I think about it, I do find comfort in darker places. Bright lights do have an effect on my focus and mood as well. I will be trying out that method. Now for the last step, personally, I don't find switching my phone to do not disturb to be very effective, not even turning it off. Often, I just have to put my phone away altogether in order to keep me from seeing it and wanting to talk to someone or do something other than my work.
Encountering distractions whenever I am trying to get work done is the number one thing that keeps me from doing work. I am a person that is easily distracted therefore, whenever I find an article that has tips for limiting these distractions, I am all for it. I was not surprised when this article started with the classic mantra of “noise-canceling headphones.” Personally, I love listening to music whenever I am working which is something that really helps keep me focused. As I continued to read this article, it began getting into ways to limit yourself from online distractions. These kinds of distractions are not something that has ever affected me significantly but the whole idea of, work for a certain amount of time and then take a little break is something that I do in a way. Personally, I come up with milestones for each assignment and allow myself to take a little break whenever I complete one of those milestones.
I agree with other commenters that this article is kind of self-explanatory. “How to block out the world? Just make a space without distractions.” Well, yeah. I’ve found that my biggest obstacle to working on something is distractions before I start it, allowing me to procrastinate until it just has to happen now, at which point I begin working and don’t have an issue with being distracted. I’ve found that the Pomodoro technique, which I keep seeing in these articles, can be helpful for really long tasks but for most of what I need to work on is actually detrimental - if I stop every 20 minutes, I’m unable to build up any momentum and have to be readjusting constantly, assuming I even restart when I’m supposed to. For me, my biggest asset to getting work done efficiently is to start early and start around other people, all of us keeping the others on task. I think this article could be helpful for people who struggle with the aspect of focusing while doing work, but since I have kind of the opposite problem, I didn’t find these solutions very helpful.
It can be pretty easy getting distracted from all the things going on in the busy world around you when trying to get work done, especially when the work you’re doing is an assignment that you’re not interested in. For sound distractions, I tend to be alright with just ignoring conversations and noises to a certain extent, and sometimes just listening to soundtrack music to keep me. If it’s at the point that I need noise cancelling things it’s usually best for me to move locations to somewhere that’s more quiet. Like the article says, for me I’m probably my own greatest distraction. It’s easy to get pulled away by texts or other notifications that are a lot more entertaining than the spreadsheet you’re formatting. For me I generally just charge my phone in another room while doing computer work and set a certain amount of time that I need to work without diverging from the assignment.
Post a Comment