I must admit, I’m feeling a bit frustrated this summer. My kids are not in any camps this week and although they pretty much entertain themselves, I am finding that I cannot complete anything without being interrupted. It continues to disrupt my flow and I’m finding it so much harder to complete even simple tasks.
Whether you work at home or at an office, we all face similar distractions. I remember working for a large corporation right out of college. I had a cube in the middle of a giant cube farm. Of course, I loved my private little place…until I would feel someone standing there burning their eyes on me/my screen/my family pictures or whatever until I turned to look at them. It didn’t matter what I was doing or how important my deadline was. They would stand there until I responded to them.
I thought it was a good time to remind myself of some of the tips that work for me to create flow in a highly distracting environment. Here are a few:
- Work varying hours. If you are in a profession where you can, work before or after others are around and likely to bother you. At home, I find 6-9am (before the kids wake up) is extremely productive time for me. I also find Friday afternoons at the office to be productive as I typically don’t receive as many phone calls and emails.
- Turn off social networks, IM, and email. If you have set time aside to work on your most important activities, the last thing you want is to be distracted by non-thinking tasks. Save those for another time that doesn’t require deep concentration.
- Prioritize. Before you start working, look at what you have to do and prioritize what time will be spent doing what. Gather any necessary items (research, resources, etc.) and walk into that time prepared with everything you need.
It seems pretty straightforward…so why do I not schedule focused time more regularly? I don’t know, but hopefully this post will inspire me (and you!) to write that flow time in our calendar for at least the rest of the summer.
Wonderful Post