Hot answers tagged workspace
11
From my experience the noise-cancelling headphones will not work for longer periods.
I know you said about music and that you concentrate on it instead. In my experience it is about a choice of the music. There are a few points to consider.
I found that the music needs to be instrumental, not vocal. If
there is any vocal at least it must be in a language ...
6
I personally feel comfortable only when I'm excited about what I'm doing.
If I'm not excited about what I'm doing, I can have the best chair in the world and it won't do much for my productivity.
Conclusion: emotions and motivation / mindset are the fuel of my productivity, not ergonomic chairs / monitors / etc. I don't think 'things' will help your ...
4
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The
courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the
difference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer
That, and headphones, with or without music.
4
I have to say I have been using Streak: http://streak.com for tons of things now.
Although it may appear more focused towards Sales the whole Box and Pipeline idea it has is actually applicable to many things. For TODO's I just send myself emails and put them in a Box and then assign it to a Pipeline.
It actually sort of makes you Kanban-ish.
There is ...
4
There is an element of truth in what @Tool says - the environment is not likely to be the key factor in making you productive.
That said, it is certainly an enabler: you don't want your setup to hinder your work, and you also don't want it to make you lethargic.
Mentally it is better to have your bed reserved for sleeping, and an office space for working - ...
3
Do not forget to find out who of your roommates has the same problems and have them help both to
complain to the noisemakers.
complain to the management about the contraproductive work environment. You won't believe the rubbish they get told about the "productivity of open space environments" and how rarely their victims actually complain.
3
Is there anything else, specifically, that are you looking for (for example, a timer or an alarm system that tells you what to do)? I think that there are existing softwares that cover you.
If you use Notepad++, the Explorer Plugin shows your filesystem. This gives you a filesystem view, so you can be organized by just following a good filesystem ...
3
imho, any file manager which supports tags would work for you (any document would have one or more tags, allowing to attach this document to one or more tasks, contexts etc)
look at Tabbles (and alternatives)
3
I think you have two problems, which should be handled separately. The first problem is that your coworker's typing is distracting you, and when you look over to find that he's doing something that annoys you, that makes it more distracting. The second is that you don't like the way your coworker uses SO. This answer will just focus on the first, since you ...
2
Not sure about that brand specifically, but noise-cancelling earphones + (relatively quiet) music worked for me, when I was in a similar situation.
The noise cancellation isn't perfect, but mutes the outside sounds enough that music is capable of drowning them out almost completely.
(Note: the above setup made it somewhat harder to get my attention, so my ...
2
Why not just pick a regular schedule of where you'll work, and when?
Letting the frustration of one place build up until you feel you have to switch seems overly-stressful–with a regular schedule you'll just get in to the habit of being in one place or the other, and your colleagues will be able to plan around your presence/absence as well.
That ...
2
Well, that's just life. You have to force yourself to work amid all these disruptions. Unless you have a private office at work, noise and disruptions are present everywhere and you just have to condition yourself to work at less than ideal conditions all the time just like everyone does.
I attended a workshop where a successful blogger and freelance writer ...
2
I believe that there are lots of ways to reduce interruptions at work. Like when you are working in a home office with many people around, all you need to do is go to your room put a “Do Not Disturb” sign outside the door and lock it. Another great way to avoid distraction is “Airplane Mode” that will turn all your gadgets, like your mobile phone, off. This ...
2
The key thing for me about working from home is that if I procrastinate at work - I end up looking on SE or working my way though some webcomic - which aren't ideal activities - whereas if I procrastinate at home I end up doing things like laundry, and washing up and fixing bits around the house - all stuff that I'll need to do later on anyway.
More ...
2
My solution for this: use the most comfortable in-ear phones I can (no noise cancelling necessary) and a program like Ambiance for background sounds (I prefer "rain on a tent" and surf sounds, etc). I find this more effective then noise cancelling and without the annoying amplification of my own sounds that I get with earplugs.
1
Check out this article which lists a number of DOs and DON'Ts in open office space environments with cubicles -- many of them appear relevant to any open office space environment. This similar article may also be relevant to you.
1
1.
I think it could be difficult to answer your question. Most of solutions to the problem are controversial in one way or another.
From my experience (11 people in much to small office) if you want to have your work done, you have to go to strict rules BUT start from yourself.
In my room I have such problems like an open windows. I sit on the middle and ...
1
I tried listening to music also, but after some time your ears get hurt and that's disturbing.
Now that you mentioned ear-plugs, I got an idea that you can put in your ear-plugs and then some big headphones to cover ear-plugs so people are not "offended".
But for the long term, it's best to practice concentration to sharp the focus on only what u do.
1
Perhaps you could try to strike a balance in the amount of time you spend at each--Tuesdays & Thursdays at home, MWF in the office. Or mornings at home, afternoons at the office. I love working from home because I like quiet and solitude when I work, but even I get bored and long for a little noise after a day or two of working from home. I dont think ...
1
A good guide on this from people who have spent their lives in front of a computer:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/support/healthy-computing-guide
Shorter summary of that:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/08/computer-workstation-ergonomics.html
Mainly I like the part about the wrist being in line with forearms. Bending the wrist up or down ...
1
All good answers so far! The focus on your work that leads to forgetting your environment is called "distraction" in the world of pain management. It is amazing how your aches and pains disappear when you are doing something that is enjoyable and focuses your mind on something besides yourself or your body.
That being said, it is still an excellent idea ...
1
Interest, peace, uncluttered mind and good environment are four key factors to feel good and be productive.
Interest:
You need to be interested enough in what you are doing. If you are not interested, you will never be productive as you will not be enthusiastic about it.
So first make sure you take interest in your work.
Peace:
I would advice you to do ...
1
The environment is not what makes you productive, but totally helps your productivity. The more the time you spend working in that environment, the more your mind becomes used to be in work-mode when you are in that environment. Like Pavlov's experiment, when you are in that environment you feel like working.
This said, it becomes clear that, if you get ...
1
I try to have a comfortable environment. I bought a chair which suppose to be ergonomic, I have a fancy desk, wireless electronics and I always think there is something I could buy to get better.
In my opinion the comfort comes from your mind. It is true sometimes you can have uncomfortable environment but most often it is a matter of simple solutions.
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