Tag: distraction

Coping With Kids School Holidays

Posted on by richardbingham

Everyone’s domestic profile is fairly unique and it would be wrong to dictate rules, however here are a few things from a dozen years of experience you might find a helpful.

Avoid Being In Charge. I do not believe you should try to care for children and do work tasks at the exact same time. It is one or the other, as they both require your attention and focus. You’ll annoy everyone (kids, colleagues and yourself) if you even try. You might be able to time-box the two different things across an extended day – most likely working late in the evening when the kids are in bed, but you’ll still need another caregiver and even this is unpractical and exhausting.

High School Relief. I’ve found that as children enter high school age (12yrs+) then having a child under your sole responsibility and doing some work is actually possible. They simply do not demand so much attention and care as younger kids. That said, give them a few specific tasks and activities to perform during the time, else they’ll spend hours watching screens. I would also not recommend more than a couple of hours a day, but when you’re in an unavoidable situation this is certainly more possible.

Set Boundaries. Get your whole family – children and the other caregivers – to agree to specific rules about your work. Use physical signs and verbal reminders about when and why you can be interrupted. Keep the list short – maybe placed it on the fridge, and consider using a door sign – maybe get the kids to make you one.

Use Clubs. Well before the next school holiday period, research your community for kids clubs of various types. Sign your kids up to “try” some of them. This should give you respite plus is actually very good for most children. If fees are too high for your budget, contact the club directly and find out if funding might be available … usually they will have a way to help out.

Help People Help You. Friends and family are the main source of low-cost alternative care-giving, and I have found it helpful to ‘bait the trap’ for everyone’s benefit. If you give them activities to do it makes the day pass quicker and easier. Examples include booking tickets to an event or day-trip somewhere, or just prepare some activities for them to do. This could be as simple as supplying a bag of games and toys, getting a box of craft supplies together with a list of creative challenges, or asking them to help you with something specific, such as shopping for something you need (and providing the money).

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Reducing Home-bound Interruptions and Distractions

Posted on by richardbingham

Like the now ‘classic’ video below, interruptions can be painful, whether you’re on a video call, phone call, or just trying to get a task done. As such here are some tips to avoid this.

Schedule and Share It. I tell anyone in the house what my schedule is for the day. They know (from me telling them) that at those times they should not bother me, plus they should not make too much noise (vacuum, exciting pets, playing music etc). My schedule is mostly phone/video calls, however sometimes includes deep-focus tasks too. I remind folks just beforehand if I don’t think they’ve remembered too (“Hey, just going on a call – be finished at 3 o’clock”).

Close Doors. I have an office room, therefore I can close the door if I need and this indicates I am not to be disturbed, except in an emergency. Fortunately my children are old enough to understand this now. You might even consider locking the door (that would have helped the guy in the video above). If you don’t have a separate room, consider getting (or making) a room-dividing screen or simply a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign that you can put out.

You’re Not Childcare. For young children, it’s pretty impossible to work productivity and offer your children care. It doesn’t work and attempting it is a big mistake … for your work, your child, and for you! If you can only get periods of childcare, then use those to work.

Decide When To React. Remember what would happen at home if you were actually in the office. Nothing basically. As such you can let some home calls go to voicemail, or let a delivery driver put the package in the safe place or with a neighbour. Don’t jump to everything, ignore some.

Hush Your Personal Mobile Phone. Simply turn the notifications sound down, and flipping the phone over is easiest. Allocate a specific break time for checking it.

Keep Your Work Laptop Clean. Don’t be tempted to put your own things on your work laptop. Often this breaks company policy anyway, but keeping personal items (apps, music, photos, websites etc) away from yourself during work time reduces potential distraction.

Keep Availability Promises. If you want people to respect when you’re unavailable, then they need to know when you will be available. If you keep letting them down and doing extra bits of work when you said you’d be free, then they’ll probably let you down sometimes! That’s only fair!

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Avoiding Self Destructive Behavior

Posted on by richardbingham

One big problem with working-from-home is temptation. We fill our home with nice things for our time off, and when these things are nearby it takes a will-of-iron to ignore the lure. Here are a few techniques I use:

Media. As my only permitted media while working- Radio works for me. It prevents me from messing with music playlists or other audio services often designed to keep you engaged (i.e. distracted). It’s either on or off, and I always stick to one ‘calm’ station too.

Lunch hour. Keep a period scared for taking lunch. Sure get something to eat but also do those bits-and-pieces that might tempt you away from work. This includes keeping household chores and exercise to that time slot.

Good Environment. Ensure your office resembles a work area. Try to keep anything ‘interesting’ or ‘fun’ away from your work area.

Make Commitments. Share your to-do list with your boss or another person you don’t want to let down. Do regular progress meetings with colleagues and set expectations on accomplishment. If you can’t do this consider using a habit-forming app, there are some good ones out there.

Good To-Do Lists. Try to make items on your list achievable. Consider the urgent-important classification and prioritize items. Try to think of anything that is not achievable in a day as a ‘mini-project’ and as such the whole thing is not a to-do list item, only the first stage is. Keep you to-do list visible, I still write in cheap (mostly freebies) notebooks, as it’s helpful to refer back sometimes.

Reduce Notifications. Turn them off – as much as you can. Silence your phone entirely and turn it face-down. Close email if you need to focus. Even consider turning off WiFi, if you can.

Don’t get Fired. Ultimately if you get distracted, your work will suffer. Eventually you boss will notice and that could spell disaster.

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Using Tasks and Short-Breaks To Stay Focused

Posted on by richardbingham

It is impossible to not get distracted … however you can take some deliberate control of this.

I found my brain tries to take more ‘deliberate’ breaks when working at home. I speculate this is because there is none of the low-level distraction you get in an office, where people are moving around and things are happening. Home is quiet and still, and while this reduces ‘significant’ distraction, it’s hard to keep your mind occupied in an entirely static environment.

As such homeworkers might be tempted to introduce some minor distractions, and without carefully consideration this can lead down the path of using ‘background entertainment’. Using media to fill this gap is possible – music or radio is rarely fully distracting – however vision-intensive activities like monitoring social media and watching video/TV clearly are. I also use the following two tips to help:

Non-work Distractions. These satisfy the mind but you know are ‘safe’ to do – i.e. short and low impact. Examples are hanging out the washing, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming, or even walking the dog at lunch. Done in moderation, everyone can benefit.

Varied To-Do. I also use a mix of activity types on my To-Do list to satisfy my brain wandering. Ideally every day has a little research, communication, administration, creative work, and some content generation. Clearly depends on your job, but variety is the spice of life!

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