Today's workplace is more noisy and distracting than ever before, and that can make it very challenging for you to find the quiet time or the quiet space for you to work on your most important projects. Well, in today's video, I want to show you four different ways on how you can create that quiet time, even if you work in a very noisy office environment.
Now, today's de facto standard is an open office environment, meaning that you have very little barrier or perhaps no barrier at all between yourself and the other individuals that you work with. In fact, for some of us, we may be working in one very large room which holds up to 50 or even more individuals within that space.
This makes it so easy to be distracted, not only by all of the noise and other conversations that are going on around us but even all of the visual distractions that happen as people are getting up and moving about throughout the office. So let's take a look at my first tip on how to create quiet space within your environment.
My first suggestion may sound simple, but its outcome can be very, very powerful, and that is to wear headphones, earbuds, or perhaps even your telephone's headset. Now, there's two benefits of taking this approach.
Wear Headphones
Number one, by listening to music or other background sounds, you can drown out the noise and other conversations around you. But if you are wearing your earbuds or your telephone's headset, there's an additional benefit.
Many of your colleagues may assume that you are taking part in a conference call and therefore will be hesitant to distract or interrupt you. Even if your lips are not moving, even if you're not saying a single thing, just by wearing a headset, others may assume that you are taking part in an additional meeting and therefore may think twice about interrupting you as a part of your day.
Find a Private Room
My second suggestion is to find a private room for short periods of time. Most corporate offices have a variety of different meeting rooms available, everything from a large boardroom which may seat up to 30 individuals all the way down to much smaller meeting rooms designed for only two or three people.
This is your opportunity to make use of some of these underutilized meeting rooms so you can find private time and quiet space for your own work. In my experience, many of these rooms are underutilized, meaning that the majority of them are unattended or not being used for most of the day.
Now, I recommend that you follow your office or your company's guidelines when it comes to booking or making use of these rooms. So get to know which ones are close to your desk or which ones are perhaps not used as frequently as others.
Even if that meeting room has a large glass window or is entirely made out of glass, most of these rooms have phones hardwired into them. Again, like we saw with suggestion number one, many people may assume that you are taking part in a conference call or some other private phone conversation.
Back when I used to work in a corporate environment, I would always book out a small meeting room on Friday mornings. This was my opportunity to do my weekly review and other heads-down work.
Arrive at the Office Earlier
So take advantage of those smaller meeting rooms which may not be fully utilized. Tip number three is to arrive at the office earlier.
You may be surprised at how few of your colleagues start their day prior to 9:00 a.m. So if you can find a time where you start your day upwards of an hour before the average employee enters the office, you may have found your sweet spot for distraction-free time.
Now, of course, you may have to adjust your schedule and your commute schedule in order for this to work, but there can be additional benefits to adjusting when you start your day. For many of us, you may actually reduce your commute time by beating the early morning rush hour.
You may also have the advantage of leaving work a little earlier than you currently do now. That gives you other opportunities to spend time with your family or to spend time on your personal pursuits.
Now, of course, this option may not be available to everyone, but it's worth having the discussion with your manager. The additional benefit of starting your day a little extra earlier is not only will you not be distracted by physical colleagues in the same office, but the amount of emails that you receive at that time of the day are usually much less.
You can almost guarantee that no one will be phoning you at 7 or 8 a.m. in the morning. So explore looking at arriving at your office earlier so you can find that quiet and focused time just for you.
Work from Home One Day per Week
Now, my last suggestion may be challenging for some of you, but it is certainly worth exploring, and that is working from home one day per week. More and more companies are willing to look at having some of their staff work remotely, at least on a temporary basis.
There are many more benefits to the organization beyond just cost. So by working from home one day per week, you eliminate the commute, and you guarantee fewer distractions from your colleagues, especially if you work in a large office.
Now, by sitting down and having this conversation with your manager and explaining the real benefits of this request, and that is to be more productive, many managers are willing to let their employees work from home one day a week or at least to try it out on a trial basis. If you are able to gain this privilege, be sure to make the most of your time when you do work from home.
There is a chance that you may be able to increase the number of days or the amount of time that you do work from home in the future. So be sure to keep records and be sure to show how you are being more productive on those days when you work remotely.
So there are my four tips to creating quiet space regardless of the noisy work environment that you may find yourself in. Which of the four suggestions stood out to you, or which of the four do you plan to implement?
I would encourage you to leave your answer in the comments below. If you haven't subscribed to the Simpletivity channel, be sure to do so and to give this video a thumbs up.
Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
