My next few posts are actually taken from a podcast I recorded months ago. I’ve decided to write about this now for two very important reasons. Firstly, with all our talk of systems and being organised and apps etc, sometimes the most basic thing can bring us down. It might be that we do not have a good plan for our week or our day. Or it might be that there is a fly in our office that keeps buzzing around and distracting us. The point is – Work environment Matters. Today we are thinking about Focus One – why does it matter?
Optimizing our environment will have a huge impact on our level of focus and distraction. Our environment has a huge impact on how quickly we get into the ‘flow state’. This is that state of mind and concentration where the quality of our work and felt ease increases dramatically. In short, the state in which we are most effective in getting things done.
Working in a distraction factory
We are all different and so the environment that suits us best is going to be different for each one of us. That goes without saying. That said, I want you to imagine a scenario.
You settle yourself down to do some focussed work. You are sitting on a chair that was designed by a man who had seemingly devoted his life to causing as much pain as possible to as many people as possible. Your desk is sticky. Your desk is also covered in the remnants of the sausage roll eaten by the last person who used it.
The room is swelteringly hot. The sun streams through window blinding you and making it impossible to see the screen. Co-workers in the next room seem to have downed tools and are laughing at whatever it was they watched on Netflix last night. The person who you share an office with is a ‘whistler’. They have the theme tune to their toddler’s favourite TV shows stuck in their head. And so now, it is stuck in yours too.
Your computer keeps pinging at you that someone has emailed you with yet another crisis. Your desk is covered in papers that relate to a project that stalled yesterday and you can’t work on it right now but it is still bothering you. And someone opened the window and let a fly in.
This is an environment that many of us would struggle to work in. In fact – it’s impossible.
The impact on our mood will be catastrophic. The impact on our focus even worse and then finally, our work will be a mess and we will be totally ineffective.
So, we need to build an effective environment to work in. I’m going to offer some advice on different things to consider and do over the next few days. But, something key to remember. Some things we will have control over and be able to change. Other things we cant. In truth, there will be a spectrum of how much we can actually change the different elements of our environment. I have advice for the things you can control and the things you can’t.
How I learned to consider my working environment carefully.
The worst office I have ever worked in was tiny. It also contained the office server which was very loud. Originally intended to be part of a much larger room, the radiator was massive for the size of the room. As soon as it came on, the room became like a furnace.
It had a massive old window that swung open fully inwards. All through the year in the afternoon, the sun would stream onto my screen making it impossible to see. So I had to have the blinds closed which meant in the summer, I could not open the window. In the afternoon, due to its size and the amount of sun it got, the room became like a sauna.
If I did open the window, then it opened inwards and so wide that I had to move my monitor from the preferred place so I did not need to look through the glass of the open window to see my screen. The desk could not be moved due to the size and shape of the room.
Outside the window was yard area the organisation I worked for did not own. It was full of massive weeds and their pollen riddles flowers. I have never suffered from hay-fever but that first year it impacted my eyes so badly I could barely see at some points.
Work Environment Matters | Focus One – WHY does it matter?
I hope the point is clear. Work Environment Matters. Focus one is why does it matters. The answer is simple. In order to maximise our effectiveness in our work, we need to optimise our environment, as far as we can, for ourselves and the work we are doing.
We need to take this seriously as far as we are able. To not do so, can lead to an environment that is detrimental and can even be downright damaging. It harms our focus and brings distraction. The quality of our work and our efficiency in doing it suffers. It can harm our mood. It can even harm our mental and physical health if it is really bad and lasts for too long.
Work Environment Matters. Focus One is WHY does it matter? So let’s consider it carefully. My next post will focus on optimising our workstation.
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