Do you want to be more productive? Learn to compartmentalize
How mindfulness can help remote workers
Last week, I stumbled across post that talked about a technique many successful CEOs use to focus: mental compartmentalization. The association that came to mind when I was reading the post, was mono-tasking versus multitasking: We cannot focus on more than one thing at a time, so when we try to multitask, we end up diluting our focus and our productive energy. So to be successful I have to be able to forget everything else that is going on in my life and focus on the one thing that is in front of me.
I am not a CEO, nor is it likely that many of you reading this are, but reading above post, I realised that remote workers face quite a similar challenge, especially those who work from home. Just like a successful CEO, the different parts of our lives battle for attention, and because we do not separate them (i.e. family life at home in the mornings, evening and weekends, work life in the office during the day on weekdays), they can impose themselves at any given time.
I, for instance, work 2 days a week from home. Even though, I close the door to our home office, I can never be sure not to be interrupted by one of the kids screaming, or desperately wanting attention. When that happens it often throws me completely off my focus. The solution most of the time is to pay attention to my kids for a bit and then go back to work, but everyone who knows this situation will agree that it is really hard not to react annoyed with the kids, completely forget about work for 15–20 minutes, then detach from the kids and move back to the work task.
My 5-year old teaching me how to deal with a disruption
3-year old and 5-year old are painting.
5-year old: ‘Wow, this is really beautiful!’
3-year old beaming with happiness. Both continue painting
3-year old: ‘Look at my picture!’
5-year old: ‘How beautiful, I could never paint something beautiful like that!’
Both paint bit more, then the 3-year old: ‘Look now!’
5-year old: ‘Really beautiful’ (not really looking anymore)
3-year old paints some more, then says: ‘Look again!’
5-year old shows no sign of being annoyed, but says: ‘I am sorry, but I cannot look anymore, I have to concentrate on my own painting!’
Well, I am not that good at dealing with disruptions, so how do I manage?
For one, I avoid environments prone to interruptions, when I really need to focus. The other way I have found to become better at dealing with these situations, is to practice mindfulness!
For those, who do not yet know what mindfulness is: It is a way to learn how to be present by focusing on what is and it trains your brain to focus when needed and to let go when that is needed. It is generally taught as a form of breathing meditation, but you can train mindfulness with anything that you can focus on: steps as we walk, sounds, smells, sensations in the body and more. The breath works particularly well, because it is always there and in focussing on it we also calm our nervous system in moments of stress (aka situations as the one described above).
A particular exercise I find very useful to let go of my current focus and move to something else is the breathing space as taught in the Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program. Start by noticing what is happening. Where do you feel the disturbance in your body? What emotions arise? Just observe. Then, focus on your breath in your belly, your chest or your nostrils. If you are agitated (angry, annoyed) then focusing on the belly helps calm down. Finally, zoom out again and focus once more on the sensations you feel in your body. Ideally you would take 1 minute for each of the steps, but I find that if you use it regularly, just going through the 3 steps even in 30 seconds total is enough to let go of resistance and do what needs to be done.
Try it and let me know if it helps!
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