Coworker distractions still occur working remotely, here’s my solution

Photo by Sophi Raju on Unsplash

Before the pandemic, I had to suffer through lots of meetings and interruptions from co-workers. Now that I’m working remotely the interruptions and meetings have only increased.

It is important to understand that there are a lot of distractions and interruptions in our lives. Too many meetings, constant chat messages, social media notifications, and so on. All these things prevent you from doing important tasks.

This can lead to procrastination and lack of motivation. To avoid this, it is important to set boundaries with yourself and others.

Get meetings out of your calendar

Working remotely, my meetings went from 1 hour to 30 minutes in length, but now there were more of them than before. I think this happened because people felt isolated working from home and needed to interact with others, but the result was being busy in meetings all day and leaving little time for important work to get done.

Meetings are often a time-wasting activity. But they can also be a great opportunity to meet new people and have fruitful discussions.

The key is to keep meetings short, reduce meeting frequency, and don’t accept meeting invites without a purpose. You should also block time for work tasks on your calendar so that you can focus on getting things done instead of being distracted by people who want you in their meetings.

You can use these tips to take back control of your calendar:

1. Schedule recurring meetings less frequently. This freed up a lot of my time on my calendar making it possible to block time for work tasks.
2. Decline or delegate meetings you don’t need to attend. Meetings without a “Purpose” are optional, meeting invitations are often sent as informational or out of consideration.

Even after all these changes, my calendar was still busy. However, at least I was more productive which helped my mental state of mind.

Interruptions hinder your ability to focus

Working remotely has been great for me, but I still get interruptions that can be frustrating. I’ve noticed that instant messaging platforms like Slack (a social media app for work) have replaced enthusiastic hallway conversations, which are a constant distraction.

The constant checking of email and chat messages, for example, can distract you from the important tasks that you need to complete. The worst part is that these distractions may become more frequent, as we are bombarded with more incoming messages from work tools like Slack, social media sites, and notifications from our phones.

These interruptions can cause you to lose progress on more important tasks like deep thinking and can worsen your motivation. Here are some tips to set boundaries for your valuable time:

1. Block “Focus time” on the calendar. This allows me to work on things that are important to me.
2. Turn off Slack, email, or other sources of distractions during “Focus time” mentioned above. Co-workers will understand when you’re unavailable due to meetings but always remember to respond as soon as you can.
3. Set your status to show when you’re unavailable, most tools have this capability.

Slack: Bringing all the distractions from Facebook and Twitter to your work

Like many other companies, my company is using remote tools such as Zoom and Slack to make our remote workforce more efficient. Slack is a great tool for real-time collaboration but can also lead to people spending more time in the app, rather than on their work.

It’s hard to stay on top of everything, I often feel pressured to respond quickly and always be looking at channels as a way to show co-workers that I’m working. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never be able to work on my most important tasks but this thinking just drains my energy and motivation.

Here are a few things you and your team should do to minimize distractions while collaborating:

1. Use Slack threads instead of using a channel for every conversation. This makes it easier to read for others and prevents unnecessary notifications.
2. Be considerate of others when replying “@here” in Slack channels. Using “@here” in a channel broadcasts a notification to everyone in the channel, if it’s not relevant to all of them, it’s better to address it individually.

Simple routines break the cycle of distraction

After realizing work life was the new normal I began thinking more about my lack of motivation and how to solve it. I considered switching jobs, but I like the company I work for and my job is still challenging and interesting so I decided that wasn’t the fix.

I realized I was being stifled by the lack of control I had over my time, so I decided to come up with some common-sense tips and routines that would help me stay on track. Distractions may be small things but are a huge waste of time, routines helped me stay focussed on what matters and be more efficient.

The tips I’ve given above are some of my favorites and below you will find some routines I use to stay on top of things without getting distracted. They’ve been life-saving for me so I added them to my ToDo list as a daily reminder.

ROUTINE #1 — A daily Flexible Planning Routine lays out priorities for the day.

• Start by checking Today’s ToDo list every morning and add or remove tasks based on available time.
• Prioritize all tasks on Today’s ToDo list.
• This is called “Flexible” because you’re re-assessing and accommodating what’s needed each day and adding tasks along the way.

ROUTINE #2 — A Weekly Planning Routine re-prioritizes tasks based on available time.

• Check and reserve time on your calendar for “Deep Work” sessions so you can work on your tasks.
• Fill up your “Anytime” ToDo list with the number of tasks you have blocked on your calendar.

ROUTINE #3 — Writing in a Daily Journal creates clarity of mind.

I normally use my journal to write about the future, how I can improve, problems I’m trying to solve, or about my feelings. I start each day by thinking about what I want to accomplish and how I’m going to do it. Here are six ideas to write about:

1. What excited me: Write about what made you feel happy or excited today, no matter how small it is.
2. What drained me of energy: Write about what made you feel tired, frustrated, or angry today, no matter how small it is.
3. What are my goals: Write down all your goals. Pretend like you are reading them for the first time and realistically assess where you stand on each one.
4. What I’m struggling with: Write about your problem and think about the answers to solve it, no matter how big it is this will make it less daunting.
5. My daily Hansei: Write your observations from the past day to think of ways to improve.
6. My Hansei Observations: Reflect on the past few days and write down your observations to think about what you’ve learned and any new ideas you have.

ROUTINE #4 — Exercise Routines improve the body and mind.

• For me, this is walking and riding my bike.

ROUTINE #5 — End Of Day Routine sets yourself up for the next day.

• Pre-create meeting notes for the next day that includes the purpose of each meeting. This way you can make the meetings more productive by being prepared.
• Create notes for tomorrow’s meetings and include a purpose or talking points.
• Clear any remaining To-Do list tasks remaining for today, these can be reprioritized in tomorrow’s Flexible Planning Session.