4 ms·
> But I feel compelled to make clickety-clack noises on a keyboard, continuously and unproductively, lest people think I'm not working. Easier said than done,
by MaulingMonkey 9y ago
> But I feel compelled to make clickety-clack noises on a keyboard, continuously and unproductively, lest people think I'm not working.
Easier said than done, but some unsolicited suggestions:
1) Acquire the self confidence that your results will speak for themselves, appearances be damned.
2) Realize your coworkers also value thinking, and recognize it properly.
3) Realize your coworkers are probably too busy worrying about their own appearances.
4) Any busybodies not too busy worrying about their own appearances can see through your unproductive busywork anyways ;)
5) Consider journaling / take stream-of-concious notes / mind-mapping. Might slow your thinking down some, but might compensate for memory some too.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago> 5) Consider journaling / take stream-of-concious notes / mind-mapping. Might slow your thinking down some, but might compensate for memory some too. I found myself unable to focus on thinking in the office, when there are other people present. I learned to compensate for that by doing my thinking in writing - I just start dumping my thoughts and talking to myself through my text editor. It feels a bit slower, but it does wonders for concentration and for short-term memory.
- Danihan 9y agoSame, exactly.
- criddell 9y agoIs a text editor more effective for you than pen and paper? I like a text editor because I can type faster than I can write, but something about writing on a paper works better for me.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoPen and paper can reflect my thinking better, but I'm an order of magnitude faster with a text editor than with handwriting - and the benefits of keeping flow and writing at the speed of thought more than compensate for lesser expressive power.
- MaulingMonkey 9y agoI've also found text editors way easier to edit with - my thought process jumps all over the place, simple things like the ability to insert are a killer feature. That said, I've recently started to go back to killing trees for things like daily checklists, as a physical reminder of stuff - and more "diagram" style doodling - all packaged into a three ring binder. At some point I plan to grab myself a document scanner so I can bulk archive my loose notes for convenience...
- mattferderer 9y agoThis is great advice for so many things in life. In particular 1-4 is the advice I always give to people who start lifting weights at a gym but it applies to basically every task in life.