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I'm finding as I get older I'm tolerating distractions less and less, or rather as the distractions come, I find them even more frustrating as the years go on.

I'm finding as I get older I'm tolerating distractions less and less, or rather as the distractions come, I find them even more frustrating as the years go on. I know how well I can work when I have one thing to concentrate on for a period of time, and how badly I can work when there are eight different concurrent projects with questions coming in through slack throughout the day. It is quite a challenge to try to flow through. I meditate and this helps to create some mental space but that doesn't (for me) mitigate the distractions that much.

jimmy1 8y ago
I hear you. I am frustrated with distractions more than the next person. I am the person who has received on performance reviews, on multiple occasions, this exact phrase on more than one occasion: "becomes noticeably upset when distracted" I don't know if this is necessarily "dealing with it" root cause wise, but the stoic approach is what is helping me. I cant' change other people. I can't make other people have consideration for my me or others. I can only control what I can control: how I react, and what I can do to limit the distractions and noise. Most of that building frustration comes usually comes from myself telling myself things with the word "should" in it, like "it shouldn't be so hard to focus at work", "they should know that distracting an engineer is basically like lighting money on fire", "they should be more considerate", or "I shouldn't have to wear earplugs and headphones to be able to concentrate" etc etc. I dropped all the "shoulds" and just focus on what I can do. It's not a solution, but it's helping me at least get a little more work done. I find quotes of the stoics of old especially helpful, especially Marcus Aurelius, "Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been." -- in my case "choose not to be distracted, and you won't be"
- everybodyknows 8y ago
  To throttle the interruptions from people who "just stop by to ask a question", sound out your boss on the idea of fixed "question desk" hours for the group, say just after lunch. Self-schedule all your shallow-thought tasks into that time slot -- expense and status reports, maybe code reviews. Kill the two ugly birds with one stone :-}
  - jimmy1 8y ago
    Tried it -- we did "office hours" What ended up happening is this, multiple times a day, "Hey, I know it's outside of office hours, but..."
    - everybodyknows 8y ago
      You need to chat with your boss about enforcement means. Two options for an answer to violators: 1. "Send e-mail or come back during office hours" 2. "Talk to my boss" If you instead yield to the pressure and make an exception, then: a) You'll be inflaming your own sense of aggrieved anger, and b) It'll keep happening.

jimmy1 8y ago

I hear you. I am frustrated with distractions more than the next person. I am the person who has received on performance reviews, on multiple occasions, this exact phrase on more than one occasion: "becomes noticeably upset when distracted" I don't know if this is necessarily "dealing with it" root cause wise, but the stoic approach is what is helping me. I cant' change other people. I can't make other people have consideration for my me or others. I can only control what I can control: how I react, and what I can do to limit the distractions and noise. Most of that building frustration comes usually comes from myself telling myself things with the word "should" in it, like "it shouldn't be so hard to focus at work", "they should know that distracting an engineer is basically like lighting money on fire", "they should be more considerate", or "I shouldn't have to wear earplugs and headphones to be able to concentrate" etc etc. I dropped all the "shoulds" and just focus on what I can do. It's not a solution, but it's helping me at least get a little more work done. I find quotes of the stoics of old especially helpful, especially Marcus Aurelius, "Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been." -- in my case "choose not to be distracted, and you won't be"

everybodyknows 8y ago
To throttle the interruptions from people who "just stop by to ask a question", sound out your boss on the idea of fixed "question desk" hours for the group, say just after lunch. Self-schedule all your shallow-thought tasks into that time slot -- expense and status reports, maybe code reviews. Kill the two ugly birds with one stone :-}
- jimmy1 8y ago
  Tried it -- we did "office hours" What ended up happening is this, multiple times a day, "Hey, I know it's outside of office hours, but..."
  - everybodyknows 8y ago
    You need to chat with your boss about enforcement means. Two options for an answer to violators: 1. "Send e-mail or come back during office hours" 2. "Talk to my boss" If you instead yield to the pressure and make an exception, then: a) You'll be inflaming your own sense of aggrieved anger, and b) It'll keep happening.