That will come as no surprise to plugged-in professionals who have taken a look around at their colleagues lately (though the finding that, for the first time, iPhones have unseated BlackBerry devices  as the top choice for respondents may come as happy news to Apple fans), but what impact is this near-universal adoption of smartphones having on knowledge workers’ lives?

In one sense, the impact is grim. The survey of 2,300 mobile employees worldwide found that many are giving up exercising and sleep in favor of a constant connection to work.

• One in three respondents told iPass they sleep less due to work, with one in four mobile workers reporting less than six hours of shut eye a night
• More than half exercise erratically or not all, and 60 percent of the loafers blamed work for their sedentary lifestyle

We’re also emotionally dependent on our gadgets; 59 percent of plugged in workers said they’d be disoriented, lonely or even distraught without their smarthphone.

But one thing smartphones aren’t guilty of, surprisingly, is being a major time suck. We waste only about as much time checking emailing and Facebook and handling technical hiccups than we used to spend on cigarette breaks when that was the most common office addiction: a measly 28 minutes a day.

So in the one column, we’re filling our lungs with fewer toxic chemicals and getting massive amounts of stuff done. But in the other, the new way of working means little sleep and next to no exercise.

Are we better off?

Image courtesy of Flickr user shnnn.

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The key to remaining productive is to not let distractions sidetrack you from your primary job. Here are a few tips for taking charge of your day and kicking a few of the most common distractions to the curb.

1. Social media. Turn it off when you need to focus. Seriously. Shut down your Twitter client and log out of Facebook and other services for at least part of the day when you really need to focus on your work. If you can’t turn them off, you can still disable notifications so that you aren’t having them pop into view constantly. This doesn’t mean that you can’t check social media while you work, but you can minimize the impact by only checking in periodically. Maybe you look at Twitter and Facebook once per hour, or when you finish one task and are moving to the next. But really, if you are checking Twitter every few minutes, are you really going to get as much work done as you would if you weren’t checking it?
2. Visitors. Whether you work in an office or at home, people will drop in and distract you. I’ll admit it, I often listen to music or put my headphones in just to signal to people that I am not available. If people see that you have headphones in, they will at least think twice about bothering you. Leaving your phone headset on can also work. You might try “do not disturb” signs or shutting your office door, if you are lucky enough to have one. I’ve even had pretty good luck with hiding and working in a super secret location until I finished a piece of work that needed focused concentration.
3. Unnecessary or unproductive meetings. I’m a big fan of not attending meetings that aren’t valuable in some way. Now, this probably doesn’t mean that you can blow off your manager’s staff meeting or important meetings with clients, but you can probably skip a few meetings. I’ll often look at the agenda for a meeting, and if there isn’t anything particularly relevant for me, I’ll send the organizer an email to let them know that I won’t be attending. On the flip side, you should be considerate when scheduling your own meetings. Cancel them if you don’t have anything important for the meeting, and always send an agenda in advance to let people know whether or not they need to attend.
4. Email. Most of us get more email than what we can possibly read anyway, and it just keeps coming in! You could probably spend all day just responding to email, but then you would never get any work done. The first thing to do is turn off any pop-up notifications that you get every time someone sends you an email. Next, set up some filters and color code email from important people to help you notice the ones you care about while ignoring the rest. Now, the hard part. You have to actually ignore your email and focus on other work without that distraction. You can occasionally glance at your email on a regular schedule or between tasks and look for anything critical. If it’s not critical, ignore it for a bit until you are ready to spend a little chunk of time focused on doing email.
5. Instant messages. For really serious work, you might think about logging completely out of your instant messaging client. For most of us, we can use custom status messages to signal to people how urgent their request should be before they interrupt you. I recently set my status to “cranky, interrupt at your own risk”, and I don’t think I had a single IM during that time. I also use the generic, “busy – priority interrupts only” status, and you can get pretty creative with these to let people know that they really should think twice about interrupting. It is also perfectly acceptable to not respond immediately to an IM. If a friend or co-worker sends you a message on a topic that isn’t going to be critical, ignore it until you get to a good stopping point or when you are ready to take a break and respond when it makes sense for you.

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Thinking about how we do work takes time. It’s time well spent at the beginning of a project or at critical junctures. However, thinking about the work instead of doing it during a project can be disruptive and counter-productive. When we find effective practices and tools, we want them to become so ingrained in our process that we use them without thought.

Creating a seamless workspace

As a user, be thoughtful when you develop your personal workspace. Consider your options in terms of human skills and needs, technology, tools, and organizational practices — but then get to work once you have found an approach that is effective for the given setting.  Create a system for re-evaluating your design choices, but be biased toward stability rather than change. It may make sense to re-evaluate your workspace by the project rather than by the day or week.

If you are a content, tool, or practice supplier, do not create hurdles to seamless working.  Here are some examples of vendors that have inadvertently created hurdles to seamless working:

• Tool functions that do not match the cycle of the work. In an early use of BlackBerry handsets for law enforcement, the officers found themselves having to re-login in the middle of pursuits.
• Device blocking. The NY Post recently began blocking iPad users who are browsing via Safari. Users are redirected to a page explaining that they must purchase the NY Post iPad app to see the content. This, and all sites that admonish iPad users to download an app rather than just showing the page, break search flow.

Examples of tools that remove hurdles to seamless work are those with options for distraction-free screens (such as iA Writer for Mac) or the ability to easily control notifications (such as Tweetdeck).

Should application design or our personal work design help us navigate these hurdles? Both.

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#1 Eliminate “reactive nibblers.”

“Reactive nibblers” (time spent responding to emails, social network updates, and unexpected phone calls and visits) can quickly add up and keep you from applying focused attention to the “big rocks.” Not to mention that by constantly shifting gears and working in reactive mode, you’re a lot more likely to end the day feeling frustrated and like no real progress was made toward your top goals and priorities.

To fix the problem, establish “non-reactive zones” in your day that are reserved for your top projects. It’s better if you put these zones earlier in the day so that no matter what happens in the rest of the day, you’ve at least checked the most important to-dos off your list. Send calls to voicemail (and turn off ringers and notifications), close your email and social network applications, and even ignore the doorbell during these set times.

#2 Be aware of the time.

It’s easy to allow meetings to overrun, to “just check one more thing” when browsing the web, or to make “just one minor change” the minute a client requests it, but just ten minutes out of every hour spent on such things equals nearly an hour and a half out of an eight-hour day.

More than just trying to resist the temptation to let things overrun, always keep your eye on the clock. When you start a meeting, note the time it began at the top of your notepad. Even if you don’t need to take any other notes, you’ll keep seeing that visual reminder of what time the meeting started and how long it’s been going on, which will make you much more likely to stay on point and moving things forward.

#3 Have a plan.

Don’t know what you should be doing right now? Have no clue what you’re going to write for your blog entry today? Not sure where to pick up with that project you worked on yesterday? These are all great places to have a plan in place to help you quickly get on track so that you’re not wasting time trying to figure out what to do next.

Here are three easy tips to help you create a plan. Firstly, always end your day by writing out your top three to-do items for the next day. Secondly, use an editorial calendar to keep you on track with writing and publishing to your blog, or at the very least, have a dedicated notebook for capturing ideas for writing topics so that you’re not staring at a blank screen anytime you sit down to write. Finally, use “start here” markers when wrapping up work on every project, which are simply notes to yourself saying what to do next (for example, “Call client for quick update and then locate designer for logo.”).

#4 Create an ideal environment.

It’s important to set up a working environment that is perfect for you. You might play music to block out other noises, or you might need complete silence and to close your office door to keep you from being distracted by things outside or at home. It might also help to end each day by clearing off the surfaces in your office so that you start the next day clutter-free and feeling organized. Even things like the temperature in your office can impact your ability to focus (I have one setting during the day and then reduce the temperature at night, since I tend to get cold more often during the day, which really distracts me).

Do whatever you need to do to make your environment essentially disappear around you so that you’re able to maintain focus and not get sidetracked by little annoyances and distractions.

No matter how well you’re able to manage projects, goals and priorities, it’s often the little things that get in the way and keep us from getting things done. Be intentional about setting up safeguards to make you less likely to get distracted throughout the day so that you can maintain focus and move the “big rocks” of your day.

What safeguards do you have in place to keep you on track and focused?

Photo by Flickr user NJ.., licensed under CC 2.0

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As someone who spends a considerable amount of time thinking about productivity, I realized that over years of testing and experience, the blockers don’t really work in the long run.

Don’t get me wrong — there are instances where a blocker might work. If an app, tool or hack can shut out things that you can’t control — such as noisy neighbors or needy pets — then they’re a must-have. Things that fall under this category include sound-proofing your office, or creating a separate room for your work. Blockers can also be useful if you need an urgent fix, but as a long-term strategy they tend to fall short.

Here’s why: if a blocker is removing a distraction or obstacle that’s within your power to control like, say, checking your email or looking at Facebook updates for the umpteenth time, then the fix is no more than cosmetic. It’s like sticking a Band-Aid on your problem and telling yourself that it’s cured.

Apps can be disabled and uninstalled. The same goes with the manual tweaks you do to “block” distractions, such as tinkering with your hosts file and whatnot. Some developers of blocking tools know this, so they add certain features that make it difficult for you to disable the app. But there’s always a way to disable a block if you try hard enough. If you’ve muted your ringer, you end up looking at your phone to check for messages. You reconnect to the Internet and uninstall your site blockers to see if someone’s emailed you or commented on your latest Facebook or Twitter update. We easily give in to disable a block “just this once” and, in doing so, give in to distractions which may eat up the rest of your day.

The funny thing about this is that your “productivity tool” is actually making you more unproductive at being unproductive. You need to jump through all these hoops just to give in to procrastination, which you need or want to do for one reason or another. And the reason I know this phenomenon so well? Because it happens to me, too.

So what really helps? Using aids rather than blockers. Finding our own internal ways to block out distractions. At the same time, we really need to be easier on ourselves and allow for slips in our productivity. This is especially true for knowledge work, where the difference between procrastination and healthy play may be blurry.

If we’re to become truly productive people rather than just “productivity people,” we need to develop our own distraction blockers that can’t be turned off by a “Disable” button. They have to come from our own efforts to change our habits and behavior. Not enough is said about this, probably because it’s a difficult, lifelong, and highly individual process. Maybe that’s why it works.

Have you tried using distraction blocking tools? How did they work for you?

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We are all distracted by different things. Some people who work at home are distracted by household chores, TV, food or other personal distractions. For some reason, the personal chores around the house aren’t really a distraction for me, but I have plenty of distractions of my own. My significant other also freelances and works at home, and he can be a distraction if I forget to shut my office door or decide to work from some other area in the house. I’m also distracted by side projects, Twitter and other tasks that are slightly work related, but non-revenue generating. It’s amazing how much time these social media tools and other websites can consume without realizing it. I’ll occasionally follow a link from Twitter or my RSS reader for what I think will be a quick read, but before I know it I’ve been sucked into reading something interesting and 30 minutes will have passed.

Recently, I realized that I was getting distracted and spending too much time in an unlikely area: my task list. Wait, aren’t task lists a good thing to spend time on? Yes, to a point. However, I realized that I was spending way too much time re-reading my task list to decide which task to tackle next. It isn’t unusual for me to have 10-20 items that I would like to finish, and those items vary in priority and urgency.  Every time I completed a task, I had to go back to my task list to pick my next task. I decided that this was an inefficient use of my time to do this after every task. I still work in chunks and schedule my time, but I’m getting more organized about how often I go back to my task list.

The Next 3 Things

I now have a little document that I keep open called “The Next 3 Things.” Starting in the morning, I look at my task list to pick the next three things that I need to work on, and I add them to the document. I don’t go back to my task list until those three things are finished. When I finish a grouping of three things, I go back to my task list to pick the next three things.

I combine it with working in chunks by combining items that span several tasks in my task list into a single item in my “Next 3 Things” list. For example, four individual tasks for the same client will probably be grouped into a single item in my next 3 things list to work in a chunk of time focused on that client. I also cheat sometimes by adding a section at the bottom for tasks that I want to do at a particular time. For example, I might want to write a specific blog post while I eat lunch or go to the bank before it closes to deposit checks.

This is just one technique for prioritizing your work to stay focused on the right tasks while avoiding distractions, but it has been working for me.

What are your tips for staying focused and avoiding distractions?

Photo by Flickr user Martin Kingsley used under Creative Commons.

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But working from home and having your home repaired can be a chaotic mix. It tends to destroy your routine, concentration and even the quality of your work. So what can we home office workers do to prevent that from happening?

Use noise canceling headphones or other protective gear. This is the most straightforward approach, particularly if noise is your biggest problem. In a previous post, WWD reader Mau recommended the earmuff hearing protectors typically found in shooting ranges. If the noise isn’t too loud, maybe ever a pair of earplugs is enough.

Play some music or other non-distracting background noise. I’ve also tried drowning out the noise with music, preferably something instrumental or with foreign language vocals so that I’m not distracted when I write. If you’re solving the noise issue this way, just stick to whatever kind of music allows you to work. Alternatively, you can play white noise or soothing nature sounds. (Here’s a good collection of nature sounds. The menu on the left also points to ambient sound downloads, including white noise.)

Watch out for more than just the noise. Apart from auditory distractions, there are a lot of other things you need to look out for to stay safe. It may depend on the types of repairs you’re having, but there’s usually a lot of dust particles flying around, especially if you’re working with wood. There may also be materials, tools and other equipment lying around your house during this time.

Change your location. The great thing about being a web worker is that we can take our work with us wherever we go. As much as possible, I would look for a room or area that won’t be repaired for that day. That room then becomes my temporary office.

But sometimes, this approach isn’t enough. If you can leave someone you trust to monitor the repairs, you can work outside your home. This is an important move if you need to be available via voice chatting or conference calls. Just make sure you can be easily contacted if you need to make certain decisions regarding the repairs.

Change your work hours. Another strategy that’s been successful for me is to change my working hours around the repair schedule. I take advantage of the handyman’s rest days by working more hours on those days. Also, during his workdays, I get up very early and start work before he does. Alternatively, you can work during the evenings.

Make the effort to do routine home maintenance tasks. It might also help to take preventive measures by performing home maintenance tasks regularly. This may help you spot most potential problems along the way rather than force you to deal with one big problem that requires several noisy days or weeks to fix.

Have you ever worked from home during extensive repairs? What did you to do make sure your work got done despite the distractions?

Image by mihow from sxc.hu

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After I stopped reeling, it was time to start dealing. And deal I did — by taking these actions.

Accept the situation. It does no one good to scream and worry about it. Of course, I still worry about the situation, but I don’t let it paralyze me or prevent me from moving forward. It’s OK to scream when you hear the news, just know when to stop and move on.

Stick to the schedule. Despite the bad news, you need to try to stick to the schedule and make your deadlines.

Respond to emails at the right time. Sometimes you may not be in the best frame of mind to reply to a difficult email. Address problems and more challenging emails when you know you can respond logically and not emotionally.

Take care of your physical self. Exercise eases some of the pent up stress and symptoms that come with it. I also make sure I get my seven to eight hours of sleep, drink plenty of water and follow a balanced diet.

Help with the job search. This gives you a feeling of some control. Plus, you might be able to contact some people that your spouse doesn’t know.

Reach out to friends and colleagues. Letting others know about the situation ensures others understand why you may not act like everything is hunky dory. They might also help by contacting their connections who may have jobs or know people who do. If your friend is laid off, wouldn’t you want to know?

Write about the situation and your feelings. For some people, writing down their thoughts and emotions can ease the frustration and anger.

I know we’re no different from the many families with at least one person out of a job. My sister, my friends and others have all had loved ones out of work for months. All we can do is talk and support each other while pushing forward to find the right job where employee and employer can benefit from the partnership.

How do you handle a life-affecting situation like a layoff?

Photo credit: Tree Faerie

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The only problem was, by taking on the new projects, I was effectively doubling my workload, and I was barely keeping up with what was already on my plate. Something had to give.

For several hours, I tried to force a square peg into a round hole. I tried changing my perspective, thinking of it in different ways, rearranging my schedule over and over — all to no avail. It just wasn’t going to fit. I finally had to accept a few simple truths.

I Must Accept My Limitations
I had to be honest about my resources and availability over the coming months, as well as my commitment level to each current and prospective project. The truth was, I wasn’t completely committed to some of my current projects, and although I could be very motivated about some of the prospective ones, I knew that my resources and time constraints wouldn’t accommodate them. Plus, some of the projects would be best pursued after some of the others were well on their way to completion, if not 100 percent complete. That was the reality. Even though there were many things I wanted to do, I needed to accept what I could do, at least for the time being.

Seneca probably said it best: “Loads that are too heavy for the bearer are bound to overwhelm him.” I can continue to add to my schedule, to-do list, and obligations, but eventually, I will hit a wall. I’ll run out of time, energy and motivation, and resources, and on top of all that, the quality of my work and attention will decrease. I have to be very selective with my attention, if I hope for any of my efforts to count for something.

I Must Prioritize, and Realize When I’m Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees

There are many times when I’m pulled in too many directions, and the only way to keep it all in perspective and get my bearings is to stop and remember why I do it. When I can reconnect with that, all the other influences fall away — money, prestige, sparkly things that eventually lose their appeal, and whatever else clouds my vision. I’m able to find clarity and see the forest again, and decisions become a lot easier to make.

I Must Stay the Course

There will be many times when boredom, restlessness, failure and distractions challenge my ability to keep a grip on one thing that really matters to my success — “sticktoitiveness.” “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” That’s a quote from Thomas Edison who said that he himself failed 10,000 times before succeeding. It’s hard to stay committed for the time it takes to see a business to success. Just ask Chris Brogan, Seth Godin or Darren Rowse. Standing by a vision takes a lot of patience; seeing it through takes even more persistence.

The bottom line is, things will never be perfect, and I can’t do everything at once, but I can start somewhere. I can pick the top few projects that are realistically achievable at this stage in the game, those few projects that help me with my “big why.” Once I select those few, I have to stick with them, in spite of all the things that will pull for my attention. If I do, other doors will open up down the line, and I can take on some of the projects I put on the back burner in times past. Until then, I have to remember a wise quote by Twyla Tharp: “Better an imperfect dome in Florence than cathedrals in the clouds.”

How do you stay on the course toward success, especially considering how challenging it can be to fit all the priorities into a day and fight back the seemingly endless supply of distractions?

Image from Flickr by nestor galina

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1. Turn off automatic email check: Do you have your email app pop up or ping whenever a new message comes in? Turn it off. Most of us can’t resist checking email.
2. Close or minimize your email app: Whether you use Gmail or Outlook, close or minimize the app so you stop looking at it. I use Thunderbird and Gmail. As I write this, my browser sits in the task bar so I don’t keep looking at the second monitor to check for new messages. That little step of kicking the email app to the task bar works for me.
3. Close or minimize your browser: You may not use a web-based email app or keep it open all the time. But having the browser open when you don’t need it can turn it into a distraction. Seeing the browser, your eyes can’t help but look at whatever web site the browser has open for you. Again, send it off to the task bar or close it. A blank page can still act like a temptress.
4. Download a different browser: If you use Firefox for all your browsing needs, download Opera, Google Chrome or other browser to use as a “research browser”. Using a secondary browser will cut the temptation to visit your favorite sites since you won’t have bookmarks or saved passwords. Avoid using bookmarks and saved passwords in the secondary browser.
5. Install fun apps on a different computer: Most of us have more than one computer. Since I do game reviews, I install all games on my laptop rather than my desktop. Even though playing games is part of my job, it can take over my other work. With the laptop in another room, I’m not tempted to play even the most addicting ones.
6. Use a timer: If you can’t work for 10 minutes free of distractions, set the timer for 10 minutes and work on the task until it dings. Up it to 15 next time around and work your way to 25 minutes, the recommended time from the Pomodoro Technique.
7. Shut out noise: Way back in the day when I worked in a corporate environment, I had a neighbor who used his speaker phone every day. When this happened, I turned off my hearing aid to resort to my inborn silence. Few people can do that. Instead, try noise-canceling headphones, ear plugs or listening to music (Dawn outlines some of the strategies she uses here). If you’re a web worker, then you probably have a laptop. Take it and go somewhere quiet.
8. Set up a phone system: You may have people (family and specific colleagues, perhaps) that you must be available for at all times. Brainstorm how you can set up your phone to be open for those important calls, while shutting out the run of the mill calls. See the next tip for one idea.
9. Unleash the cell phone: If you need zero interruptions, then turn off the phone. Don’t just put it on vibrate, as you can hear that. If you must stay leashed to the phone for emergencies, how about modifying your cell phone’s profile? Set it up so that calls from emergency numbers have a specific ring tone, while silencing all other incoming calls.
10. Turn off the landline ringer: Home office workers may have a landline phone to contend with on top of their cell phones. Turn those off. Let the calls go to voicemail.
11. Leave the cell phone in another room: I had to stop bringing my phone with me to workouts because I’d keep check it. If something came in, I’d stop exercising and deal with it. Unless I’m expecting something, I leave my phone in a different room. Out of sight, out of mind.
12. Post instructions on the door: Do you frequently receive packages as part of your work? The doorbell ringing or door knocking can disrupt your work. Leave a note for the delivery services to not ring the bell or knock on the door. Make it a habit to check for packages at set times of the day, if you worry about theft.
13. Schedule social media time: Many of us struggle to limit the number of times we check on our favorite social media sites. If you have a bunch of tweets or notes you want to post, use an automated service to spread them out and keep you away from the site. Or, create a schedule for check-ins.
14. Go offline: C’mon, you must have some tasks you can complete without the Internet. Disconnect your computer or laptop from the network to force the issue, if you must.
15. Create habits: Because I never play games on my desktop in my home office, I never feel the urge to play the addicting ones. It takes 21 days to form a new habit. So pick one habit and stick with it for at least three weeks. Routines do make a difference.
16. Educate family: The school day doesn’t go on long enough for a full day’s work or a partner works in the home with you. Set up visuals that tell your family when they must not interrupt you. It could be closed doors or a sign on the door. Kids have different definitions of emergencies, so discuss what you consider an emergency.
17. Schedule household chores: Taking a short break from the computer is a must. This could be a good time to do brief chores such as loading laundry, marinate dinner or vacuuming one room. Save the longer chores for longer breaks, or when the family is around.

Many web workers rely on technology to get our jobs done. These tips help you draw the line so you use the technology for completing tasks without any sidetracking.

What other distractions do you face? How do you handle them?

Photo credit: Rajesh Sundaram

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