Creating a calm environment

"Sometimes distractions are a good thing"

If you are surrounded by distractions, or have a lot on your mind, you may find it hard to focus on anything. That could be a noisy office, your family not giving you enough time and space to concentrate, or a level of sensory overload you cannot deal with.

All those situations – and many others – can benefit from your own kind of positive distraction: i.e., not distract you from the tasks at hand, but from the things that pull your focus away from these tasks.

As always, a dedicated workspace is a good start to ensure success. Having an area that you identify as a place of dealing with tasks will allow you to focus better than, e.g., dealing with paperwork wherever there is room.

Separate ‘planning’ from ‘doing’: it’s helpful and calming to plan when you will tackle each task and in which order ahead of time. That way, assessing priorities is a separate task from actually doing things. This will keep you from second-guessing what to do next and chipping away at random tasks when others are more urgent.

However, the overarching guideline here is simple: any positive distraction that calms your mind and keeps you focused is good.

If noise is the main issue, headphones can help reduce the stress created by that element. It’s important, though, to make sure you don’t listen to anything that uses the same cognitive channel needed to do your work. If you need to write emails or anything else involving verbal skills, you don’t want to listen to talk radio!

But the best thing: you don’t even have to listen to anything… headphones block out some of the ambient noise just by wearing them.

Sometimes a calm environment is created in your mind and the only thing it needs is a tea break or a short walk outside to allow your brain to sort through stuff and then return to the things that need doing.

In my work with clients, I make sure to keep my antenna primed to pick up on signs of exhaustion or overwhelm. When I sense it is needed, I change tack or propose a break. Five minutes may be all it takes to get back to full working capacity.

All those are fairly basic elements to finding a calm space, but not everything can be dealt with quite as easily, especially in work environments. What if there are personal issues with colleagues? What if the workload is too heavy? Can your workspace be modified in any way to allow you to focus better?

All those are discussions to be had with HR or whichever department deals with the issues at hand. Don’t hesitate to take steps before a situation gets to a point where you feel embarrassed to even address it!