Open offices have once been considered signposts of innovation meant to promote collaboration and give a sense of community. Today, however, it turns out that working in an open space office has as many challenges, as it has benefits. The greatest difficulty many open office workers have is to stay focused during office hours and get on top of their daily duties. Looming deadlines and stress inducing work environment can negatively influence performance. Have a look at the list of ideas which will help you stay productive at all times.

Alarming statistics

In his powerful TED talk, Julian Treasure describes the impact different sounds may have on our productivity. He mentions the research conducted by Simon Banbury and Diane C. Berry published in British Journal of Psychology in 1998, which shows that productivity usually falls down by 66% in an open space office. Treasure claims that noise is one of the biggest factors lowering our ability to work efficiently.

Music is your best friend

If your line of work allows you to listen to music during office hours, make sure you have some soothing tunes handy. The right type of music can help you relax and get all things done. Professionals recommend avoiding music with lyrics. The best choices would therefore include classical music, ambient, and sounds of nature. Additionally, get noise-cancelling headphones for extra comfort.

Ignore distractions

Another drawback of open-plan offices is that you constantly have to deal with negativity of other people. The best advice I can give you is to, by all means, avoid complainers. Their attitude can be pretty toxic for the entire office and may have dramatic effect on your productive capacity. The same goes for workplace gossip – it’s better not to engage in the office grapevine.

Upgrade your personal space

We all know how hard it is to find distraction free zones in an open plan office, therefore you should do all it takes to create one yourself. Your workstation can be easily turned into a calming and motivating Zen space, even if it’s just a small cubicle. The first rule you should keep in mind, is to have your desk organized at all times. You can add a plant or a photo for more personal touch.

Don’t waste time on superfluous tasks

Undeniably, open office environment enhances communication between employees. Sometimes it may work to your advantage, especially when you are stuck with particularly hard task. There is always this special someone, who may give you a helping hand. But there are times when conversations become overwhelming. Try not to waste time on counterproductive chitchats. If you feel like you need a short break, take a walk outside the office. It will help you recharge and get some fresh perspective.

Brainstorm ideas with your colleagues

If all ceaseless attempts at improving situation in a noisy office have met a dead end, there is still one last resort option you can try. You need to remember that if something is bugging you, your work buddies may have the same problem, so keep lines of communication open. Try to share your concerns with others. Working on a problem together will definitely bring your team closer.

Finding peace of mind in a noisy office can be a daunting task, but the above tips may help you keep your productivity at the highest level at all times.

 

Monique Craig is an Australian blogger and marketing specialist who works for Oneflare, an online marketplace which connects customers with local service providers.

 

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How many times you had the feeling that you are lost with a new subject at work? If you are like most people, probably many times… But don’t worry! It’s super common in this day and age because we live in a very dynamic environment, with a lot of new information to handle every day and staying up to date is a real challenge.

The hard truth is that if you want to grow as person in your society and in your job, you have to constantly keep learning new things.

But, why exactly?

1. To perform, perform and perform.

You can only succeed at what you are doing if you have the right knowledge to do so. Today’s society is so well educated that you really need to be a “Superman” or “Superwoman” if you want to succeed. If you are not a top performer there will be someone in the next corner really well prepared to do your job, and willing to do it. Then, simply learn how to be the best.

2. To get out of your comfort zone.

Experience shows that the most successful people are those who constantly go out of their comfort zone. These people welcome new challenges, new risks, and constantly discover new subjects, becoming this a daily practice in their lives. In other words, people succeed when they put themselves beyond their current limits. But the only way to get out of the comfort zone is by knowing what is beyond. You will be so scared to put a foot out if you don’t know what you are going to find there. First of all learn what is out there and then go for it!

3. To have a longer and healthier life.

Believe it or not, but different demography studies performed all around the world show that keeping an active mental activity is one of the key factors to have a longer and better live. It is proven that diseases like Alzheimer, Parkinson or memory loss tend to appear less in people who stay mentally active. Be aware that staying active does not mean simply doing word searches (which are fun!). It means taking real mental challenges. A great example might be to learn a new language.

4. To improve your personal relationships.

This point is really simple to explain. When you have broader knowledge about more subjects, you can really connect with different people concerned by those subjects. This, automatically, will enrich your relationships. Imagine for a moment that you take a course on personal motivation which puts you in plenty of real situations applicable to your friends and family. Can you imagine how your relationships will improve as soon as you start giving them good tips that help them to be more motivated?

5. To feel good.

There is no better feeling than knowing interesting things. Imagine yourself traveling to a place where you acknowledge what is around: you know the history of the place, the important people who lived there, the meaning of a monument,… surely this will make you and the people with you feel great.

 

It is now really evident that you have to learn new things to be happy and to feel complete as a person. So, just go for it! There are plenty of opportunities out there.

But bear in mind something: once you start doing this, you will become an addict to it!

—

Fernando Vilas is founder and CEO of Quisapit, an online website which mission is to put in contact motivated students with the best teachers around the world, in many different subjects. You can subscribe to the Quisapit regular updates or follow Quisapit in Facebook.

 

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People usually have trouble responding and coping with every day problems. For a long time, I, myself, had trouble with my daily “problems”….

Why? Because we tend to react the same way every time. Our brain is lazy when it comes to problem solving. It has a “tried” response, that is usually easy to implement, and fast, you don´t even need to think, you just react to a stimulus.

For a lot of people this “tried and easy response” is anger. They react with anger to everything and everyone, and the reaction is an impulsive reaction, because there is no thought involved, just an emotions.

But, there is another type of response, a “more elaborate and custom response” to each  situation that we have, we could  create a new reaction in that instant. A response that requires our brain to take action “thinking”, and not just reacting.

Our brain is very complex. If we could simplify it in order to understand its functions towards problems, we could say that our brain has various types of responses. It has a double response, which is the fastest, and a triple response (this are my words, just to simplify things. A note of caution, I´m not a neuropsychologist, nor a neuro-something…I´m just a psychotherpist, trying to explain in simple words, so please bare with me, and if I´m mixing something please clarify in a comment.)

This double response process takes place in our brain and nervous system. It is caused by a  division in our brain in which our brain is divided into different reactive and thinking parts. According to neuroscience, we have three brains merged into one. Neoroscientist Paul D. MacLean (1913-2007) proposed that the human brain is really three brains in one, a “Triune brain”. A Reptilian Complex (Or sometimes called Croc Brain), a Limbic System (Central Area), and The Neocortex (The rugged part of our brain).

If we just react impulsively to a problem, we are actually using an Action-Reaction loop. For instance, I used to react with anger towards my daughter (She is seven now), every time she walked without shoes, and her socks ended black with soil. It happened every day, various times each day. She took her socks off – out came an angry  shout, from my mouth, towards her. My brain just reacted without thinking.

What I needed was a tripple phase loop, or action-PAUSE-reaction. The double loop is used by our reptilian brain, or croc brain, and it usually helps to protect us. It is why you take away your hand from fire. You react without thinking, BAM! But the triple reaction I needed, takes time, because it needs thinking. It takes our neo-cortex of our brain to carry out the action, so we can have an action-PAUSE-reaction setting for a problem, or in other words, your brain receives the stimulus through the senses, it processes the stimulus, sends it to the Neo-cortex, and the neo-cortex decides what to do ( Hence the PAUSE time), you decide what to do with your neo-cortex, and then you DO it…

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

-Viktor E. Frankl

The important part is when Victor Frankl mentions SPACE. It is a PAUSE between the action and reaction. That pause is what keeps you from reacting impulsively to the problem.

According to wiktionary.org  a problem is:

1. A difficulty that has to be resolved or dealt with.  
2. A question to be answered, schoolwork exercise.
3. A puzzling circumstance.

ZEN ATTITUDE

In order for you to master ZEN, you need to master the moment. Be mindful of it…

1. Observe the problem with an objective mind. Evaluate the situation in a third person point of view.

2. Let Go – Let go of everything you can´t control. This is very important…you need to let go of everything that is not in your control. This will take care of any negative thought you might have.

3. Don´t give up, before you try… VARIOUS TIMES.

4. Think before you react. Take a moment. -If you are very Angry… You could try this simple breathing technique: Breathe in through your mouth, counting in your head up to 4. Keep the breath in, don´t exhale, for a 4 count. Exhale through your mouth, counting in your head, form 1 to 4. This is called the 4 x4 breathing technique. After that, react.

5. If you are having an issue or problem, try putting things into perspective by thinking: “What´s the worst that can happen?” If the answer is very negative, like death, or going crazy, put things into perspective by thinking in terms of Percentages. What is the actual percentage that you might become crazy, because of the problem?

What will happen is that your brain has trouble understanding percentages, and when you try to be real with percentages you get a better perspective. Before you thought that you would die, but a real percentage of dying would be 5%. Try it out. This is great for working with negative thoughts. I use it when doing work with Panic Attacks.

Well I hope I have help you with these Zen Like strategies.

Carlos is a Psychology Professor in a local university in El Salvador, a psychotherapist, creator of HandLink Technique (Energy Psychology), blogger, musician, and host of Sight For Sore Eyes Blog. At his blog you may get free information to learn HandLink Technique, or get simple yet profound content so you may “Learn the art of living a meaningful life.”

 

 

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