Came across an article about information overload on google+, which was very apropos of my recent efforts to not be so stressed at work. I’ve made some changes to how I work over the last few months, some of them just tweaks actually, and I feel like they’ve improved my ability to focus and made work much less stressful. YMMV, obviously.
- I use virtual desktops to minimize distraction. I have three virtual desktops: one desktop with just what I’m working on right now, nothing else, one with email, code reviews, and other things that might distract me, and one with personal stuff like personal email. I can easily switch desktops and check emails, but the only thing that can impose on me are chat popups, and people don’t chat me a lot. I occasionally check for new important email or code reviews but I can choose when, typically while I’m waiting for something on my work desktop to complete.
- I keep the tasks I’m working on written down and categorized according to when I want to complete them. I pick one task from the stuff-I-should-do-soon pile and work just on that. When that pile is empty, or it’s been a while since the last time, I look over all my tasks, usually a quarter’s worth, and move some out of and some into the soon-pile. This means I don’t have to worry about all the things I’m not working on right now because I know I’ve considered what I could be working on and chosen what I’m doing right now as the most important. This has been very helpful in making me less stressed. This is apparently a well-known approach, I first saw it in this video about how to use Asana (Using Asana for Individual Task Management).
- I make an effort to only work 8 hours a day. This is a tough one because it sometimes makes me feel like I’m slacking off, especially because I come in early so I’m almost always the first to go home. However, there’s plenty of research suggesting that even though you may feel you’re getting more work done working 10 hours a day it’s an illusion and you’re actually doing less than if you worked 8 hours (see why crunch mode doesn’t work). At first I just trusted the research, against my own intuition, but at this point I’m convinced — I feel much more focused and efficient and I see no evidence that I’m being less productive. I will occasionally work more for a while but I always feel a “overwork hangover” afterwards where I’m tired, less focused, more likely to space out. But at this point I know that and can make a conscious choice about whether it’s worth it.
Some of these require a bit of motivation; the one really easy thing is to clear any distractions from your workspace, especially if like me you were silly enough to have a browser window there. It’s easy and it makes a big difference.