This is how introverts like to work: Self-directed, uninterrupted. Space to focus on one task at a time. Did I mention uninterrupted?
This is how I am currently working: LOTS of interruption (from other people in the office via email, from the kids CONSTANTLY). Multi-tasking (right now I have my Mac open for a design project and the work PC is open next to me so I can get emails from the office). Lots and lots and lots of random input from people actually charged with giving me input (coworkers) and people not at all charged but happy to weigh in (everyone else). And my schedule often up-ended when someone else decides the priority project needs to get moved in the middle of doing it and I need to work on something else unexpected.
My brains feel shredded by the end of the day.
I need some coping mechanisms and unfortunately the ones I’ve come up with so far (leave town and rent a cabin without internet access; join a monastery; refuse to read or answer work emails while at home; quit parenting the children between the hours of 9am and 4pm) aren’t feasible. And my office is a little nervous about telecommuting so I have less autonomy than I would if I was in the office.
I fantasize about Someday. Someday when I have peace and quiet and a home office with a door. Someday when I am not so exhausted from juggling input from dozens of people I’ll be able to write again. Honestly by the end of the day I can’t even look at the computer let alone type on it.
I know it’s not forever but sometimes it feels like it will be.
So I’ll ask the working introverts out there (I know there are a bunch of you who read me), what are your coping mechanisms working in an extroverted world? My biggest challenge is figuring out how to survive the constant interruptions, which aren’t going to go away so I need to learn how to live with ‘em. If you have advice, I’d welcome it (just not that I need to tell other people not to interrupt me because that’s not possible. My boss is an extrovert and is very chatty via email, phone, in-person.)
Lunch is time for me with a book, NO COWORKERS. And I seethe a lot. I don’t think I have really productive suggestions.
Well, when I’m home, I have lunch with the kids and they do insist on chattering. And I work through lunch at work because I come in late ‘cuz of childcare stuff. I am starting to come a little unglued because weekends have been eaten up by the kids soccer/religious school/etc. I’m not getting any downtime and it’s seriously not working for me.
Exercise. Kids on whatever they ride and a long walk, at lunch. Trust me, a nice brisk pace and you can’t hear what they’re shouting.
All of your activities return to the keyboard and kitchen. Schedule in time that’s free of words.
The running helps but I’m not bringing the kids. Just NO.
Occasionally I have managed to gain a few minutes of peace at home by putting myself in time out. At work? That’s a tough one. I vote for a solitary lunch, along with a few solitary moments in hiding, with the door closed, throughout the day.
These are my strategies for staying focused but they are office based and may not be feasible for you.
Return email once an hour and phone calls 2ce a day. Try to get work to go along w/this while you are telecommuting. Let them know you are right there working, but it’s hard to get things done trying to respond to everything immediately.
Structure your workday for how you work. For example, I do all my writing first thing when possible. Busy work is for right after lunch and from 4 pm on. My inbox gets cleaned up most days at 4:30.
Of course, this is less possible with the kids at home. Can you schedule hands-off time? Maybe according to how the day already flows. Say, the 1 1/2 hours after lunch are minimal mom time??
I’m like Thorn. Lunch is usually in my office w/the door closed. I’d go insane if I had to listen to Jamie chatter in the middle of my day, as much as I miss him!
Hmmm. Dont pay attention to the interruptions unless, they are like, ON FIRE? I have the same sort of working environment. I tend to put my office phone on direct calls (to voice mail) and I log out of email. It is the only way I can focus. I have even set an email away message that says I am not available till a certain time.
I also move my location. Take my laptap and go to the cafe or some random ice cold conference room.
That email away message is brilliant. I think I may do that for two to three hours a day. I’m the go-to person for a lot of unimportant stuff and I always feel compelled to deal with it right away. This would help. (I knew you’d have good feedback!)
you were speaking my language and living my life. sadly, i have not been able to get out of writing by committee. but i have gotten used to it and i have learned to put things off until every one else has peed on it. (also helps i used to work for laywers. they edit, edit again, and again, and again, and end up with what they started with)
I had to start saying no a lot. The kids are only allowed one activity, and only two kids can do something at the same time.
I also had to quit being so generous and helping people do things that were not my job. It’s hard, you’re part of an organization and you want to pitch in, but sometimes pitching in prevents you from doing what you are paid to do. (Says the woman who will be running an errand that is really her boss’ over her lunch hour).
Also, I gave up writing by committee. I take a lot of input on what everyone wants something to say, but after I write only my boss and my copy editor read it.
Can you put an email message up for work- working between 1 and 3 and will read and respond to emails after that?
I’m gonna talk to my boss re., the writing by committee. It’s making me nuts.
I use lists because they help me keep focused on what REALLY is a priority, not just what other people want me to do. If someone (kid, coworker, whatever) wants something done, add it to the list.
In fact, I started making a list with the family at breakfast each day so we all can put our priorities on it. There is some recognition that when I put work stuff on the list that I will need uninterrupted time to do it.
I have yet to find an electronic list system that works for me, so daily lists I still relegate to paper and pencil. I use tasks in the google calendar ap for long term goals with deadlines.
Learn some quick access phrases like “I’m sorry…I’m really bogged down on this project and I need to focus but hit me up again in a couple of hours” or something to that effect…a brush off but not a harsh one (not one that can be used on the boss but at least for the others)
Prioretize work according to your and your office’s rhythm…do you see people approaching you more in the morning or in the afternoon…try to leave important work for the time in between when you are less distracted
I too used to do lists…used the task section of outlook.
Just carve that time for yourself no matter at whose expense…I know..this sounds extremely cruel (children) and selfish but my experience has been that if I don’t…then I implode later.
I’ve actually looked up monasteries…found a nun cloister of some sort a state away and I could pay (very reasonable rate) nightly and enjoy utter silence…still considering it!LOL
Having a family really precludes what I do, but I’ll say it anyway. Ideally, I like to go to bed about 5 or 6 PM, then get up at 2-3 AM. I get a tremendous amount or work done and feel like I’ve accomplished something when the sun comes up.
I haven’t been able to do that much lately due to the notorious House Guest who sleeps on my couch. He’s really mucked up my schedule and thinking with his 12-hour Alex Jones marathons blasting through my house. He reminds me why I never wanted kids, but he’s neat and doesn’t borrow money and would make a good boy toy if I were so inclined.
Oops, I’ll second the others who suggest lists. I don’t always do it, but get much more done when I do.
Yes! Turn off the email/phone for a couple of hours a day to focus.
when i worked in an office, i spent a lot of time at the computer, and it was always tempting to hop on the internet and check a message board or my personal email (this was back in the day before blogs). i sometimes felt guilty for it, but i honestly would spend 5 minutes (i had to account for my time in six minute increments, so i rarely went over 5!), but somehow that felt like “down time” for my brain. escaping for a minute to the library, running some stupid errand, even if for just a couple of minutes over lunch (i too mostly worked through lunch) — i would try to reward myself periodically through the day to let my brain escape the stimulation of the office and calm down. it really helped.
lots of deep breathing is also really helpful. find a bit of a psalm to pray? like a meditation. walk on your lunch break even if only once a week.
the email stuff is just out of control, i know. i personally think that email is good only for logistical stuff — like, can you meet at 2:00 or 3:00 on wednesday? folks are much less likely to weigh in if they actually have to meet face to face. and the pace is way slower even if they do. if a sane email policy isn’t possible though (i.e. not in your control) is there any chance someone else — your boss, maybe — can be the gatekeeper for the “writing by committee” stuff? like all suggestions go to her first, and then she’ll edit and/or consolidate before she sends it to you?
hang in there! keep your eyes on the prize.
I rely on “bookends” of alone time at the beginning and end of my day. When I had an office door, I would close (and lock) it during lunch, so that I could really have that time to myself, too, but no office door here at home, so my guaranteed concentrated time is before the kids get up or after they are in bed.
I prefer the night, but get much more done and more ideas for what needs done in the morning, so if I could only have one of them, it would be really hard to choose.
Oh, I feel you. I’d crawl into a cave and work all day without talking to anyone if I could. As far as the writing by committee thing, it drives me NUTS! My policy is we have basically two stages. I write something. Everyone can give feedback at that point. As far as that feedback goes, unless it came from my boss I use my judement and take it or leave it, and then I submit a final draft to my boss only. He’s pretty good about just trusting me at that point. He knows I’m a perfectionist and have tried to think of everything it usually moves forward at that point with minimal new feedback.
As far as managing interruptions I have two strategies. I work from home one day per week and on that day I check vm hourly and return urgent calls but I don’t pick up the phone or return calls that can wait until the next day. So that helps me focus. And pretty much every day I stop taking most phone calls and don’t respond to emails after 3pm. I figure at that point, it’s late in the day and most people aren’t really expecting a reply until the following morning anyway. I just figure, hey, when I’m at a conference or a meeting I’m regularly not available for a couple of hours and the world hasn’t ended yet. Most things can wait. So 3-5 is my time to focus on more involved tasks (like grant writing) that are hard to do with constant interruptions. It helps that I’ve been at the org for 3 years though. So people trust that the work is getting done. It’s harder to ignore people in your first year when there is always a little bit of a sense that you have to prove yourself.
I have to laugh at myself for saying I’m a perfectionist and submitting a comment full of typos. Clearly not about everything!
This is how I deal with the extroverts at my work:
A coworker swings by my desk while I’m in the middle of something and says “hey, can you chat?”
My response is, “Yes. Just a minute, I’m going to wrap up this one thing.”
They haven’t been trained yet not to come by. But they do know that I will not turn around and look up if they interrupt me, and will need to wait.
I do not keep my email open all the time. Email is a tool, not a leash. I can look at it every 15 minutes on a schedule and be more productive. Good advice for anyone. If it’s a true emergency that cannot wait 15 minutes (and nearly nothing at work ever is) they can call me on the phone.
I don’t pick up the phone at lunch. I don’t do work email during lunch. I don’t talk to my boss at lunch. I say, “I’ll come find you after lunch.”
I keep my email inbox empty. If I look at email, I process it: respond, make it in to a task, or trash. David Allen’s Getting Things Done is great for this.
All this and I am a manager myself with a staff of 4 most of the year and 12 for 3 months of the year. I also manage a project team of another 5 people, and my manager and my co-project manager are extroverts. I respect them by sitting there while they think out loud, and I train them to respect me by setting up boundaries for appropriate interruption. And I’m a successful professional and no one has ever said I’m hard to come and talk to.
I struggle with this too, and have stunningly little to offer, but I’m loving these suggestions!
I’ve sometimes found that under major deadlines, I can get more done working outside of the house – even for just a couple of hours – than I do in an entire day. Library, coffeeshop – wherever there is free WiFi and the chatter has little or nothing to do with me.
I’m someone who gave up parenting during normal working hours. It sucks. I wish I could just work in the middle of the night.
When I really feel things going crazy around me I have to clamp down on saying “no” to friends and potential projects outside of whatever I have going right now. I had to do that today. Doesn’t always feel great to say “no” but the result is more sanity. The other thing is to set up some quiet time for my kid and myself. He’s a high maintenance kid but he can be really great when I explain to him that I’m super stressed and I need to finish a project or be by myself for a half an hour. I can’t be vague about it though, he responds well when I tell him exactly how long I need and then negotiate to spend a little time with him afterwards doing something he’d be really happy to do with me.
I make a deal with myself that when it’s time to give him attention, after I get a little break, I absolutely focus on him and he feels so much more cared for when we work things out this way.
Time management is everything.