This was originally released on the Mirror Blog. Visit theworkmirror.com for more resources on how to make time for what matters and stay healthy and productive at work.
I tried not to talk about "how to work better from home" because everyone's an expert now. But apparently a lot of people like my headphone hack so I'll make an exception. Here it comes: Wear Headphones whenever you work! 🤯🎧
All those "go to a desk, don't work from your bed" home office advice tries to do two things:
- limit distractions
- create a boundary between your work and your home so you won't be working 24/7
Especially the last part is very important as for many of us that separation of work and personal spaces was not obvious. It was just something we unconsciously did by going from/to work. These days many people recommend to create a new separation by working from a separate room. But what to do when you do not have that space?
In my experience, Headphones can do the same! Because
- noise cancellation 😉
- the important part about separating yourself from work is not the space but to find a clear signal that you are no longer in "work mode". Putting down the headphones does that for me, as I only use them during work.
So if you don't have home office, get yourself a decent pair of headphones to help you unplug after work!
Top comments (5)
I do this to pretty good effect. You actually just reminded me to put my headphones back on. I'll usually have music going if I'm not in a call, and high bpm music without vocal focus motivates me to do stuff. I personally like dubstep for isolation, but I've heard people mention music in other languages being equally helpful just so that you can't focus on the words and get distracted from your work.
I thought I was the only one who can not concentrate if there’s music in my mother tongue (German) playing. 🙂
If you experience life through an inner narrative (some don't) then words interrupt that narrative.
Makes sense. I never thought about it like that :)
Piano or violin music helps me to maintain a boundary from the outside world and everything happening around me.