You might not want to believe this, but the place you're sitting right now is filled with things that are quietly destroying your productivity.
This is especially truly if you're currently sitting here (toilet), but also true even if you're sitting... here (nice office).
Today we're looking at 4 ways in which your workspace - your environment - is probably harming your ability to stay focused on your work.
These are issues that can be so distracting that some people will go to extreme lengths to escape them. One of those people is Peter Shankman, an author who publicly talks about his struggles with ADHD. A few years ago, Peter decided to buy a $5000 round-trip ticket from his home town in New Jersey to Tokyo.
After spending 14 hours flying to Japan, he got right back on the same plane and spent another 12 hours flying right back home.
He didn't even stop to see the life-size Gundam! Missed opportunity if I ever saw one.
So why would someone spend $5,000 and 26 hours of their life flying halfway across the world and back?
Well, as Peter tells it, he was writing a book and coming dangerously close to the publisher's deadline. He couldn't get himself to focus at home, so he decided to put himself in a place with no internet, no phone signal, and no distractions - a cramped airplane cabin.
It worked. Chapters 1-5 were written on the way to Tokyo, and he wrote 6-10 on the way back, landing with a finished first draft.
This is my favorite example of what a proper environment can do - even if it is ridiculous - and also of how a bad environment can rob you of your potential.
So lets meet our four workplace productivity-destroyers, and see how to deal with them - preferably without spending 5 grand on a plane ticket.
We'll start with the one that I have the most trouble with: Paths of Lesser Resistance.
Most work worth doing is difficult, and that means you'll deal with resistance when trying to do it. Your brain doesn't want to go through the difficulty involved, so it looks for an escape route.
It's easy to identify the usual suspects: TikTok, Twitter, and that game on your phone all offer up bite-size hits of dopamine at a moment's notice.