
Working From Home? Here's an Extra Shot of Focus - tvalent2
https://techblog.livingsocial.com/blog/2014/04/02/working-from-home-heres-an-extra-shot-of-focus/
======
gabemart
In case people aren't yet sick of me plugging the ambient noise generator I
built, here are some sites that block out background noise as a supplement to
a good pair of headphones for distraction-free work:

[http://coffitivity.com](http://coffitivity.com)

[http://noisli.com](http://noisli.com)

[http://asoftmurmur.com](http://asoftmurmur.com)

I like working with music on, but I find it very hard to find music that
allows me to truly focus, and when I do I quickly get tired of listening to
the same tracks over and over. I like ambient noise because it blocks out the
world without stealing focus.

I also like this Buddhist chant:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG_lNuNUVd4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG_lNuNUVd4)

~~~
josh-wrale
I'm a fan of ambient noise and the likes of Brian Eno. I'm somewhat fearful of
using the same tones for _very_ long periods of time. The inner ear doesn't
tolerate these well (especially white noise), nor does the brain. In
moderation however, bring it on. Thanks for the links.

~~~
gabemart
That's interesting. Do you know where I can read more about this please?

~~~
josh-wrale
I had a much harder time finding info about the mechanism I reported than I
would have thought. I think perhaps I was wrong and I appreciate the prompt to
research further.

Even at low levels, anything droning I _theorize_ (for the moment) must
_habituate_ the listener (e.g. cricket song). I thought I understood that
physiologically, such droning caused the tiny hairs of the inner ear to either
die or become less sensitive. The brain filters "noise" I understood. Again, I
cannot seem to find evidence of this at low sound pressure levels(~volumes),
so my reasoning may be a byproduct of some pseudoscience.

I understand that tinnitus suffers sometimes use white noise to habituate
themselves to the ringing they perceive, and that this reportedly improves
their symptoms. However, this conclusion seems incomplete to me. I think there
is habituation happening, but I suspect it's: (1) a desensitization to nearly
all frequencies (white noise = broad spectrum) and (2) frequency masking. (1)
would be sacrificing the ability to perceive across the spectrum in order to
minimize the effects of "the ringing" which is only sometimes physically
present. (2) (masking) fools the brain/ear into not hearing something that
"really" (psycho-acoustically, in this context) is there. Enough of my
theorizing though.

Most of what I find suggests that "noise" by definition is loud and only
sometimes unwanted. I take issue with both over-simplifications. lol.

I first learned about the concept while studying to become an Audio Mastering
Engineer. I gave up before making it to that level, though.

The concept of "central gain" is pretty interesting as a topic of research in
this field.

Here are some links:

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18274918](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18274918)

[http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/03/health/noise-machines-
study/](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/03/health/noise-machines-study/)
(contradicts me)

To be honest, I'm happy to learn there is little evidence of droning causing
damage at low SPLs; I used to sit on a data center room floor with a direct
line of sight to hundreds of computer racks. :-)

Edit: Another link:
[http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/6/2356.full.pdf](http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/6/2356.full.pdf)

~~~
gabemart
Thanks!

------
jedberg
> I allow myself 15 minutes of Reddit per day.

He's definitely not the only one. We noticed this trend very early on -- a lot
of users have a fixed amount of time.

If we made an improvement to page loading times, time on site stayed fixed,
but the number of pages each user viewed went up. In other words, they were
reading more in the same amount of time.

We found that fascinating.

------
derwiki
Is "work from home on a team" different than "work from home bootstrapping by
yourself"? The article mentions "While working from the office, it’s hard to
get quality work done every day. Doing it from home is even harder" and at
least for me, it's _much_ easier to get quality work done at home. Maybe I'm
lucky and have built a distraction free home (no kids, wife, or goats).

The other tips don't seem to be "work from home" specific.

As a side note, I think it's really funny how much importance people put on
their coffee ritual. I'm a tea drinker, which must mean I'm just a plebeian
;-)

~~~
bazzargh
Working from home on a team feels different. My work hours are more
constrained, to align with the office-bound team. I'm on video calls with the
team several times a day, and need to be available for that.

I think the morning ritual is to an extent wfh specific. It's obvious that you
get yourself together when you're heading into the office, but at home it's so
easy just to open up the laptop and stay in bed. It's so easy to blur the line
between work time and home time this way, and lose your balance one way or the
other.

I have the vpn token on a lanyard; I find this helps as a mental signal that
I'm on company time. I also try to do my morning session in a cafe - this
forces me to be up and out with the world, and introduces a cutoff point when
'home' ends.

~~~
derwiki
I _want_ to like working in Cafes. I focus easier, the energy is invigorating,
less loneliness.. but invariably every coffee shop visit is accompanied by
flaky connection issues. I usually lose 30 min of productivity messing with it
and then give up and go home to good internet.

~~~
wallawe
I found this to be true as well. You should really look into a mifi. At ~50
bucks a month it is well worth the investment, especially if you have a bus
commute or like working in coffee shops, etc as you mentioned.

~~~
derwiki
I tether to my phone but my favorite coffee shop doesn't get good cell
reception for me either :/

------
iamthepieman
I've worked from home for 2 and a half years after working in only office
environments in cubicles.

I find one of the hardest to define and most important was work signalling.
When I worked in an office there were many signals that got me mentally and
physically prepared to do work. These included:

Getting dressed - I have never worked in my underwear from home but I now make
a point to put on some nice pants and shoes and fix my hair/wash my face etc.

Driving - Not commuting is a huge time and energy saver but it still gave me
some quiet time to prepare for the day. I now either go for a walk in the
morning or "get to work" 15 minutes early and read something interesting and
tech oriented.

Greeting Coworkers - I still haven't found a good replacement for this. It's
hard to catch up on water cooler talk remotely especially since half my team
doesn't even use IM. I try to check in with questions from the previous day or
a quick status update via email within the first hour of work.

The office - I've moved my office a couple of times and find it's best if the
office is a dedicated room, not a nook or a corner of the living room but
something with it's own decor and sense of place. I painted my office spring
green to be cheery and have some plants and a bookshelf with tech books on it.
I put a glass whiteboard up that I use to brainstorm and will point my webcam
at it if I'm working with a remote coworker on something that requires it.

When I first started working form home I thought that distractions were my
biggest problem but I've since realized that it's not so much getting rid of
distractions, but getting INTO work.

------
markbnj
I've been working from home for close to ten years, and one thing to note is
that the challenges are exponentially increased when children enter the
picture. When those children become teens, the challenges can be epic. Nothing
like a flame-out between two daughters in the kitchen next to your office
during a conference call! Throw in a couple of pets, just in case the stress
level isn't crippling yet. Fortunately I'm a night-owl, and don't have to
attend too many meetings. In terms of producing what I need to produce I can
often shift work into the quieter evening and early morning hours. In the end
I would still much rather work this way. All of the interruptions of family
life still prove somehow less disruptive than the endless "networking" and
powerpoint-strewn meetings I used to be dragged into when I worked in an
office.

~~~
madrusec
I am in similar situation. Routine can help in some cases. When you have a
routine your wife and kids know when you will leave the room and when you will
go back in (or the cave as my wife calls it :D). Sometimes it can be hard to
take breaks at the same time everyday, especially when you are trying to
figure out a problem you believe you are very close to solving. However,
sometimes that break is all you need to fix that pesky bug! Headphones are
also helpful, though like you I am a night owl as well. The only problem with
that is that it can lead to irregular sleep, a subject a would like to read
more about from a programmer who works at home with a family.

------
potomak
I'd also suggest* using tools such Tomatoes[1] that help you stay focused and
manage your working time.

Another suggestion is to try to not work from home at all, find a nice
coworking space or a shared office.

[1] [http://tomato.es](http://tomato.es)

* I'm the author a proud user of this tool

~~~
gms7777
I've used tomato.es for a while now and its a great tool, so thank you. I'd
highly recommend it to others.

I use the login with github and my one peeve with it is that if I forget to
login and start and finish an interval, it tells me to login in order to keep
track of things. But if I then proceed to log in, that one interval is lost.

------
1jambox
When I raised my first round I worked from home most of the time and time
boxing was the key. Writing down one or some goals and trying to achieve them
in a given period of time.

For me 19 minutes works the best. It doesn't feel like too much ('19 minutes
won't kill me') and still you can move mountains in 19 minutes. I don't do
breaks inbetween them, I just make like 3-6 in a row and the some break.

Because none of the tools were really perfect I wrote my own, very lean and a
not configurable tool:

\- 19 minutes fixed

\- a crisp & clear ticking sound (WebKit only)

\- browser-based, just enter url and the thing starts without the need to
press any further button; the page title shows the running time

=> [http://revs.co](http://revs.co)

~~~
computerbob
This is a really interesting idea. I work a lot with desktop tools and am
thinking of making a little timer which does something similar and makes
tracks which I am doing which could "Yell" at me if I am doing thing on a
"ban" list. I like the simplicity of the browser page.

------
muriithi
Is procrastination as common in other fields like engineering, accounting,
marketing etc when compared to programming?

~~~
pdevr
What I have learnt is that as long as the work involves non-deterministic
processes, it will cause mental drain. So, there is more chance of
procrastination.

Along with this, if the task is large, there is a higher risk of
procrastination.

------
untestedcode
I really like his focus script. However, I think he's treating the symptoms
and not the problem. Usually, when I can't focus it just means there's
something else that's wrong: 1) I didn't get a good night's sleep, 2) my diet
wasn't quite right that day (too much sugar perhaps?) or the previous day, or
3) I've been working too long.

Lack of focus is a signal that something is wrong. In terms of being at home
versus at the office, I can have the same lack of focus at the office.

------
snarfy
I worked from home for about three years. At one point I had an entirely
separate desk and computer for work, adjacent to my personal computer and
desk. This is legally required for tax purposes, but it's also the best
work/life balance I could find and still maintain focus. If I'm in the work
chair on the work computer, I'm working.

~~~
derwiki
That's another thing -- having a chair makes a huge difference. I'd been
sitting on a water jug at my desk for the last few months and recently got a
chair -- what a difference! (I wish I was joking/trolling)

------
wglb
These are all good points. Except for the goat.

When I was working at home and the kids were still young, I had a door to the
office that was closed when I was "at work". Family could knock if they needed
something.

------
hawkharris
Nice, succinct advice, especially the bit about multi-tasking.

I've always said that multi-tasking is like fixing a flat tire. It's a
valuable skill to have, but you should avoid putting yourself in situations
that require it.

------
mherrmann
Great article. I have been working from home with one remote colleague for two
years now. I also use head phones to immerse myself 'in the zone'. I find my
mind often wanders when I have to wait for something. Already a 6 sec build
often makes me briefly check HN, Facebook or my mail. Another big distraction
is my girlfriend. It's not always easy to get her to understand that I'm busy
despite being at home. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with My focus though,
especially when compared with an office environment. YMMV

------
hbien
The company I'm with operates on 3 remotes day per week. It's a terrific
balance for me. The on-site days are spent pair programming, sprint demos,
meetings, and being social. The remote days are distraction free work.

------
beat
I think I may need to commit to headphones when working at home, to reduce
distraction and signal to my family that I'm _working_.

I wonder if the dogs will figure it out? And if they do, I wonder if they'll
care?

~~~
coolsunglasses
If you train them sure, why not?

The dogs at our house know EXACTLY what certain articles mean. (Leash, jacket,
car keys)

------
meowface
Only marginally related to the post, but has anyone here lived with a pet goat
before? Can they live with you in your home, or do they need to stay outside
most of the time?

------
hhsnopek
Does anyone have a script that is close to his, except for linux?

------
wengzilla
do you really have a pet goat?!

~~~
caffo
author here. sadly, I don't, but I always wanted one.

------
andyl
Headphones block noise. Headphones are a social signal: "don't interrupt me".
Headphones are 'in-the-zone' muscle memory. Headphones are amazing!

~~~
jnettome
When your company's culture respect that!

Really, headphones are amazing :)

