Hi everyone,
When I am working in-office (3 or 4 days a week), I can find it quite difficult to concentrate at times (and every time there's an interruption it takes that much longer to get back to where I was). I work in a glorified broom closet with two other people who have very different (higher) tolerances for noise and disturbances. Someone kindly suggested noise-cancelling headphones, but I have a thing about situational awareness and not hearing people come up behind me is unnerving. Does anyone have suggestions for how I might make this more navigable without rocking the boat too much (or even just commiserations)? While we're working hard on our DEAI, recognizing and accomodating neurodiversity in the workplace isn't quite there yet.
Thanks!
couple random ideas... I have noise-cancelling headphones, but I wear only one most often (earbud-style headphones). I think it makes a difference to me!
I know that more noise is the opposite of your goal, but sometimes the passive noise generators help me a lot with drowning out the distracting sounds of typing or talking. white noise, soft instrumental music, or a generator that does those calming sounds like a beautiful bubbling brook or open ocean oasis could be easier to convince your broom closet-mates.
you could also stick a little mirror on your desk so you could visually see who is approaching before they arrive at your desk. or ask that people shoot you a private message before coming to chat so that you can pull off your headphones and expect them. I'm imagining your personal work handbook idea where this could be in a section about you, and it would hopefully be easy for your coworkers to accommodate.
Ooh, I really like the mirror idea! I don't know why I didn't think of that! It makes so much sense...
can't get better that $9 lol https://a.co/d/bedSjts