Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office, the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the new world of work where location and hours are more flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about managing your work on those days when your home feels like Grand Central Station. It is hard to work when crowds are coming and going. But I have done work in Grand Central Station, and you can work in your own home too with a few smart strategies. Some folks have felt very isolated during this pandemic, and this is a serious issue that I don't mean to belittle at all, but it is also not the experience of a large number of other people. Many people's homes are far fuller now than on a typical past to day, with the population sometimes surging to comical levels. We had a Friday recently when my husband and I were both working from home. The kids are all doing virtual learning in the basement. Our cleaning crew was working around us, with us moving constantly to get out of their way, and a construction crew was tackling the deck in the backyard. At some point in here, the yard guys showed up to do a full treatment and a delivery person rang the doorbell to drop something off. Maybe you've got something similar going on, and maybe you've got adult children too living at home, or maybe you've popped on the pandemic home improvement bandwagon and have contractors in your kitchen all day. If you were working in a traditional office, you wouldn't see any of this, but working at home, you do. Your home can start to feel like Grand Central Station, though with one even worse aspect of distraction. I have done work in Grand Central Station while waiting for trains because like, just sit at a table with my coffee and no one was really going to bug me. It's all just background noise. That is not the case in my home, where a contractor might need a question answered, or the doorbell needs to be answered, or a kid needs something, the outside workman trip the internet so it goes out and the like. So when your home is really a terrible version of Grand Central Station, how do you get your work done? I have four suggestions. First, set realistic expectations for what you can accomplish during peak activity hours when there's a lot going on in your house. You can process email, you can schedule meetings or follow up on existing ones, you probably won't be able to do deep work, so choose work you can do with less than full concentration and without being derailed when you're interrupted. This isn't about throwing your hands up and saying you can't get anything done. This is about being honest with yourself about the kinds of work you can get done, and then doing just that. My second suggestion is probably obvious. Use headphones with music or white noise. Headphones can help in two ways. First, they make noise less disruptive, of course, but just as importantly, headphones cue others that you are not engaged in the activity of the room, so with any luck, they'll be less likely to interrupt you. The third suggestion is for calls, find a quiet spot somewhere. This may be easier said than done, but it's worth doing because interrupted calls are incredibly frustrating for all involved. Try putting in your headphones and going for a walk during your call, or just sitting in your parked car. If you have little kids at home and can't leave them, this might be the time to start a movie and for you to go sit in a closet or a pantry. Just make sure you use a virtual backdrop unless you want everyone seeing your rows of beings and canned tomatoes purchased for pandemic preparedness. Finally, if you are not able to do deep work at home during specific time periods, identify a place and time when you can do deep work. This may be after some of the people in your home have left for the day or your family members have gone to sleep. It could be a weekend afternoon when your other family members are out and about. A lot of people find early morning hours to be prime time for deep work, but make sure you make some time every week, otherwise you won't make headway on the important projects that are probably what you are hired for and that you are uniquely positioned to do. Deep work needs to happen at some time, even if it can't happen during weekdays during regular business hours. So the next time your home is a buzz with activity just like Grand Central station, set realistic expectations for the kind of work you can do, and I if I some time and place where deep work will be doable, then even amidst the hubbub, you can do your job well and end the day feeling good about how you've spent it in the meantime. This is Laura, thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office, the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the new world of work where location and hours are more flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about managing your work on those days when your home feels like Grand Central Station. It is hard to work when crowds are coming and going. But I have done work in Grand Central Station, and you can work in your own home too with a few smart strategies. Some folks have felt very isolated during this pandemic, and this is a serious issue that I don't mean to belittle at all, but it is also not the experience of a large number of other people. Many people's homes are far fuller now than on a typical past to day, with the population sometimes surging to comical levels. We had a Friday recently when my husband and I were both working from home. The kids are all doing virtual learning in the basement. Our cleaning crew was working around us, with us moving constantly to get out of their way, and a construction crew was tackling the deck in the backyard. At some point in here, the yard guys showed up to do a full treatment and a delivery person rang the doorbell to drop something off. Maybe you've got something similar going on, and maybe you've got adult children too living at home, or maybe you've popped on the pandemic home improvement bandwagon and have contractors in your kitchen all day. If you were working in a traditional office, you wouldn't see any of this, but working at home, you do. Your home can start to feel like Grand Central Station, though with one even worse aspect of distraction. I have done work in Grand Central Station while waiting for trains because like, just sit at a table with my coffee and no one was really going to bug me. It's all just background noise. That is not the case in my home, where a contractor might need a question answered, or the doorbell needs to be answered, or a kid needs something, the outside workman trip the internet so it goes out and the like. So when your home is really a terrible version of Grand Central Station, how do you get your work done? I have four suggestions. First, set realistic expectations for what you can accomplish during peak activity hours when there's a lot going on in your house. You can process email, you can schedule meetings or follow up on existing ones, you probably won't be able to do deep work, so choose work you can do with less than full concentration and without being derailed when you're interrupted. This isn't about throwing your hands up and saying you can't get anything done. This is about being honest with yourself about the kinds of work you can get done, and then doing just that. My second suggestion is probably obvious. Use headphones with music or white noise. Headphones can help in two ways. First, they make noise less disruptive, of course, but just as importantly, headphones cue others that you are not engaged in the activity of the room, so with any luck, they'll be less likely to interrupt you. The third suggestion is for calls, find a quiet spot somewhere. This may be easier said than done, but it's worth doing because interrupted calls are incredibly frustrating for all involved. Try putting in your headphones and going for a walk during your call, or just sitting in your parked car. If you have little kids at home and can't leave them, this might be the time to start a movie and for you to go sit in a closet or a pantry. Just make sure you use a virtual backdrop unless you want everyone seeing your rows of beings and canned tomatoes purchased for pandemic preparedness. Finally, if you are not able to do deep work at home during specific time periods, identify a place and time when you can do deep work. This may be after some of the people in your home have left for the day or your family members have gone to sleep. It could be a weekend afternoon when your other family members are out and about. A lot of people find early morning hours to be prime time for deep work, but make sure you make some time every week, otherwise you won't make headway on the important projects that are probably what you are hired for and that you are uniquely positioned to do. Deep work needs to happen at some time, even if it can't happen during weekdays during regular business hours. So the next time your home is a buzz with activity just like Grand Central station, set realistic expectations for the kind of work you can do, and I if I some time and place where deep work will be doable, then even amidst the hubbub, you can do your job well and end the day feeling good about how you've spent it in the meantime. This is Laura, thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.