How Yoga Improves Productivity While Using Computers

(Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes)

I noticed something this morning as I was waiting for OpenOffice to stop “Not Responding.”

Instead of checking email, RSS, or whatever else I do for distraction when some program on my computer (or the network) chokes, I simply waited.

Yep.

Just waited quietly for OpenOffice to do whatever it needed to do.

Then got on about my business.

Don’t think waiting didn’t annoy me. It did. I wants what I wants, and I wants it now. And I have a super-low tolerance for ill-behaved, kludgy or slow software.

But since I started doing bikram yoga, these bothersome annoyances distract me less and less. I’m able to wait attentively. And that feels good.

Other ways to beat distraction

If sitting and quietly waiting is too difficult for you, try doing something else. Something that won’t break your attention away from your task.

For example, if you always keep paper and pencil handy, you can jot down little throwaway notes to yourself. You don’t have to look at these notes again, but act of writing may serve to lock something in your brain that you will act on later. When I go back through tasks lists, I usually find 1/3 of the tasks just “got done” somehow, without any reference to the task list.

If you have a parallel task that could use some attention, working on that while you’re waiting is an effective use of time. By parallel task, I mean a task that is within the same logical (or emotional) context of the task you’re waiting on. Multi-tasking isn’t difficult, provided you remain in context. If you would like to know more about effective multi-tasking, or about the problem of context-switching, leave a comment.

I’ve written on software distraction before. Compiling is probably the worst distraction. There’s even a category here on There Is NO Box on “stuff-to-do-while-compiling.” But such an article is for later… (hint: write documentation/blog post, or test code).

Why waiting works

It turns out that waiting is more efficient and less distracting… than finding something else to do… like reading email. Once your attention is broken, it can be very difficult to reacquire it! So don’t break it.

Obviously, if something is really messed up, you will have to stop what you’re doing and handle it. But when it’s just the usual… try NOT distracting yourself for a change! You will get more done.

I’m not advocating you sign up right now for some sort of yoga class. I am suggesting that if you are easily distracted, try waiting it out next time. You might just get more done in the long term.

What’s your technique?

How do you handle distraction when dealing with buggy software, slow networks and obsolete computers? Do you practice a yoga-like stillness? Or wander off in search of Instant Gratification? Or try hard not to hurl the machine out the window. By the way, I once knew a man who did hurl his laptop. It was a Mac too. It turned out to be a big pain in his butt in the end.

Similar Posts:

• Practical Productivity Tip #3: Read RSS With Task List
• Waiting On Ill-behaved Software Is Worst Distraction Of All
• OpenOffice vs MS Word: Which is better?
• Time Versus Activity Based Project Management
• Another Way to Deal With Loathesome InfoChores

Tagged as: Distraction, Yoga