Looking for Ways to Boost Your Productivity?

I’ve said it a lot, but the average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day.  I am still astounded  by this number, though I’m not sure why.  I work from home, which means I don;t have the usual office distractions {chatty co-workers, copy machines, water cooler gossip}, but I do my fair share of interruptions.  Part of working from home is that it’s difficult to separate work life and home life, especially when you use the same computer for business and pleasure.  It can be almost impossible to turn off the personal side, even when deadlines loom large.  I have been looking for ways to reduce distractions of every kind in order to boost productivity.  I am aware that I am not exactly a technology guru, but maybe you aren’t either.  If that’s the case, it’s possible some of these might be news to you as they were to me.  Check out these great finds for those of us legitimately looking to be more productive.

• LeechBlock: a Firefox add-on that allows you to block sites so you can avoid their distraction.
• Customize Google: CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam). All features are optional and easily configured.
• FlashGot: Download all the links, movies and audio clips of a page at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular, lightweight and reliable external download managers.
• StatusBar: View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.
• Flashblock: Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.
• URL fixer: URL Fixer is an extension for Mozilla Firefox that corrects typos in URLs that you enter in the address bar. For example, if you type google.con, it will correct it to google.com (asking first, if you enable confirmation).
• Tab Mix Plus: Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.
• ScrapBook: Helps you to save Web pages and organize the collection.

And, a final productivity booster for any browser:

• Free White Noise Generator: a free online generator to cover noisy distractions that any browser can use.

Check out these free productivity add-ons and this free white noise generator to get a little boost at work. ]]> http://www.office-sound-masking.com/2012/01/11/free-ways-to-boost-your-productivity/feed/ 0 http://www.office-sound-masking.com/2010/09/01/3-uses-of-white-noise-in-the-office/ http://www.office-sound-masking.com/2010/09/01/3-uses-of-white-noise-in-the-office/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:00:47 +0000 Emily http://www.office-sound-masking.com/?p=553 Distracted at Work

Do you struggle with distraction at work?  Chances are you do.  In fact, most people are distracted more than 2 hours every day.  What could you do with 2 more hours every day?  Now, what could your business do with 2 more hours per employee??

3 Uses of White Noise in the Office

How do you regain lost time in the office?  Well, you can’t ban cell phones and texting, but you can take control of all the noise heard round the office.  Rather than try to control noise, why not moderate it?  With white noise, you actually add noise to tune out noise.  By adding low-level unstructured noise from all over the sound spectrum, you allow your brain to tune out potentially distracting sounds and focus in on work.  Here are 3 common uses of white noise.

• 

  An emitter, or speaker, for a sound masking system

  Free White Noise Generator: a free online generator that can be customized by the user.

• Sonet Sound System: A great individual solution for noise that is even and effective and doesn’t require any specialized knowledge.
• Sound Masking: The best office-wide sound solution with invisible uniform distribution through speakers in the ceiling tiles.

Choosing which form of white noise to implement is largely dependent upon how large a group you need coverage for.  Ideally, every office would install sound masking, thus protecting the time of every employee.  However, not all businesses have a budget to cover that and some companies have opted for individual systems, such as the Sonet.  The main difference is how much space is treated.  It’s up to you to decide what your company needs and how valuable your time is.

Many blogs, websites, and companies suggest the use of white noise to aid in covering distracting office noise.  White noise (and its super-power brother, sound masking) have many fans and these systems are being installed nation-wide, resulting in less time lost to distraction, and therefore more productivity.  There are even free white noise generators for the individual worker.  However, as is true for all things, white noise and sound making have their cynics, too. I thought it was time to dispel some of the myths about both:

The truth about white noise and sound masking

1. White noise is not actually “white” in that it does not have an infinite band-width.  Usually when people refer to “white noise” they are actually describing pink noise.

2.  You do not have to crank white noise or sound masking systems – they are used to add low-level background sound to a distracting area (see #3).

White noise is only beneficial if used properly (ie at low-levels).

For example, when I was vacuuming this morning, the loudness of the vacuum drowned out my children’s noise.  However pleasant it was not to hear them bicker was counteracted by the annoying loudness of the vacuum itself.   However, the quiet hum of my electric tea kettle was enough noise to cover my kids’ fight, but not so loud I was irritated with its own sound.

3.  Similarly, the purpose of white noise is not to overwhelmingly drown out competing noises, but to neutralize them to an unintelligible level on the Privacy Index, thus rendering them non-issues in terms of privacy, peace of mind, or productivity.  (That was a nice use of alliteration there, I must say)

4.  Sound masking it not noise cancellation. Sound-masking covers sound, it does not cancel it.

5.  Covering sound is not your only option for acoustic treatments.  You can also absorb or block sound (These 3 options are often referred to as the ABC’s).  Most sound masking companies are the first to admit that it is usually a combination of the ABC’s that yields the best results.  However, they will also quickly point out that covering techniques (sound masking) gives you the most bang for your buck out of the 3.

Hope that helps clear up any confusion on what white noise and sound masking are and how they work.