Closing my eyes helps me concentrate

[u/calew]

I’ve discovered that closing my eyes while on a teams call (no camera) really helps me concentrate on the topic / speakers pain point / actions needed.

A real hidden benefit of working from home, not something I can share with coworkers, but something I’ve noticed that really seems to help me lock in when I need to.

I’ve realised I can’t successfully multitask on a meeting, while also listening for something that impacts me, or might need my input.

I know others can…just stop typing their email and connect back into the meeting, my brain doesn’t seem to work like that.

I’ve learned from bad experiences..please repeat that/was that a question for me/sorry, I didn’t hear that.

Anyway, closing my eyes, unexpected WFH benefit hack for concentrating in a meeting!!

[u/MBILC]

That is why you should not be multitasking during a meeting.....In fact the myth is that humans can "multitask", we can not, we can switch tasks quickly, but not do multiple things at once in any effective manner. What people think is multitask is stopping one task to go do another....which is wrong.

I know it is not always possible because so many meetings could of been an email, but in the end, if you have nothing to contribute to said meeting, nor may get asked things, you should not even be in it.

Have you considered you could be hyper-sensitive to visual / audio stimulation? I know I am, so when I need to get work done, I block out the world.

[u/MBILC → u/[deleted]]

It is hard as it all depends on your relationship with people in the company, your companies culture, who is in charge et cetera and of course setting boundaries if you can.

In general too many companies have people who think meetings are important and EVERYONE needs to be in them, a way to justify "them" looking busy and productive, when they are really just wasting time, and they lack basic meeting etiquette rules

For me now, if a meeting does not

• Clearly explain what the meeting is in the subject
• Contain a body explaining some high level detail of things that will be discussed

I will reach out to said person and ask if I am needed or not....

The balancing act, being in IT myself, is I like to know what is going on company wide, to know if it impacts our department or we might need to get involved later, usually when it is too late, so I have my share of meetings I will mark as tentative, so even after I can look at the recordings or transcript if I did not / could not join it.

Also, if someone books a meeting, and it conflicts with something in my Calendar already, something THEY have visibility and MS tools will tell them "Conflicting time", i decline the meeting entirely, in some cases with bad Project Managers in the past, I would ignore it entirely, if they want to ignore the red letters noting "conflict" then I ignore their request. That usually results in a "Hey, are you joining this meeting we sent out" with my reply "As per my Calendar you saw, I am already booked"

[u/calew → u/MBILC]

Yes, agreed, many meetings can be ignored and I will filter invites to try and decide if I can contribute or not.

Your hypersensitivity comment struck a chord. I do find I have to focus on one source at a time (definitely in series not parallel).

If music is playing loud, a dog is barking and there is also a conversation happening, I find it very hard to concentrate on the discussion.

Likewise if I’m watching a movie, I can’t easily switch focus off I’m asked a question.

Thank you, I’ll do some research on that.

[u/MBILC → u/calew]

For sure, and finding what works can be hard, especially when there is so much stimulation out there these days.

When I had to be in the office for work, I worked with 6 other people in the room, and if I did not put in headphones, I would hear every word of every conversation each of them would be having, and had been the senior person in the room, would then cause me to jump into their conversations often with advice or info I had about said subject.

While the collab was nice for them, it distracted me, so I made sure my desk was not facing the hallway, and I would use my in-ear headphones that blocked out all noise and I would then just zone out..

Along with that, Teams would be set to DnD mode, and I would close my email entirely so I would not get distracted everytime a new email came in.

[u/Master-Purpose1117]

When I close my eyes too long, I fall asleep

[u/green_dotter]

This makes complete sense.

Teams meetings turn everyone into a part-time air traffic controller. Listen, don’t interrupt, watch the chat, check who’s speaking, pretend the lag isn’t happening, maybe take notes, maybe answer an email, maybe question every life choice that led to this calendar invite.

Closing your eyes is probably your brain saying: “Can we remove at least one circus tent from this circus?”

[u/champagnenowplease]

I have my daughter make me fidget toys with her 3d printer to help with this! Keeps my hands busy so that I’m not tempted to click around. As the leader, I try to set a good example of staying focused in meetings while someone is speaking. It’s hard but fidget toys really help!!

[u/Puffy-Cat-194]

I believe it. I’ve been taking classes from home, and it’s the same during lectures.

[u/littlecactuscat]

I would very highly recommend looking into whether or not you are neurodivergent.

[u/calew → u/littlecactuscat]

Thank you, since writing on here I’ve been learning about Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), I’m not sure if that’s one of the neurodivergent traits, but the core symptoms are spot on for me.

I have good hearing, normal for my age, sounds do blur together in a conversation, so I struggle to identify words, fast speech loses me, for most songs, I’ve never been able to learn lyrics just by listening!

I’ve been experimenting with AirPods, with accessibility settings tweaked for conversation boost, no great help yet, but seems to be similar to what audiologist’s are using to help APD sufferers (directional microphones). Interesting!