Lab Notes - May 21st, 2023

Hi Everyone,

Here is the latest edition of my weekly lab notes. Feel free to forward this along to friends.

Focus in an ever Connected World

Many of us have been working remotely for a few years, some of us are starting to go back to an office. Slack always on, and a constant stream of distractions. How do you focus? One of the simplest ways that I have found was to plan out focused “Deep Work” periods. This is when I have ‘Do Not Disturb’ activated on my phone and computer. I generally try to do this in the mornings when I am fresh and before the rest of my teammates are online. This allows me to focus on tasks without distraction.

During other times of the day, I try to limit my Slack usage, (pausing notification) so I am not inundated with messages that may or may not apply to me. If it’s pressing, a teammate can alert me and I can address what’s going on. I will then generally check slack every hour to see what’s going on. This allows me to focus on a single task, aiding in not context switching, which will throw me out of a groove.

A more recent addition to this is blocking out longer periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, given my meeting schedule.

This method works best when your team knows how you are structuring your focused work time. They can better judge when to notify me on Slack or allow me to get back to them when I check it.

How do you stay focused? If you implement any of these suggestions let me know. I’d love to know how they work for you.

What I’m Consuming

• Seth Godin — The Pursuit of Meaning, Choosing Your Attitude, Overcoming Rejection, and More

• How Car Reviews Became A $37,000,000 Business: Doug DeMuro’s Wild Ride

• Neil deGrasse Tyson Makes Space Burgers with George Motz | Burger Bucket List

Quote I’m Pondering

This quote struck a cord with my in terms of how I guide teammates. I lean more towards the encouragement side than the instruction side. I’ve never really enjoyed instructing people on what to do, but encourage them to take the task at hand and determine a solution. This could be on their own or a collective solution. The flip side of this, I encourage my team to experiment, try a solution and see if it works. Sometimes the solution isn’t apparent until we get started. If I was only instructing, I’m missing solutions, learning opportunities, and more from my team. Encouragement is a path to growth.

AI Art of the Week