Nine hours.
That's the length of time I've spent working on a complicated Excel spreadsheet today. I'll be seeing Excel formulas and cells in my sleep tonight I think, however I got the spreadsheet complete, the data entered and formatted in the way I needed and over time the nine hours will save me many more hours. It feels good, although I'm fairly drained from the effort and concentration...and the annoying things I don't like about Excel. Ok, it's really quite good I suppose but I feel like just a little whining is acceptable after nine hours of Excel-ling.
Over the years I've found various ways to retain and maintain focus when working at the various things I do either at work or in my personal life.
A five minute walk-around every hour is one of those; it helps me stay fresh, thinking straight and makes the other 55 minutes far more productive. A shift of task is another method; doing something different triggers my brain differently. I also turn off distractions like my phone which goes onto silent and face down so I don't see it ringing and I set "focus time" meaning times between which I refuse any interruption whatsoever - I close my office door and have even resorted to, "do not knock or enter or I will kill you," signs. Very effective. I have even resorted to changing my location, working from a café for instance, but that's dependent upon the nature of the work at hand. Staying hydrated and seeing to my hunger is also important as those things can split focus. All of these methods and others have helped me keep focused and productive.
We all do things in different ways and the various situations in our own lives cause us to have to be flexible and versatile with how we do things as well.
Focus is important though, especially when the tasks we do are work-related or of an important nature. Considering my recent nine-hour-excel-session and my need to remain laser focused I thought I'd put it out there for you folks and ask about your own methods of finding and maintaining focus throughout the tasks that you take on. Feel free to comment below if you'd like to.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
I've not excelled ever so I cannot offer comment other that to say...
You need a coffee and a scone, or a cheesecake or somesuch!
Of course the 5 minute walkabout helps, but wow, it sounds like torture! I have trouble spending much time on the computer in any capacity, but I do like to Hive on occasion 😆
Coffee, scone cheesecakes and more! (Home made of course!)
It really sucked but I had to do it; it was worse because someone else started it ages ago and I had to backtrack; in hindsight it'd have been easier to start from scratch. Suffice it to say, I'll not be looking at any spreadsheets today.
You're lucky you don't have to look at computers much.
I know that feeling :-D I did my analysis for the Farmer's Market in sections, as it was - fortunately - a volunteer work and I didn't have to be that focused. But I did spend that amount on sheets for the bakery many times, connecting the info, trying to get the best analyse possible out of the numbers. That, of course, was taken a little ad absurdum by the folks who typed the numbers in. So I had to re-arrange a few things until it was easy enough to understand.
The taking a walk in fresh air is a great way to re-gain that focus. About the hunger, that is actually an interesting thing for me. As long as I'm a little bit hungry, I work a lot better, I think clearer. A lot of times I just eat something very small to not fall of a cliff, energy wise, but maintain the slight hunger in order to keep the sharpness up. Have you every experienced something like that? Doesn't work with thirst. Gotta drink all the time, and the bathroom breaks count as short interruption to gather more thoughts.
It's a good tool but I don't enjoy using it much. It's nice when things work but there's been times I've wanted to punch it in the face because it's not worked right. (Couldn't be the user. 🤔)
I agree somewhat with the hunger thing as I don't tend to work as well when full up. I tend to snack a lot, loads of water and nuts usually. Get the big things done then lunch after.
I have that one excel file where suddenly clicking doesn't select the box that the cursor is above, but a few rows down... No idea why, never found out. Just happens.
In Germany we have a nut mix that's called "Studentfodder". It's nuts with raisins, a combination that is supposed to release a lot of energy quickly to the body. I mainly use that as snacks.
Lose focus in my line of work and it could be deadly.
KrazzyTrukker Spreadsheet...
Yeah, lose focus and it's deadsheet right?
That is 💯% Correct Sir.!
I consider it one of the greater achievements of my life that, for 40 years , I managed to navigate the choppy waters of business, without ever filling in a spreadsheet.
Yeah, that's an achievement indeed!
This is deserves a MBA.
Master of Bureaucracy Avoidance!
Oh man 9 hours of excel, that's insane, i remember doing a few hours back in the school and that was more than enough!
About the focus, it's nearly impossible for me to totally focus, at work there is a big office with 8 people in, so there's always noise, someone calling you, and I'm not high ranked that I can whine and such, at home work they write me on teams and I can't ignore them so... Off work I can, but not many hours, I do similar to you, no phone, just sit and do what I got, once in a while a little break even just to do a walk in the house
Noisy offices can be bad for maintaining focus but I also am not convinced that working at home in silence is the best either; I've always promoted team environments and have worked towards each person being respectful of the others; easier said than done I guess sometimes.
Care to share what type of spreadsheet you were working on? Personal or business?
A few years ago, I found out by accident that they have a Microsoft Excel World Championship, aka "Excel Olympics." It's far beyond my skill level but quite an interesting concept.
I do similar things to you when trying to focus. Turn off phones, turn off email, close my internet browser. A big one is notifying co-workers that I'll be focusing on an important project and request not to be disturbed.
It was a business thing so I can't really. I guess I'd not share much if it weas personal either. What I am able to say is that there's colours and charts and numbers that change when other numbers change and some other cool stuff too.
Excel Olympics? I'd suck at that...but not as sucky as that Australian break dancer from the last Olympics.
I laughed to myself at one HR training - Time Management, when the trainer said that it takes 12 minutes to return the focus to the work we are doing, when someone interrupts us.
Well, if that were the case, I would never be able to return to the work I started, given that every 15 minutes someone asks me something.
Unfortunately, 6 years ago, I moved to an office that has glass walls (fortunately, it's not an open space), so everyone can see me when they head towards me. There is no escape, if he intends to enter, he will do so even if I am in the middle of a meeting.
Maybe it's a matter of culture?
That's why, like you, when I have something to do and I need peace and quiet, I use the possibility of remote working.
Then I stay at home, turn off the TV, play soft music, make myself coffee, prepare food, and put my phones away in another room.
I look at them for the first time after a few hours, when it's time for a break and a little exercise.
You need to perfect the death stare...people will then leave you alone.
Trust me, it's not worth it (although I have it, when I want to set it up).
I once put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my desk.
Not a small number of them, when enters the office and interrupts my train of thought, says: "This sign is so cool"🤬
I think I should put some kind of sword, rifle or pistol on the desk, maybe then it would scare them?
I reckon you need to ramp up the interruption deterrents for sure. Might I suggest beginning with an axe and if that message doesn't get through try a M60E3 machine gun.
I like that M60E3.
I already imagined a ammo belt around my arm, like Rambo (but with less muscle and more belly fat)😅
Spending nine hours on an Excel spreadsheet is a very difficult task for me. Taking a five-minute walk in between definitely gives my mind a break. I have never dedicated nine hours to one task. But if I am doing something continuously, I step away from the computer screen every 45 minutes, wash my face with a little water, and drink a glass of water to conserve unnecessary energy. Attention must be present while doing work. I presented a content on that yesterday, so I will not go into further details.
I like the 45 minute step-away idea. I do the same but usually hourly. I also drink loads of coffee.
I think I'll take this sign idea: ‘Don't touch or enter or I'll kill you.’ I think it might help me...9 hours! I know what it's like, it's happened to me in the past. I hated Excel until I made friends with it.
I can only concentrate in complete silence, so when I need to, I isolate myself: no phone, no people talking, no noise. Sometimes it's difficult, but I lock myself away and put on headphones with music that no one sings along to. No, it's not Richard Clayderman. I choose music depending on how much concentration I need and what inspires me. Richard is old now, he doesn't inspire me
I reckon Richard Clayderman would be good at spreadsheets...
Not.
I think he's only good with sheet music. We'll take care of the Excel... 😆
Music seems to help me. I prefer to be left alone when I am working on something tough, but that isn't always an option, so I have to suffer the interruptions when people come in my office.
Or lock your door from the inside. :)
Then they just knock on it incessantly and don't take the hint....
Bloke never stood in the Aussie sun.
I probably could've done it in two. I would have told you it took 12 ;)
I actually did it in 5 seconds.
Bring the ship back in from the orbit of Neptune, lads, we did it, we hacked time!
Speaking of work, I have been asked for references and details for a police check for a role I applied for with a blunt, direct cover letter.
Another one I don't really want has me interviewing in person on Monday. I might be spamming Hive less, soon.
Haha, sometimes it's the ones you one takes less effort with that come good. Let's see how it works out.
Nine hours in Excel is nothing small, and you follow some strategies for staying sharp. Your effective use of “do not knock or I will kill you” sign made me laugh but it is a brutally honest fact. The idea of shifting tasks to reset the brain is important for hydration and positive movement. Sometimes focus isn’t just about discipline; I think it’s all about designing an environment with mental inclination!
It's a long time, sort of fried my brain a bit; I managed to get through it without dying though, so it's not all bad.
It may be worth to explore these new tools for future work :)
I've been testing some coding AI tools lately and if you know what you are doing they save you tons of time...
Nah, I'd rather do it myself than use AI.
Yep, I'm not a fan.
Take a look at my response to galen below ;)