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lucillelucillelucille's avatar

When it comes to your productivity, which of these three things affect it the most?

Asked by lucillelucillelucille (34325points) October 14th, 2019

Lighting?
Room temperature?
Ambient noise?

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34 Answers

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@elbanditoroso -Do you work best in silence?

elbanditoroso's avatar

@lucillelucillelucille silence or “white noise”.

zenvelo's avatar

Noic, especially people on the phone.

raum's avatar

Lighting.

Unless you’re including air conditioning as part of temperature. Though it’s not the actual temperature that I would find most distracting, but the air current. I don’t deal well with direct air on me. I always turn fans and vents away from me.

rebbel's avatar

Noise.
I dislike noise with a vengeance.
In my job I’m wearing headphones all the time.
Only put them half off when people talk to me.
90% of my colleagues don’t wear any hearing protection at all…, young and old(er).

Lighting is always good in our workshop; couldn’t work with bad, or not enough, light.

Temperature is badly managed, but is only a problem in summer (when the outside temperature goes above 30 Celsius).
In winter it’s toasty.

janbb's avatar

Noise. I am very distractible particularly auditorily.

johnpowell's avatar

Noise: I like to rock out while I do productivity.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@raum-So working at a fan factory would really blow?
@elbanditoroso -White noise for sleep is a very good thing
@zenvelo -Thankfully, I do not have to deal with that.
@rebbel -I think temperature bugs me. If it is hot, I am enraged.Lol!
@janbb -I usually have the music cranked but it’s stuff I like so it’s a happything
@johnpowell -Yep!

KNOWITALL's avatar

Noise first, then temperature.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@KNOWITALL – Everyone seems most sensitive to noise, it seems

raum's avatar

Pretty much.

ragingloli's avatar

Noise, then temperature.

raum's avatar

Cool! Do you have more of your work online?

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@ragingloli – Join the club :)
@raum -I put a few more in there.

raum's avatar

Thanks! Good stuff!

KNOWITALL's avatar

@lucillelucillelucille I love my earbuds when things get too loud, but for math and complicated things that require concentration, I really love the quiet.

Hard to type when your fingers are frozen, too.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@rebbel -Thanks!
@raum -Thank you!
@KNOWITALL – My friend uses and loves noise cancelling headphones

Dutchess_III's avatar

Temperature. People tend to keep rooms and offices uncomfortably cold for me.

anniereborn's avatar

It depends on the noise. Some I can totally ignore, others I cannot. A motorcycle ripping past my house will totally make me lose my concentration.
However, temperature would be the main one. Especially if I am hot. OMG I am a slug and cannot do a thing.

Zaku's avatar

I was going to say “noise”, but then I realized it depends on context.

I am very sensitive to noise and it can jam my ability to think straight, which prevents me from doing any of the kinds of work I do. However it depends on the type of noise. Cat meowing, television, talking radio, music I dislike (rap, country), people talking in certain ways, etc can prevent me from working. But other music, typical cafe sounds, weather, and some other types of noise don’t bother me and can even help me focus.

Temperature tends not to matter unless I’m too uncomfortable. Too much heat can definitely make it impossible for me to work. Summer afternoons can be a problem.

Lighting usually doesn’t matter much. Unless by “lighting” you mean complete darkness. That makes it hard to see my keyboard.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@Zaku -I was thinking of florescent vs natural but I see your point.

kritiper's avatar

Lighting. The other two don’t apply.

flutherother's avatar

Background sounds can be OK but noise that is loud and jarring will affect my productivity the most.

Patty_Melt's avatar

Temperature.
I can tune out most noise, although neighbors recently spending day after day running a chainsaw has been pretty distracting.
Temperature is something I can’t ignore.

jca2's avatar

It depends on where I’m trying to be productive. If I’m trying to do stuff in the house, then it can’t be too hot and it can’t be too cold. In the summer, I need air conditioning. In the winter, I need heat or else I just want to lay down under the blankets. I may or may not put some music on.

If at work, the temperature is usually to my liking, as I have my own office and so I can make it as chilled or as hot as I want. In the winter, people say my office is like a sauna haha. They say “How can you stand it in here?” I don’t listen to music at work.

I’d say my biggest distraction overall is the internet. I want to take breaks and look at Facebook, Fluther, news online, etc. I try not to stop if I’m doing stuff at home. I try not to get on the phone if someone calls me.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@Patty_Melt – Chainsaws send me over the edge.XD
@jca2 – I should’ve listed the internet. :)

LadyMarissa's avatar

Ambient Noise. Before retiring, I kept some good Blues or Jazz music playing softly in the background. I prefer the Blues; however, most of my Jazz had NO lyrics so I produced better without the distraction of wanting to sing along!!! I have tinnitus, so I can’t stand total silence…I need a distraction from the ringing in my ears!!!

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@LadyMarissa – So says my SiL.She has the same problem.

LadyMarissa's avatar

I don’t notice it so much until I’m alone in a totally quiet place & then it’s like Chinese water torture…the roaring is deafening. Now that I’ve retired, I seldom watch TV but one is on 24/7 just for the background noise. Get tired of that & Alexa plays me my favorite tunes. I have discovered that I clean the house faster when I’m listening to some peppy tunes!!! I have over 10K songs on my Alexa playlist, so I can always find something to fit my mood. :)

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@LadyMarissa – I stopped watching tv or movies for a few years and frankly, I did not miss it much. It was a nice break.
Music is a good motivator.

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