{"rowid": 218, "title": "Put Yourself in a Corner", "contents": "Some backstory, and a shameful confession\n\nFor the first couple years of high school I was one of those jerks who made only the minimal required effort in school. Strangely enough, how badly I behaved in a class was always in direct proportion to how skilled I was in the subject matter. In the subjects where I was confident that I could pass without trying too hard, I would give myself added freedom to goof off in class.\n\nBecause I was a closeted lit-nerd, I was most skilled in English class. I\u2019d devour and annotate required reading over the weekend, I knew my biblical and mythological allusions up and down, and I could give you a postmodern interpretation of a text like nobody\u2019s business. But in class, I\u2019d sit in the back and gossip with my friends, nap, or scribble patterns in the margins of my textbooks. I was nonchalant during discussion, I pretended not to listen during lectures. I secretly knew my stuff, so I did well enough on tests, quizzes, and essays. But I acted like an ass, and wasn\u2019t getting the most I could out of my education.\n\nThe day of humiliation, but also epiphany\n\nOne day in Ms. Kaney\u2019s AP English Lit class, I was sitting in the back doodling. An earbud was dangling under my sweater hood, attached to the CD player (remember those?) sitting in my desk. Because of this auditory distraction, the first time Ms. Kaney called my name, I barely noticed. I definitely heard her the second time, when she didn\u2019t call my name so much as roar it. I can still remember her five feet frame stomping across the room and grabbing an empty desk. It screamed across the worn tile as she slammed it next to hers. She said, \u201cThis is where you sit now.\u201d My face gets hot just thinking about it.\n\nI gathered my things, including the CD player (which was now impossible to conceal), and made my way up to the newly appointed Seat of Shame. There I sat, with my back to the class, eye-to-eye with Ms. Kaney. From my new vantage point I couldn\u2019t see my friends, or the clock, or the window. All I saw were Ms. Kaney\u2019s eyes, peering at me over her reading glasses while I worked. In addition to this punishment, I was told that from now on, not only would I participate in class discussions, but I would serve detention with her once a week until an undetermined point in the future.\n\nDuring these detentions, Ms. Kaney would give me new books to read, outside the curriculum, and added on to my normal homework. They ranged from classics to modern novels, and she read over my notes on each book. We\u2019d discuss them at length after class, and I grew to value not only our private discussions, but the ones in class as well. After a few weeks, there wasn\u2019t even a question of this being punishment. It was heaven, and I was more productive than ever.\n\nTo the point\n\nPlease excuse this sentimental story. It\u2019s not just about honoring a teacher who cared enough to change my life, it\u2019s really about sharing a lesson. The most valuable education Ms. Kaney gave me had nothing to do with literature. She taught me that I (and perhaps other people who share my special brand of crazy) need to be put in a corner to flourish. When we have physical and mental constraints applied, we  accomplish our best work.\n\nFor those of you still reading, now seems like a good time to insert a pre-emptive word of mediation. Many of you, maybe all of you, are self-disciplined enough that you don\u2019t require the rigorous restrictions I use to maximize productivity. Also, I know many people who operate best in a stimulating and open environment. I would advise everyone to seek and execute techniques that work best for them. But, for those of you who share my inclination towards daydreams and digressions, perhaps you\u2019ll find something useful in the advice to follow.\n\nIn which I pretend to be Special Agent Olivia Dunham\n\nNow that I\u2019m an adult, and no longer have Ms. Kaney to reign me in, I have to find ways to put myself in the corner. By rejecting distraction and shaping an environment designed for intense focus, I\u2019m able to achieve improved productivity.\n\nLately I\u2019ve been obsessed with the TV show Fringe, a sci-fi series about an FBI agent and her team of genius scientists who save the world (no, YOU\u2019RE a nerd). There\u2019s a scene in the show where the primary character has to delve into her subconscious to do extraordinary things, and she accomplishes this by immersing herself in a sensory deprivation tank. The premise is this: when enclosed in a space devoid of sound, smell, or light, she will enter a new plane of consciousness wherein she can tap into new levels of perception.\n\nThis might sound a little nuts, but to me this premise has some real-world application. When I am isolated from distraction, and limited to only the task at hand, I\u2019m able to be productive on a whole new level. Since I can\u2019t actually work in an airtight iron enclosure devoid of input, I find practical ways to create an interruption-free environment.\n\nSince I work from home, many of my methods for coping with distractions wouldn\u2019t be necessary for my office-bound counterpart. However for some of you 9-to-5-ers, the principles will still apply.\n\nConsider your visual input\n\nFirst, I have to limit my scope to the world I can (and need to) affect. In the largest sense, this means closing my curtains to the chaotic scene of traffic, birds, the post office, a convenience store, and generally lovely weather that waits outside my window. When the curtains are drawn and I\u2019m no longer surrounded by this view, my sphere is reduced to my desk, my TV, and my cat. Sometimes this step alone is enough to allow me to focus. \n\nBut, my visual input can be whittled down further still. For example, the desk where I usually keep my laptop is littered with twelve owl figurines, a globe, four books, a three-pound weight, and various nerdy paraphernalia (hard drives, Wacom tablets, unnecessary bluetooth accessories, and so on). It\u2019s not so much a desk as a dumping ground for wacky flea market finds and impulse technology buys. Therefore, in addition to this Official Desk, I have an adult version of Ms. Kaney\u2019s Seat of Shame. It\u2019s a rusty old student\u2019s desk I picked up at the Salvation Army, almost an exact replica of the model Ms. Kaney dragged across the classroom all those years ago.  This tiny reproduction Seat of Shame is literally in a corner, where my only view is a blank wall. When I truly need to focus, this is where I take refuge, with only a notebook and a pencil (and occasionally an iPad).\n\nFind out what works for your ears\n\nEven from my limited sample size of two people, I know there are lots of different ways to cope with auditory distraction. I prefer silence when focused on independent work, and usually employ some form of a white noise generator. I\u2019ve yet to opt for the fancy \u2018real\u2019 white noise machines; instead, I use a desktop fan or our allergy filter machine. This is usually sufficient to block out the sounds of the dishwasher and the cat, which allows me to think only about the task of hand.\n\nMy boyfriend, the other half of my extensive survey, swears by another method. He  calls it The Wall of Sound, and it\u2019s basically an intense blast of raucous music streamed directly into his head. The outcome of his technique is really the same as mine; he\u2019s blocking out unexpected auditory input. If you can handle the grating sounds of noisy music while working, I suggest you give The Wall of Sound a try.\n\nDon\u2019t count the minutes\n\nWhen I sat in the original Seat of Shame in lit class, I could no longer see the big classroom clock slowly ticking away the seconds until lunch. Without the marker of time, the class period often flew by. The same is true now when I work; the less aware of time I am, the less it feels like time is passing too quickly or slowly, and the more I can focus on the task (not how long it takes). \n\nNowadays, to assist in my effort to forget the passing of time, I sometimes put a sticky note over the clock on my monitor. If I\u2019m writing, I\u2019ll use an app like WriteRoom, which blocks out everything but a simple text editor. \n\nThere are situations when it\u2019s not advisable to completely lose track of time. If I\u2019m working on a project with an hourly rate and a tight scope, or if I need to be on time to a meeting or call, I don\u2019t want to lose myself in the expanse of the day. In these cases, I\u2019ll set an alarm that lets me know it\u2019s time to reign myself back in (or on some days, take a shower).\n\nPut yourself in a mental corner, too\n\nWhen Ms. Kaney took action and forced me to step up my game, she had the insight to not just change things physically, but to challenge me mentally as well. She assigned me reading material outside the normal coursework, then upped the pressure by requiring detailed reports of the material. While this additional stress was sometimes uncomfortable, it pushed me to work harder than I would have had there been less of a demand. Just as there can be freedom in the limitations of a distraction-free environment, I\u2019d argue there is liberty in added mental constraints as well.\n\nDeadlines as a constraint\n\nMuch has been written about the role of deadlines in the creative process, and they seem to serve different functions in different cases. I find that deadlines usually act as an important constraint and, without them, it would be nearly impossible for me to ever consider a project finished. There are usually limitless ways to improve upon the work I do and, if there\u2019s no imperative for me to be done at a certain point, I will revise ad infinitum. (Hence, the personal site redesign that will never end \u2013 Coming Soon, Forever!). But if I have a clear deadline in mind, there\u2019s a point when the obsessive tweaking has to stop. I reach a stage where I have to gather up the nerve to launch the thing.\n\nPutting the pro in procrastination\n\nSometimes I\u2019ve found that my tendency to procrastinate can help my productivity. (Ducks, as half the internet throws things at her.) I understand the reasons why procrastination can be harmful, and why it\u2019s usually a good idea to work diligently and evenly towards a goal. I try to divide my projects up in a practical way, and sometimes I even pull it off. But for those tasks where you work aimlessly and no focus comes, or you find that every other to-do item is more appealing, sometimes you\u2019re forced to bring it together at the last moment. And sometimes, this environment of stress is a formula for magic. Often when I\u2019m down to the wire and have no choice but to produce, my mind shifts towards a new level of clarity. There\u2019s no time to endlessly browse for inspiration, or experiment with convoluted solutions that lead nowhere.\n\nObviously a life lived perpetually on the edge of a deadline would be a rather stressful one, so it\u2019s not a state of being I\u2019d advocate for everyone, all the time. But every now and then, the work done when I\u2019m down to the wire is my best.\n\nKeep one toe outside your comfort zone\n\nWhen I\u2019m choosing new projects to take on, I often seek out work that involves an element of challenge. Whether it\u2019s a design problem that will require some creative thinking, or a coding project that lends itself to using new technology like HTML5, I find a manageable level of difficulty to be an added bonus. The tension that comes from learning a new skill or rethinking an old standby is a useful constraint, as it keeps the work interesting, and ensures that I continue learning.\n\nThere you have it\n\nWell, I think I\u2019ve spilled most of my crazy secrets for forcing my easily distracted brain to focus. As with everything we web workers do, there are an infinite number of ways to encourage productivity. I hope you\u2019ve found a few of these to be helpful, and please share your personal techniques in the comments. Have a happy and productive new year!", "year": "2010", "author": "Meagan Fisher", "author_slug": "meaganfisher", "published": "2010-12-20T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2010/put-yourself-in-a-corner/", "topic": "process"}