I have been talking a lot on this blog about something I call Desktop Zen. Creating a computing environment that is relaxing and conducive to creativity and working. Of those 165 background pictures (some of which I made) I found none of them to be just what I was looking for. The other day I was reading about a computer setup someone was using (can’t find the link anymore) and how they chose a medium gray solid background for their computer. They made the statement that it allows for the most creativity. Naturally I was intrigued and set my background to a medium gray solid color. I promptly got rid of it, too boring and no personality.

continue after the jump… It doesn’t matter how creative a medium gray solid background would be if I hate looking at it every time. So I fired up Pixelmator and made a simple background, medium gray, added a little noise (makes it look metallic), and a vignette to the background. Set it and have been using it ever sense.

I can’t speak to whether this has made me more creative (though it did get me to write this), but I can tell you that I love it. The simple aesthetic really speaks to me, it is not distracting, but yet not boring.

Here it is:

Click Here to Download Full Size

I have on occasion written about cleanliness, clear desks, desktop zen and your environment in general and how it can effect your productivity. I have shared what my desk looks like a few times now, and each time you can see that I strive to keep it mostly empty.

I have had comments from people who just don’t understand make comments about the way my desk and office appear. They often joke that I must be getting a lot of work done, or ask when the last time I did anything other than de-clutter my desk was. When I get asked these questions I can’t help but stop and chuckle.

If I was one of those unfortunate souls that kept their desk piled high with crap, I know without a doubt that I would be 50% less productive. I used to do just that. The reason is simple: the more stuff you have that surrounds your workspace, the more visual and psychological distractions are present.

I, like most people I would assume, stop and look around when I hit an impasse in my work. If while looking around I saw documents for another project, or USB missile launchers it would take quite a bit of time to come back to my work. Now with a clutter free work area when I stop and look around I see a glass of water and my phone, nothing else. Allowing me to formulate thoughts, keep in the moment and get right back to work pushing through any obstacles that I may encounter.

Think of a clear and clean desk as a blank canvas, and a cluttered desk (no matter how organized) as a canvas that has a half finished painting that you hate on it. Now which of those two canvases would you use to try and paint a masterpiece on? Everyone (I hope) would choose to start with the blank canvas.

Why would you treat your desk any differently?

Our desks and offices is the canvas that office workers use to create, and for that reason alone you should keep it clutter free. Surely you want to at least give yourself every possible chance in being your best.

I do not mean random strangers in a coffee shop, or other people in the room. I am referring to individuals that you may have to interact with at some point. More specifically those around you that will need or want to interact with you.

Look around your office at co-workers and friends, they are all distractions in the lurch. People love to gossip and ask others questions because it fulfills their need for human interaction and they don’t have to be focusing on work at the moment. This is the very reason that I get my best work done at home or in a coffee shop or vacant building.

I hate interruptions.

Every time you are in a good work flow and interrupted it will take upwards of thirty minutes just to get back into that flow. Therefore if you are in an office where an hour won’t go by without you being interrupted by someone, then you are not being allowed to be productive at all.

The same holds true for phone and email. I have the ringer off on my phone, and no notifications on my email client. I check messages at regular intervals I don’t let technology force me into interrupting a workflow just to check messages.

Headphones. If you are not lucky enough to be able to work from a place you choose, get yourself a large set of headphones. The over the ear type, not the earbuds. You don’t even have to listen to anything (though if you do may I suggest Noise Cancelling Headphones and perhaps Coltrane) you just need to have the headphones on. This seems to be an interoffice signal that says do NOT interrupt me, I am busy.

more after jump…(A word of caution about using headphones some bosses get irritated so it is best not to put up a fight if you are asked to remove them. I recommend talking with your boss and letting them know that you are having trouble focusing due to XYZ noise and would like to try using the headphones. Assure them you are just using them to cancel noise. Most bosses will let you try using the headphones and see how it goes.)

Remote working is the next step and the ultimate in being able to set up a distraction free environment. It was easy for me  I own the company so I can do what I please. There are many helpful ways out there that teach you how to get going on setting up a remote working schedule, though I recommend reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” if you want to learn more about this. It is also very helpful to know in advance if anyone is currently remote working, or has done it in the past.

Setting up a distraction free remote working environment has been a crucial component on lightening my workload on the days that I am in the office. Take a close look at what you need, not what you want in your office and get to making it happen.

If you find that you are in a strict corporate environment and you cannot remote work, nor can you use headphones, then I would suggest polite discouragement. When a co-worker (not a boss) comes up to you and wants to interrupt you rush the conversation. Let your coworker know that you are busy and that they are an interruption. Don’t turn to them with your body, only your head. Keep looking back at what you were working on.

You can also ask that person just to email you with what they need, because you are too busy at the moment to help them. Again make sure that this is not your boss, or someone relaying a message from your boss. This should help to end the conversation early and dissuade them from coming back any time soon. They will also give others a heads up not to interrupt you, which is always nice.

Dealing with interruptions from people that surround us is one of the largest challenges that face office workers. Each workplace is different, but the goal is the same: reduce the interruptions by co-workers.

A year ago, before this blog, I would have told you that I lacked motivation and had excellent focus and the reason that I did not get things done was out of not wanting to get those things done. After a year of looking at productivity, talking and writing about it, I have discovered that I was completely wrong in the beginning.

As it turns out I do want to get things done, it was just that I truly did lack focus. I thought that I could write a letter, email, tweet, and read news at the same time. Turned out that the reason I was not completing any thing was not due to motivation, but rather I was trying to do everything at once.

I needed to focus on one thing at a time.

Focus — it seems so simple now to do one thing at a time, so obvious. Yet focus is one of the most difficult disciplines out there. In todays workplace and home, we are constantly being bombarded by stuff. TV, Radio, iPod, Email, Tweets, Phones, Facebook, Text messages, Skype, Meetings, People, Commercials, Pets, AAAAAHHHHH! It is simply too much for anyone to handle.

And so do you.

We all need more time to think and create.

It is time to take that time, it is time to be focused.

Focused on one thing at a time.

Well you can be, and all you have to do is the stuff that excites you.

Harness Excitement

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits always talks about doing something amazing, Merlin Mann of 43Folders.com posted a note that read:

These are two of the most powerful productivity tips I have ever seen. They made me realize that those things I do without hesitation, I do because I am excited about what they represent.

I read hundreds of productivity blogs, not to amass tips, but to find a reason, a habit, that will make me productive. I think that I may have be getting closer, and it starts with getting excited.

My Job is Boring

My job truly is boring, but it pays the bills and offers a ton of flexibility. I procrastinate terribly at my job, except when something occurs that gets me excited. An emergency situation? Nothing gets me more productive that just such situations.

Find a way, a reason, to get excited about what you do, and you will be amazed at just how productive you can be. In college I did enough to get by in all my classes, with the exception of my business classes. I now know why: those classes excited me.

Find It and Embrace It

Figure out what excites you, make note of it. Next time you find yourself procrastinating figure out a way to get excited about it.

Of course you can always just you as well.

Growing up I always thought that you could not have too much of a good thing, let alone a great thing. I thought this way right up until the point I got sick from eating too much halloween candy. Even still, I thought that perhaps food was the only exception to the rule.

It is not.

I have written a lot of articles about Desktop Zen on the blog, and I have truly made my computing environment one that is simple; devoid of all that is useless. Recently I have been inspired by the minimalist approach to life. I fully doubt (actually I know) that I will never be a true minimalist. But in doing what I do best, I have plucked some key traits from the practice to use in my everyday life.

I have started to get rid of some of my stuff. I am the guy that has boxes full of random computer, and A/V cables. I am the guy that has all his old iPods. I keep the boxes that expensive items come in.

It all takes up to much room, not just where I live, but as I am learning, too much room in my psyche.

It was during this purge that I came to realize: there is clutter every where in my life. In everything I do.

I hate the clutter.

Over the past couple of weeks I have begun to purge all clutter that surrounds me. Not all of it can be purged, and not all should be purged. But in what can and should be purged, the results are phenomenal.

My creativity is flowing, my motivation is up, procrastination is dwindling, and I am happier.

And I am not done yet. So it is time to be happy; to be simple.

This has been one of the single greatest and most productive changes that I have made, since I started using OmniFocus.

Computing without a Clock

The next obstacle I had to overcome proved to be much more challenging: making sure that I was not late for appointments. As much as I wish that I do not have to go to meetings, and run errands (among other things), I still have to do them. I value time, and as such I try my hardest not to waste other peoples time by showing up late.

To overcome tardiness I have employed iCal reminders and OmniFocus reminders to make sure that I know when to leave and so forth. I set the iCal reminders to pop up a message and play a sound (both Mac and iPhone) when I need to leave for something (usually with 5 minutes added). For errands and such that I need to do, but at no particular time, I assign them as due in OmniFocus and a reminder will pop up 5 minutes before I need to do them (reminding me of the task, and not telling me to leave).

I Have More Time and Less Stress

Now that we have the nitty gritty out of the way, I want to talk about what I have gained from this experience.

• Freedom of Time
• Focus
• Freedom from Stress

These are three areas of my life that I am constantly trying to improve upon. So I thought it worth while to talk about each and how removing the clock has effected them.

Freedom of Time

This ability to work free form during the day, not paying attention to the time, or how much time I am spending (or not spending) on things, is perhaps the biggest boost to my productivity of all three items.

Focus

Naturally that brings right to how my focus has been able to change. There are no clocks or time telling devices that I can glance at, without making a conscious effort to see the time. It is, for that very reason, that I am able to have keen focus on the task at hand. Who cares if I just started writing a post, one that may take me an hour to write, even though I only have 15 minutes until I must leave.

I will use all 15 minutes to their fullest, creating, thinking, writing, on something, anything.

Do what you want, when you want, but no matter what, focus on what you are doing completely. That is what now oscillates through my mind.

Freedom from Stress

As you may have picked up on, those two points are all culminating to a less stressful computing experience. Take a look at the things that are stressing you in your life, traffic, deadlines, etc., they are all related to time. Why does traffic bug you? Most likely it is making you late, wasting your (and others) time.

Going Clock Free

This is most certainly not for everyone. In fact I would assume that it is not for most people, and even if it is, there are many who could not put this into practice. I can because I run my own business, set my own schedule, and most importantly am my own boss.

I am willing to bet though, that most people can stand to remove the clock from their computer. The rest of your life has time breathing down your neck, no need to have that experience when you are computing.

focus.

I removed two very distracting elements from the menubar: the clock and the battery monitor. No longer having those stare at me all day has really lifted a weight off of my work, and helped me to focus on the task at hand.

There are now six items that reside in the right hand side of my menubar (you cannot, as far as I know, configure the left side). Those six are:

• Airport Status
• Dropbox
• Logbook
• Keychain Access
• Volume
• Spotlight

Of those six the only one that I wish I could remove that I cannot is Dropbox. If you want to remove some icons there are two ways to get rid of them, for most you can CMD+click on the icon and drag it off the bar, with a ‘poof’ it will be gone. If that does not work then you will need to go into the programs preferences to remove it (some programs like Dropbox do not have an option, leaving the choice between running the program and not running it).

Clock and Battery

You may be wondering how I get around not having a clock and battery on the menubar. I must admit that for the first few days, this was unnerving, and counter productive. I stuck to my guns and left them off and now I love it with out them.

However I still do need to be able to see the time, and battery life of my computer. For that I use OS X’s Dashboard. Using MiniBatteryStatus I am able to see the current battery charge, and it interfaces with growl to notify me when the battery is charged, almost dead, and whether the computer just got plugged in, or unplugged.

I also just use the large analog clock on the Dashboard to tell time. Now this is interesting, because with that clock you cannot tell the precise time, but I have found that this is not a bad thing at all. I rely more heavily on my iCal alarms to let me know when I need to leave, rather than just watching the clock.

Overall removing the plethora of menu items that used to clutter my menubar has visually freed me. Gone are the days of constantly checking the time, battery life, RAM usage and so forth. Now I just get work done and am amazed when it is lunch time or time to go home.

Link.