Irritated By Notifications

[Pablo Neirotti]

Hello all! I was wishing two weeks ago this place had a forum to ask people in the same wavelength for advice. Good that it's here!

After a lot of self improvement, very little gets me upset. However, getting a notification for an e-mail, a text message on my phone, a bouncing icon on the Mac's dock, anything that calls for my attention while working, just immediately pisses me off.

It's not necessarily loud noises or flashing lights. I clearly have no issues with those. I can have a loud garbage truck outside, a police car parking outside with lights on, or people just being loud outside, and I don't get the same reaction. I don't even react to it. But a single bounce of an icon on the dock and I just raise my hands and go WTF.

This is mostly when I am working, specifically when concentrated on a task. It isn't the case if I am not doing anything, or playing a game. But if I am "serious working", this just throws me out.

Maybe I am not being that aware with my surroundings so much while working, so that being pulled from that state bothers me? (interestingly enough: a notification does not bother me while meditating, if I happen to forget the sound on).

I wanted to know if anyone experience something similar, and have some insights of what is going on, or advice about how to properly deal with it. I've been digging a lot myself but somehow I can't pin point what the real problem or the real solution may be. If any. Heck, it may be I am just too tense while working.

Thank you for your time.

Cheers!

Edited February 15, 2016 by Pablo Neirotti

[Rito]

You have answered your own question my friend and the solution lies in your statement of the problem itself.It is obvious that you are too worked up with your work and you are taking it much more harder than you should.Ease out a bit,don't burn yourself out so fast.When you overreact to trivial things ,it's a sure indication that you are stressing yourself out more than you should.Remember you have to think long term.It's not wise to give all your energy and get spent out completely.You need to be performing consistently.You need to work more,not work hard.It's a long race,so don't waste yourself so fast.Here is some practical things you can do

1)Create a relaxing work environment

2)Take frequent breaks and calm yourself.

3)Turn off some useless notifications

4)Plan ahead,and create short term goals

5)Stick to a routine that is easy enough for you to follow through

Edited February 15, 2016 by Rito

[Avi]

@Pablo Neirotti It's awesome that you are aware of what's pissing you off! That's a great first step. @Rito has given some great advice. I would also suggest looking into your daily life to see if something else is triggering you. 

[Pablo Neirotti]

On February 15, 2016 at 1:46 AM, Rito said:

When you overreact to trivial things ,it's a sure indication that you are stressing yourself out more than you should.

Thank you guys! Rito, all of that was really helpful. I wanted to quote specially that bit. It's such a fundamental thing to bear in mind, that can easily improve a wide range of problems when taken into account.

Next time I'll try to slow down whenever that happens. See if I can make it into a habit, sort of using it as an indicator when I am starting to stress.

Thank you both again!

[Loreena]

Good question. I would say stay away from all of that

[Visitor]

@Pablo Neirotti Good stuff from Rito.

I noticed this part in your Op in particular

On 2/15/2016 at 3:09 PM, Pablo Neirotti said:

..This is mostly when I am working, specifically when concentrated on a task. It isn't the case if I am not doing anything, or playing a game. But if I am "serious working", this just throws me out...

It seems like the large part of "concentrating on a task" is not actually doing the task but figuring out how to do the task. Like figuring out what to write.

Try to first figure out exactly how to do the task before actually doing it. In this way, any interruptions during the figuring is not interrupting the task since you have not yet engaged in it. And if interrupted while doing the task, won't upset you because you know where and how to continue with the task afterwards.