In this solo coaching video, high‑performance coach Sean Butner addresses the challenges of working in open‑plan, cubicle‑free, or otherwise non‑private office environments—situations that can be especially draining for introverts and anyone who needs deep focus. He first urges viewers to assess their personal tolerance for ambient noise, noting that some people can use background chatter as white‑noise while others are easily distracted. Based on that self‑knowledge, he recommends three practical tactics: (1) deliberately switch environments (e.g., move to a conference room, cafeteria, or coffee shop) when uninterrupted focus is needed; (2) use noise‑cancelling headphones not only to block sound but also as a visual signal to others that you are in focus mode; and (3) adopt a structured time‑blocking routine—typically 50 minutes of concentrated work followed by a 10‑minute break for rest, movement, or low‑intensity tasks. He ties these tactics together as a way to “signal” your focus to coworkers, family, or kids, and encourages viewers to experiment with the cadence that works for them. The video ends with a call for feedback and a motivational sign‑off encouraging more joy, personal growth, and community impact.
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Sa. All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to start your day. Great. Start your day with the coach. I am your super certified high performance coach, Sean Butner. And today we're talking about how do you survive the UN private office, right? And you'll know what I'm talking about. If you are someone that has worked in a cube, forest, pod, forest cubicle, you know, type setup where there's really no walls, there's no privacy, or maybe you're working from home and you have a room where you can't close the door or where when the door is closed, you have people that have want snacks and are like, hey, like mom, dad, like, I'm hungry. And it's like, hey, I'm working right now. Can you give me five minutes? And like, no, I need snacks now. You know, when you go down that whole thing. So as you know, someone who I've been talking a lot about high performance introverts and, you know, the. Our ability to sit and focus on one thing, it is directly related to the amount of, you know, productivity we have. Whether that is in building a really strong relationship, you know, building a connection with someone, or really making sure we write the best code that we possibly can in an effective. In an effective way. Gotta wake up. So how do you manage that on private office? And if you have an office that's loud, that has like the loud conference call guy, that has the, you know, loud snacker or person that is just super social and is always hovering over your shoulder asking you what you're doing, then, you know, that can be really frustrating. It could be really draining. It can really prevent us from, you know, putting out the value and connection we want with our work. So if that's you, then, then you're in the right place. If not, maybe you can learn a little bit more about your introverted friends or coworkers or family members. But I just have a couple of quick ideas that helped me in my corporate career in software when we had this big push to go to the open floor plan where there's no walls. Basically there's a spot at a desk that you find when you get there and you have to, you know, manage everything, you know, phone calls, meetings, and all that stuff in a open floor plan. So first thing to note is that, you know, you have to realize that your style, some people can handle the noise or some people like to like go to a coffee shop and just hear all the chatter in the background and that helps them focus, right? So it's kind of like a white noise. Thing, thing. So that works for some folks and that's awesome. And for other folks, you are picking up every single conversation. You are not able to get into that flow state unless it's quiet. Right. So you have to know that about yourself first or which degree. Like, you know, for me, there are certain things that I can tune out and that's fine. There are certain things that cut through that protective blanket in my head that really is kind of like Pierce. It feels like it's like punching me in the ear. And that could be really, really infuriating is the word I'm looking for. So, you know, how do you manage that? Well, first thing is you can switch your environment, right? One of the biggest things that I figured out when I was working at Walmart doing software is that if I was at my desk, I'd have people walking up, I'd have to handle phone calls. You know, there's a lot of things that would just happen when I'm like, I just need an hour to sit through, think this through, get this thing, you know, patched up so I can get on to the next thing and kind of batch how, you know, all the communications and stuff would come in. So I, like could handle it, have some focus time, handle it, have some focus time. And trying to protect that was really tough. But I knew that if I was able to batch communications in the morning, I could sneak off to the cafeteria or into a conference room or, you know, leave campus and go to a coffee shop to then focus on getting some code done. And that really, really, you know, switching it up really helped me. And it also, when paired with the second idea, which was having some type of headphones to help you kind of drown out loud people that are in your vicinity. So whether that's at the coffee shop again or at home, it's just, you know, having noise canceling headphones on could be a signal that, hey, you're focusing, maybe, you know, not interrupt you, you know, and I know that can be tough with small kids. So, you know, hopefully you have someone that you can have help you with that, or you can train the kids and be like, there's an hour kind of cadence where focus for 50 minutes, then there's 10 minutes to help out, do whatever, if that works for you, you know, so try to think about ways to kind of signal like with your environment, right? So change your environments. Number one, signal with your environment is number two, that you need to focus. And the third thing, excuse me, that really helped me when I was at Apple and Apple for most of the time I had a private office which was amazing. But there are times, you know, you're out in a pit or you don't have that luxury. There are a couple times when I was working there that that happened and it's again headphones but it's also blocking time. Right. You have to be really, really attuned to what your focus is, right. So you have to be a weapon at that. So the best way that we know in high performance is to do block time. And that is again a 50 minute chunk where you're like I'm focused on this project, this task, moving this thing forward that really needs to happen. And having a 10 minute bio break, little bit of a br, you know, eye rest or meditation or moving movement, moving around or socializing, checking emails, that kind of stuff. And then back in to your hour chunk for the next thing you got to focus on. And so those three things which are change your environment, signal with your environment and then really just manage your what you're focusing on, those sort of things can really help you manage in an UN private, a non private office. So if that's you guys post below, let me know what you liked about this, what you didn't like about it. You know the feedback helps me get better at doing these little bits of content during the week. And that said, this is Sean Butner signing off with Live with more joy, more personal growth and more impact in your communities. I will talk to you guys on Friday. Take care.
