Happy 4th of July weekend everyone. I’m pulling this article out of the archives…it was very popular when I first wrote it…seemed many people could relate – Enjoy!
This is a constant challenge for those of us who work from home. For the most part I have this under control (after years of practice) but sometimes I slip a little. After a little episode last week, I knew what I needed to write. See if anything like this has ever happened to you.
I sat down at my computer to start a project and looking at my hands I noticed something… “Oh my,…look at that hangnail” and off I trotted to the bathroom to get the cuticle clippers to take care of this urgent condition. In the bathroom I noticed the towels and decided to throw them in the wash. As I was getting out more dirty clothes from the hamper in my closet, I straightened up a couple of items that had fallen off the hangers and rearranged my shoes.
Out in the laundry room I cleaned out the lint trap and took it to the trash. Seeing that the trash can was full, I took out the bag, replaced it with a fresh one, then got the trash from the bathroom and my office to add to it. I took the garbage bag outside and passing my yard I stopped to admire the new buds on my favorite cactus…and spotted some new weeds, so I spent a few minutes and pulled them. As I came back through the patio I saw that the potato bush was thirsty, so I filled up the watering can to give it some water. Well, if it’s thirsty, so must be the others. Four watering cans later, I start to head back into the kitchen, when I see the mail truck out on the highway telling me that the mail has come. I go inside to change my shoes and get my sunglasses for the walk down the road. I could not find my sunglasses and look everywhere for them. I finally found them out in the truck, and while I was there, cleaned out all of the junk mail that I usually will not bring into the house.
It was a nice walk out to the highway, to the line of rickety rural mailboxes. On the way back I stopped and visited with a neighbor.
Once back at the house, I sat at the computer and realized… that danged hangnail had cost me over an hour!! Here’s how to avoid such distractions:
- Start by examining your work-at-home (or office) habits. Where are your time wasters? (we all have them)
- Make a list of tasks that you must accomplish each day.
- Block out time for each task, or look at the clock when you start and tell yourself, “I will work on this…and only this… for the next hour. (My favorite).
- Have rules & “business hours” to lessen family interruptions.
Have a great 4th of July weekend everone!
