Working at home can be a distracting business, especially if you have your kids home, running around and fighting. While you may not be able to get rid of the kids that easily, there are ways to eliminate or minimize other distractions that clutter up your day.
- Email. This is a massive distraction for most people. If you maintain an online business presence, you are bound to fill your inbox every day. It can help to give yourself a specific amount of time to weed through everything. If you know you only have 10 minutes, you will be a bit more ruthless about tossing any emails that aren´t necessary. Also, setting up filters is a good way to ease the workload.
- Cooking. Having a meal plan can make things much easier on you. Instead of spending an hour before you have to start supper, wondering what to make, you can simply get up and start working on the meal because you know exactly what you are going to do. Do the shopping once a week and make sure you have everything for your menu plan. Making double the recipe and freezing half is great for when you are up against a deadline and need a quick and easy dinner.
- Internet. It is so tempting to start searching for other things while you are online. I know, because I frequently get sucked into the Google vortex! However, if you aren´t actually using the net, shut down your browser. For example, when I have an article to write, if I don´t need to do research online, I shut off FireFox and just work in Word. That way, I´m not tempted to find out how many raisins are in a box of Raisin Bran or do random Stumbles for humor sites!
- Thirst. If you drink a lot of coffee, like I do, you probably notice that you get thirsty shortly after you finish a cup. To stop wasting time by hitting the kitchen every few minutes, first for water, then for more coffee, consider having a water bottle on your desk. You can set up the coffee maker there, too, or use a thermos if you are an instant coffee person.
- Friends. Limit yourself to instant messaging for just an hour a day or less. When it isn´t time to chat, log out of your Yahoo, Gmail or Windows Live account! Chatting is one of the least productive things you can do . . . in most cases. There are times when it is handy to talk to a client, and some people may even provide a chatting service, which is fine!
- Stay organized. If you have a little boy who is prone to cuts and bruises, keep a first aid kit well stocked and nearby. The same goes for anything that you need on a regular basis, paperwork, discs, etc. should be kept in one area so you can just grab what you need immediately, without searching for it!
- Music. Maybe you are one of those people who works well with some background noise, or maybe you need music to block out the children screaming in the backyard. If so, no problem. But you might want to evaluate your productivity with music and without, to see if you really do work better with it on. You might be surprised to find that when you think you are working well, you actually achieve less!
Do you have any other distractions in your home office? How do you deal with them?
7 Responses to “Minimize Distractions in the Home Office”
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I’m at work at home dad and I agree about minimizing distractions. When I first started working from home I thought I’d be more productive because of fewer office conversations. I was wrong. It takes diligence to not become distracted.
Great blog, I love your design. I linked in from problogger.
Miracle, thanks for stopping in, it is always good to see dads who take the plunge, too. You are right about the diligence part, and the fact is that some people just don´t have what it takes to really work at home. It depends on how good you are at forcing yourself to focus!
Ditto to everything Miracle just said. I’m going to have to print out this list and put it next to the monitor to remind me every time I lose an hour because I got caught stumbling.
Patrick, Hmmm, seems like I have more guys reading this blog than I suspected!
Stumbling is my big downfall, too. Hard to get through the day without taking just one peek at the cow abductions or singing horse quartet!
Yeh, most of my work is about computers but alot of times I have to get away from the computer in order to do work. :). Oh, the irony
Today, I decided I’m going to move my home office from the den to a bedroom with a door. I’m finding it difficult to write where I can hear my husband and two-year-old talk. I write, get distracted, play with my kiddo, sit down to write again… now where was I?…
I’m going to set “writing time” hours and lock myself into a quiet room!
Oh, I hear you! We´re building our house right now and so far we have just two bedrooms done. One is for the boys, but we all live, work and play in the other (the master bedroom). I have a LOT of difficulties staying focused with all the chaos going on.