but Wendy Piersall of The eMoms at Home Blog posted such a true-to-life list of The Top Ten Distractions for the Work at Home Mom and Dad that I just had to add a few distractions of my own. (Like we need more distractions, right?)Here are my three additional distractions to add to Wendy's list:
- The dog. Don't get me wrong; I love having the dog around. However, it does tend to bark if it sees something outside which can really interrupt my train of thought.
Solution: Give the dog a chew toy. It's amazing how well a good chew toy occupies the dog.
- Delivery people. It never fails. There I am in the middle of an important writing assignment and the doorbell rings. I go to answer the door and when I get back to my desk I have to rethink what I was just doing.
Solution: Take a moment before answer the door to make a note about what I was doing.
- Snacks. Specifically, chocolate. If I get stressed (and who doesn't when there are deadlines to meet) I get tempted to take a "break" and help myself to some chocolate as a reward for how hard I've been working.
Solution: I could say remove the chocolate, but then I'd feel deprived. What really does seem to help me with chocolate cravings is to have a bottle of drinking water handy.
What do you think? Do you struggle with distraction as you work from home? How do you deal with it? Leave a comment and let me know.
i work from home and at a full-time job in an office. i am an art director/graphic designer, so, like you am constantly at the computer. other than the most obvious computer distractions(checking email neurotically and blogging), I share your chocolate distraction.
i also drink wanter to help combat this, but I drink so much that it creates the new distraction - having to use the restroom three times every four hours! Just when I'll be getting going, I just have to go because I've just downed 24 oz of water.
Posted by: rachel | July 19, 2007 7:10 AM | Permalink to Comment