Blocking Out Distractions And Staying Focused When Working From Home
Lets face it working from home is awesome! It sure beats working in a busy office anytime. However, there is one small downfall to working in the comfort of your own home. That is that it can be very easy to get distracted. This is especially true if you have kids or a spouse who is home with you during the day. And even if you don’t have anybody home with you the temptation to just hang out and do what you want to do rather than work is always going to be there.It’s easy to get caught up in surfing the web or watching your favorite TV show and before you know it the day is gone and you’ve done very little work. So if you’re having a hard time trying to deal with all the distractions of working from home here are a few tips to help you block everything out and get more out of your day.Give yourself small breaksNobody can be expected to work for hours and hours on end with out a little stimulation and after all isn’t the good thing about working from home that you are in control of your day? So give yourself small breaks throughout the day to watch a 30 minute tv show or just hang out on the computer to go get a cup of coffee. This will help you to be more focused on work when you’re actually working and you won’t feel so burnt out at the end of the day.However, make sure that you set a timer and make sure that these breaks are short and that you get right back to work when they’re over.Tell your family what you needSometimes all it takes is sitting down with your family and letting them know that you’re going to be working and you need to be distracted as little as possible. Most of the time people don’t get left alone when they’re working from home because they don’t ask for it. As long as you have kids who are a little older this should be fine as long as you’re not leaving them alone ALL day. If your kids are younger this can be more difficult but you should be able to get some work done by putting in a movie or sitting them down with a craft or project that they can work on without your supervision.Leave the houseWhenever I can’t focus at home I head out to a coffee shop or someplace else where there is internet access. Sometimes you just need to get out of your home and away from the TV, the laundry that needs to be done and anything else that might be distracting you. You can really get a lot of work done by changing locations for just a couple hours every couple of days.
