Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: This week, we're talking about remote work and how people
Speaker 1: can make it work for them. Today's tip is about
Speaker 1: how to keep from getting distracted when you work from home.
Speaker 1: I recently received a question from a Before Breakfast listener
Speaker 1: named Mary. She wrote that I work from my home
Speaker 1: office a spare bedroom, and I'm on the road traveling
Speaker 1: when not in my office, which is two to three
Speaker 1: times a month. I know I am not as productive
Speaker 1: as I can be when home, as I am constantly
Speaker 1: distracted by things in my home laundry, dishes, eating. I
Speaker 1: find myself working a really long work day into the
Speaker 1: evenings to get my daily work complete. She asked if
Speaker 1: I could suggest a structure to help with this problem.
Speaker 1: The first thing I want to say is that distractions
Speaker 1: happen everywhere. This is not a unique problem to working
Speaker 1: from home. In offices, people get distracted by other people's
Speaker 1: phone calls and by chatty colleagues. They waste time doing
Speaker 1: things that look productive even if they're not. Indeed, I'd
Speaker 1: wager that the distractions of offices far outweigh the distractions
Speaker 1: of laundry. In any case, I'd like to point out
Speaker 1: that Mary's work gets done. The distractions means she just
Speaker 1: cuts into personal and family time, rather than failing to
Speaker 1: deliver on what she said she'd do. I think is
Speaker 1: this is the case for most people who work remotely,
Speaker 1: So my advice on dealing with distractions is given in
Speaker 1: the spirit of helping people who do work remotely maintain
Speaker 1: a good work life balance, rather than as a general
Speaker 1: concern that people who work from home are slacking. My
Speaker 1: first suggestion is to be proactive about your schedule. Map
Speaker 1: out your intentions for the day. What work tasks do
Speaker 1: you need to tackle, when do you plan to do them.
Speaker 1: Distractions often happen when we're figuring out what to do next.
Speaker 1: If you know what you plan to do next, then
Speaker 1: this isn't as big a problem. The schedule mapping can
Speaker 1: also help you figure out when you're done for the day.
Speaker 1: If you've done what you inside yourself to do for
Speaker 1: any given day, then you are done. You can call
Speaker 1: it quits and go do whatever you want, laundry or
Speaker 1: anything else. It also might help to create a schedule
Speaker 1: for the home tasks that tend to distract you. Then
Speaker 1: you can assign these tasks to set times. Possibly has
Speaker 1: consciously chosen breaks during the day. So, for instance, if
Speaker 1: you wanted to do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays, you
Speaker 1: might put in a load right before starting work, then
Speaker 1: move it to the dryer at your mid morning break.
Speaker 1: Then you could put it away during a planned lunch break.
Speaker 1: As for that lunch break, if you find your breaks
Speaker 1: wind up longer than intended because of distractions, that might
Speaker 1: help to set an alarm for thirty minutes. Feel free
Speaker 1: to eat, read, putter around the kitchen, but once the
Speaker 1: alarm goes off, it's back to work. I also recommend
Speaker 1: shutting your home office door if you can't see the
Speaker 1: rest of the house. Sometimes it's easier to pretend it
Speaker 1: doesn't exist, which honestly is probably the best policy. People
Speaker 1: who work from home are working. Just because you work
Speaker 1: from home doesn't automatically mean all household chores are now
Speaker 1: your responsibility or that they should be done during the
Speaker 1: time that you are working from home. And you can
Speaker 1: give the same answer to anyone who thinks they're entitled
Speaker 1: to your time because you are working from home. No,
Speaker 1: I cannot walk your dog no, I cannot wait for
Speaker 1: your delivery person. I will be working then, no need
Speaker 1: to explain anymore. Spend your work hours focused on work
Speaker 1: and you can get done earlier. Then you can use
Speaker 1: that time for whatever you want. Listeners, if you work
Speaker 1: from home, how do you make sure you don't get
Speaker 1: distracted by household chores? Feel free to email me your
Speaker 1: suggestions at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.