Staying focused and... Oohh a cat!

Timfy

A little background... I run a one man band website design company and, to all intents and purposes, I'm doing okay.

My problem is that I work from home and I'm easily distracted. I find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the task in hand and I'm forever procrastinating, leading to the inevitable all nighters to get projects finished on time.

I have no space for a separate office and I'm not helped by being left to my own devices as the wife goes to work.

As an aside, as I work from home, I think she imagines me led on the sofa, watching Jeremy Kyle and as such leaves me the housework to contend with as well. She's not "naggy" but it has simply become expected that I'll sort the house while she's in the office.

And so to my question (whose simplicity didn't really warrant the build up!)

If you are in a similar situation, how do you force yourself to work as if you were in an office environment?

Anyway, I must get off, theres work to be ignored!

jimmii

I would get an office to be honest. Whether it just be a small room or one of those shared office space set ups for me it would definitely pay off as I am easily distracted too!! I'll just make myself a sandwich and watch the TV for a bit. Oooh that movie is on i'll watch that. Ahh dammit its 4.15 i'll mess up my desk make it look busy.

Timfy

An office would be great, however I am at the "getting by alright" stage of my business growth, not quite the multiple Ferrari stage yet!

Seriously, renting an office, even a shared office space would take a large chunk of my profits (theres a grand big word for the few quid that I come away with each week!)

Atomico

Seriously dude, don't work from home every day of the week. It's a common issue when it comes to the self-employed web designer / consultant!

What about renting some space with a company with whom you will have synergies? Maybe a graphic design agency or something. That way, you get a double benefit - not only do you get to get out of the house, interact with others, and feel like you have a real business - you may also come by additional work as a result!

They may well need a web designer from time to time, and how handy would having you in the next or same room be for them then! I am sure there are loads of agencies like this with spare desks / offices.

At the very least I would get out to cafes with good Wi-Fi a few times a week. Working from home is fine but only in limited quantities!

jimmii

Do you not think it would increase your productivity though at the same time? If not then you are probably fine at home with the distractions! There is Office space near us that we were going to rent for storage that is €75 a week and thats in the city centre a small office doesn't cost very much I don't think.

Shzm

What I find helps is a to-do list that you can easily access. Whether it's a piece of paper on your desk or a program like mylifeorganized. If you break each project down in to little pieces, it becomes much easier to handle.
Having to provide updates to clients on a regular basis can provide some motivation too.

... In saying that, I'm currently sat outside in the sun whilst I should be working, so I know how you feel.

Thoie

I'm not self-employed, but I primarily work from home. While I do have a "boss", mostly my work is a bit like yours - there are deadlines x number of days/weeks out, and no-one really bothers me until then.

Time management is your friend. There are a million different techniques out there, pick one (or a mixture of a few) and stick to it. Schedule everything. If you have Outlook (where emails/to do lists/calendars) are all interchangeable, schedule particular tasks, with reminders. Those tasks may be "non work" things, like lunch, or housework, but have them in there.
Break your projects into individual tasks (Get content from client Y, source images from iStock for client Z, code), and schedule each of those. Things like coding are obviously harder to schedule, but you can still schedule time to commit to those.

Figure out what your key distractions are, and give yourself time limits. I allow myself an hour for lunch, as if I was in an office, and personal stuff has to get done in that time. So if I need to run to the shop, or run the vacuum cleaner around, then I need to do it during my lunch break, while finding time to make a sandwich as well.

See a film on you want to watch? Start watching it, then record the end. Every time you take a break, set a timer on your phone to let you know when to go back to work. Schedule meetings/phone calls for 2pm to stop lunchtime creeping on all afternoon. Housework can be done instead of your commute time.

What's your concentration duration? Do you find yourself drifting after 30 mins? After an hour? Schedule task changes around the time you start losing concentration. Take 2-3 mins between tasks - go get a glass of water, or pee, or have a smoke. Don't snack

OldBean

Get up at a set time every morning. Shower, shave and get dressed. Make a coffee or a breakfast at least.

Set an office space. When you're sitting there, you're working.

Make sure you take your lunch break. Try to set a time you aim to be finished work every day. Chances are it won't always be a 6pm finish, but it's something to work towards, and might make more sense when you're quoting hours for work. Make a routine.

If there's housework that HAS to be done, incorporate it into the work day. Especially if you're to upload something and send it off to client feedback - Try use that time to change the sheets, hoover a room, etc. Explain to your wife that that's the most you're going to be able to do in a work day, but ideally, you won't be able to do the housework and work work.

Try find some friends who work freelance, and possibly work/live near you. Meet up with them for lunch during the week and/or pints some evening. It's good social contact and it's nice to hear how others are doing with work.

seosamh1980

I get up at the same time every morning with my boyfriend and when he heads to work I start work. I work particular days in the week and have had the same routine now for about 2 years. Some days I move stuff around, go off for the morning doing non work things and then work later than evening, etc. I set out a list of things that has to be done each day, either in writing or in my head, and just work through them. Once that list is done in the day (either over 10 hours spread out with dossing or other stuff in between) or done in 5 hours and then I'm free for the day I've done my bit for the day. Then sometimes I might work longer to have free time the next day. I don't have an office, I work either in the kitchen or the sitting room, with a list to tick off I can easily work whilst watching tv

Actually to be very honest I work in front of the tv when I'm not having a very busy day from about 9 to 11.30 because there's good stuff on, then the good tv runs out so I turn it off or move to kitchen and turn on the radio.

With deadlines I only have myself to blame if the work isn't done so I always do it in a good time frame really.

Gloomtastic!

...... the best suggestion of all - get a cleaner!

Overflow

Go sit in a cafe, drinking coffee all day

Or even better, become a digital nomad:

http://levels.io/bootstrapping-startup-thailand/
http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/p/wanderful-my-life-as-digital-nomad-my.html#.UmYtSvlkN8E
http://www.alyonatravels.com/josh-and-jill-the-digital-nomad-couple/

Fukuyama

Hi OP!

I know how you feel. I do a little freelance writing. Started off as a hobbie but now it's keeping me above the breadline while I'm in college. To make things worse, I work most weekends when everyone is asking to go for pints etc... :mad:

A few tips I use to get a jump on the day and not fall into the procrastination cycle. And it is a cycle.

1. Get up earlier. This is difficult at first but starting work at 6am while it's still dark reduces distractions. Maybe take a break mid morning and do a couple more hours in the evening.

2. Go for a jog first thing. Even if it's only 20 mins. It shocks your day into a start. Plus it's good for you. Working from home means even less exercise than those who work in offices.

3. Have one main task per day. The little ones will get added on in the process. Making a to do list with ten items on it might as well be a roadmap to procrastination land.

4. If all else fails - do a couple of hours each day in your local library / Starbucks whatever....

5. Remember how good it feels to have had a productive day.

CatFromHue

Dean0088 wrote: »

4. If all else fails - do a couple of hours each day in your local library

That was what I was going to say.

Hanley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

srsly78

OP you _really_ need a seperate office, because then you can claim a portion of rent+bills as an expense. This is a lot more awkward if the room is shared use.

Just designate your box room as office for official purposes!

All the various "shared offices" etc that I have seen advertised are eye-wateringly expensive...

bbam

Timfy wrote: »

A little background... I run a one man band website design company and, to all intents and purposes, I'm doing okay.

My problem is that I work from home and I'm easily distracted. I find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the task in hand and I'm forever procrastinating, leading to the inevitable all nighters to get projects finished on time.

I have no space for a separate office and I'm not helped by being left to my own devices as the wife goes to work.

As an aside, as I work from home, I think she imagines me led on the sofa, watching Jeremy Kyle and as such leaves me the housework to contend with as well. She's not "naggy" but it has simply become expected that I'll sort the house while she's in the office.

And so to my question (whose simplicity didn't really warrant the build up!)

If you are in a similar situation, how do you force yourself to work as if you were in an office environment?

Anyway, I must get off, theres work to be ignored!

In fairness if shes is seeing you needing to pull all nighters to do jobs... probably knows your easily distracted.. it would be easy to add it up to someone watching daytime TV ?

Set tasks to be done daily/weekly.
Dedicate your office space in the house.
Try to be there office hours (until you learn not to need all nighters)
Try not to work after office hours and then share the house work in the evenings.

If your workload doesnt require 39 hours office work, why not do a bit of housework? If not housework back to the office and drum up more business to fill the 39 hours..

For me my daytime job can be very quiet (like now). I get frustrated knowing I could be doing some of my own work at home, which I'll have to do late into the night

Cianos

If renting an office is out of your budget, try look for a shared artist studio space instead. I rented a space (ie just a desk) in an artist's shared studio for €80/month. I was lucky as I was told about it by a friend, but you could just Google for a few email addresses and numbers. The studio I was in, most people (I'd say around 6 out of the 12 tenants) I never actually saw in the 6 months I was there because they never, ever, came in. So if you offered to share the rent with someone for the use of a desk they might be more than happy to let you.