Hey everyone, today I want to share with you the top 4 distractions that I have to deal with on a daily basis when working from home. I also want to share with you how I have dealt with them. As many of you may know I have been a full time online marketer for about 2 and a half years now. In that time, I’ve been faced with many obstacles and plenty of roadblocks that have got in my way along the path to online success.
In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to avoid these as much as possible and still be productive and continue to make progress.
4 Distractions That I Faced When I First Started And Continue To Experience Today
Working from home can be one of the best things ever and it’s everyone’s dream to be your own boss and not have to worry about sitting in traffic for hours and have a boss breathing down your neck. Let’s face it, distractions are everywhere and how you choose to deal with them plays a huge role in whether you are successful or not with your home business.
#1- Neighbors & Friends/Family Coming Over- This seems to be a daily struggle for me and while it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be, I still have to deal with it at times. Even though, my neighbors and friends and family know that I work from home, they still don’t understand that just because I’m home it doesn’t mean you can come over and hang out all day.
I still have a schedule that I need to stay on and lots of work that needs to be done. Do you guys have this happen to you as well? How do you deal with it and politely tell them that you need to get work done?
Here’s how I have managed to deal with this and a few tips that will hopefully help you out as well
I’ve found that if I can find a quiet place and somewhere that I can concentrate on my work then I will be a whole lot more productive this way. To do this, I usually take my laptop to either the nearest coffee shop or I go down to my local library to get some work done and get some peace and quiet. I would also suggest that you turn off your cell phone so you don’t get people blowing up your phone while you are there, or you will be defeating the purpose of going.
This has really helped me out and has helped me be more productive and helped me stay on schedule even when my family and friends come over on their day off and want to hang out.
#2-Social Media- Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter- For me, this is a huge distraction and I’m sure that many of you out there can relate to me on this particular topic. Even though I don’t spend nearly as much time on Facebook as some people do It still seems like I waste more time on there than I should.
When I see some on the ridiculous things people post on FB and it makes me think. Couldn’t they be making much better use of their time by learning new skills that will actually allow them to get ahead in life? Yes, they could but apparently they choose not too.
I have an extremely bad habit myself of getting on there and chatting with all my friends, watching videos, and checking out what my friends are posting( I know bad habit right?)
Here’s how I managed to stay off FB and keep my mind focused on what I had scheduled for the day.
Here’s my simple solution! Just don’t log on, or even think about logging on until you have finished your work for the day. I know from personal experience that this can be very tempting, but it’s something you need to do if you want to have a productive day and keep on track.
#3- TV and or Video Games- Many of you who visit my blog often, will know that I’m a huge gamer and I like to do a lot of binge watching of my favorite TV shows. This is one of my greatest weaknesses and something that I have struggled with ever since I started working from home.
It seems like once you turn the TV on it somehow sucks you in and before you know it a couple of minutes turn into a couple of hours. While it’s always nice to relax and catch up on your favorite shows, you need to keep your priorities in order and plan out your day the best way you know how to.
To avoid this temptation, I simply leave the TV turned off until I got my work done for the day. This has really helped me out and has made me more productive as well. Once I am done with my work for the day and it’s time to relax I turn it on.
#4- Family obligations- Running an online business can become very challenging when it comes to dealing with everything life throws at you and finding a good balance between being productive at work and being a responsible adult. This could include going to appointments, activities that your kids have( social functions, baseball games, or parent teacher conferences)
I have found that the best way to deal with these distractions is to get yourself on a daily time schedule. Just like when you work at a job outside your home, your employer schedules you to be there for a certain amount of hours each day. Why should you change this when you work for yourself?
Determine what time works out best for you to get some work done. Take a look at your obligations for the week and schedule your work around them.
To do this, I went out and purchased a whiteboard calendar so that I could schedule my work around my family obligations. I set aside a certain amount of time each day to work my business and I stick with it.
Here’s My Closing Thoughts
Ever since I started down the path of being my own boss and working for myself It has changed my life in so many ways. I’m always learning something new that I didn’t know before. In my 2 and a half years in the online world I’m constantly faced with distractions and I thought I would share some of these with you guys and show you how I dealt with them, and how I was able to continue pushing forward.
While it’s important to focus on building your online business and being productive, you also can’t be working all the time. This will only lead to you feeling burnout and you will be less productive as a result of this. I’m sure you guys have heard the saying all work and no play is no good haven’t you?
When making out your schedule for the week make sure to include just as much leisure time as you would working on your business.
Hopefully, you guys have been able to relate to some of the things I’ve struggled with in the past and I hope I have been able to help you overcome some of these distractions. What distracts you when running your online business? I would love to hear some of the things you guys have struggled with or some distractions that you are faced with in the comments below.
Please leave them for me below and I will get back to you A.S.A.P
Your, Friend, Scott
Tom
Hi Scott- Having your own business does require discipline, and I like the way you ran down the list of obstacles that you have encountered.Setting a schedule for yourself is a great idea as time management is critical for success. One of the major issues I’m dealing with is to focus on my daily objectives and seeing them through.This article should be very helpful for those wanting to start their own business and for those who already are working from home.
~Tom
Scott Newkirk
Hey Tom,
You need to be self motivated and be able to work without supervision if you want to achieve any kind of success when working from home. I figure that other people can relate to a few of the distractions I’m faced with on a daily basis and that this article will help them be able to overcome them and continue pressing forward with their online business.
Having a schedule and sticking to it is crucial if you want to have a productive day and grow your business. I sometimes have trouble dealing with my daily objectives for the day as well but here lately I have been a whole lot more focused than I used to be. I’m glad this article has helped you out man and gave you some direction on how to deal with distractions and how to keep pressing forward.
Thanks so much for dropping by and sharing what distractions you face with everyone here.
Talk again soon
Your Friend, Scott
leo
Becoming your own boss is good and bad.
Good because you don’t have a boss – bad because there is no one looking over your shoulder any more.
It does take discipline but when it’s work time – it’s work time. And when it’s play time – it’s play time.
You need to set a schedule of when your work time is, and during this time this means no social media, no checking email, no answering the phone, no TV or video games.
I have a daily schedule – and I have tasks I need to complete on those days. Depending on things it takes between 2 and 4 hours to get the things done I need to get done.
During this time, unless the house is on fire or my private phone (which very few people have the number) rings – I am focused on what needs to be done.
Once I am done, I can do all those things that otherwise would have been a distraction and turned a 4 hour day into a 10 hour day.
It took me a while to figure out that I don’t have to check my email every hour, or go into live chat in the WA, or answer private messages.
That can all wait – to this day nothing has been that earth shattering that it couldn’t wait.
Great post, and great reminder of being focused.
Cheers
Leo
Scott Newkirk
Hi Leo,
It’s great to not have to answer to a boss when you work from home. At the same time, you need to be self motivated and able to work independently and get the job done. I struggled with this quite a bit when I got started in the world of online marketing. Things aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be and I now have a schedule that I try and stay on every day.
This has not only boosted my productivity level up, but it has also helped me make better use of my time. I agree with you that if you let these little distractions affect your work then you very well could turn a 4 hour day into a 10 hr day and end up not being nearly as productive as you could have been if you would have tuned out all these distractions beforehand.
I want to thank you for dropping by Leo and sharing how your work week goes and how you deal with distractions.
Cheers,
Your Friend, Scott
Robert
Hi Scott,
I think one of my biggest distractions that I can think of off the top of my head would be playing video games and checking my email. It seems like these are my 2 biggest downfalls and It’s great to see that I’m not the only one who struggles with this. After reading this post, I have learned how to deal with overcoming these distractions and I’m going to try to make better use of my time when I’m online.
Thanks so much for the tips and I look forward to reading more posts like this one.
Cheers
Robert
Scott Newkirk
Hey Robert,
It’s great to hear that we have similar distractions and I’m glad this post has helped you out and gave you some useful tips on how to deal with these distractions. Working from home can be the greatest thing ever, but it’s important to keep in mind that you no longer have a boss looking over your shoulder.
You are your own boss and that comes with a whole new set of responsibilities. In order to be successful in the online world, you have to be self motivated and be able to concentrate on the task at hand. Thank you so much for dropping by Robert and sharing a few of the things that you get distracted by.
It’s great to hear from you man
Your Friend, Scott
John
I’d have to say that Facebook is the biggest distraction for most people that work from home. Although it can be a great marketing tool, most people waste way too much time sifting through updates from the thousands of people going through their feed. My solution to that is to close the FB page completely, until I finish the work for the day. It usually takes me 2 hours to get all online work done, but with FB still running in the background, I just can’t help to see if someone messaged me. Thanks for the tips man, I know they will help a lot of people who are going through the same stuff.
Scott Newkirk
Hi John,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing a few of your distractions that you have had to deal with when working from home. I agree that Facebook can be a great marketing tool if used the right way. This is a 2 way street and it’s got its ups and downs just like everything does. I’m guilty of checking all the updates from my followers as well. Before you know it you are surfing FB for hours when you could have written a quick blog post in that time.
I always make sure that my FB page is closed while working because if not then like you said, I will be tempted to see if anyone messaged me. I’m glad this blog post has helped you out John and once again thanks for dropping by.
Cheers,
Your Friend, Scott