Squirrel!

Life of normal folks:


  • Put in a solid 8-hour workday at the office.
  • Head home, relaxing to some tunes on the commute. 
  • Throw a quick dinner together (or order takeout).
  • Watch some tv. 
  • Catch up on social media. 
  • Throw in a load of laundry. 
  • Go to bed and start all over tomorrow. 

Life of a freelancer:


  • Wake up and shower. 
  • Sit down with your laptop and breakfast.
  • Walk the dogs for the 2nd time.
  • Clean up your breakfast dishes. 
  • Get the kids up and make them breakfast. 
  • Walk the dogs again.
  • Check your email. 
  • Start a new article. 
  • Hear the dryer buzz and go switch the laundry. 
  • Get sidetracked by more dishes in the sink. Wash them. 
  • Get halfway through your article. 
  • See an email come in that you need to address right away. 
  • Dogs need walked again. 
  • Remember that you wanted to sweep and mop today, so you stop and do that.  
  • Then decide you better make the kids lunch. And yourself some, too. 
  • Sit back down with your laptop and finish your article. 
  • More dishes. 
  • Dogs need to be walked again. 
  • Look to your right.... and - wow, that shelf looks dusty. You dust the entire house. 
  • Sit back down to your laptop and realize you should take something out for dinner. 
  • You do that and then start checking your social media sites. 
  • Back to focusing on writing again. 
Then, BOOM -- its dinner time, spouse is on her way home, and the dogs need to be walked again. 



Where does the time go? 



And what got accomplished? 



Good intentions. 

Bad follow through. 



Working from home means that it is incredibly easy to get sidetracked. Whether its kids, dogs, cleaning, cooking... it is easy to feel like you have to have it all together. But, the truth is, you don't. If you worked in an office, you wouldn't be able to dust and clean and do laundry while you are working. I mean, it'd be pretty awkward if you did. Who's laundry would you be doing at work? Ew. Gross. 



Anyway, there is a simple fix for this all-too-common scenario. Are you ready for it? In... 

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Set your office hours. 

It is that easy. Treat working from home like a "real job" that "normal folks" have. Go to work and focus on work. Then, get up and walk into your living room and start cleaning if you want -- but only after quitting time has arrived. You just may be surprised at how much more productive you are in everything you do. 





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