09 | Managing Distractions When Working From Home -

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Table of Contents

Podcast Description

Working from home as an online entrepreneur definitely has its ups and downs, with one of the big cons being allllllll of the distractions happening constantly from kid interruptions to the doorbell ringing and many more.

So one question I got asked recently was how do you manage all the distractions so I decided to record a whole episode on it to give you some solid tips you can implement right away.

Are you ready to manage your distractions a bit better? Let’s get to it!

Links Referenced in Episode:

▶ Download your Free Effective Weekly Planning Starter Kit

▶ Listen to episode 3: 9 Productivity Myths Busted

▶ Visit my other blog for mom time management and kid routine tips

Connect with me:

Website | FB Group | Instagram

Episode Transcript

(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

Episode Introduction

Working from home as an online entrepreneur definitely has its ups and downs with one of the biggest cons being all of the distractions happening constantly from kid interruptions to the doorbell ringing and so many more.

So, one question I got asked recently was how do you manage all of the distractions? So I decided to just go ahead and record a whole episode on it to give you some solid tips that you can implement right away.

So are you ready to manage your distractions a bit better? I’m pretty sure you are so let’s get into it.

Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelm goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner.

It’s your time to shine! So let’s get started.

Hey, welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, episode nine. I am so excited to talk about this topic today and it was actually requested by one of my followers during the podcast launch.

And so I am extremely excited to be sharing this with you, because this is something that I not only talk about on this side of the business, but in case you didn’t know, I also have a mom time management mom blog, where this is truly my jam.

And so, I am so excited that I get to kind of bring in a little bit of that into today’s episode. But don’t worry, I’m not just talking about mom’s stuff on today’s episode. Okay. This is just all about managing distractions overall when you’re working from home because let’s face it, you have distractions all of the time.

Working From Home Distractions

And I talk about it a little bit in either episode three or two, where there is some experts and some productivity advice that says that in order to be the most productive, you have to eliminate all directions.

And while I agree that that would absolutely be the most ideal situation, I am also realistic and I know that is almost never going to be possible. We have a ton of distractions all of the time.

We get interruptions from our kids, from our spouses, even from our pets. Even our pets can climb up on our lap and in your, if you’re in the middle of focusing on something, then you are all of a sudden distracted, you’re playing with your pet, whether it’s your dog or cat or whatever, right.

Or maybe you ordered something from Amazon, and your doorbell rings and now you have to go get that package before the package thieves come and get it.

Or perhaps you ordered groceries or some lunch so you have food delivery. Even random visitors. You have housework waiting for you, right?

So working from home, you are distracted by trying to not do all of the housework things. I know that is an incredibly hard one where you are sitting at your desk and you kind of peek over and you see the dishes in the sink and you really, really, really want to wash them.

And that’s already losing your focus, right? Plus something that you may not have realized is, hey, if you’re working from home, you also have internet freedom.

So whether you’re working from home just on your online business or you’re also working from home for your like main job, your corporate job, you have internet freedom. You have no one telling you what to do or what not to do.

And the fact that you are your own boss for your online business, you don’t have a boss that’s telling you, hey, get off your phone, get back to work, stop scrolling on social media, no playing games during work hours. Right?

And then, don’t even get me started on all the outside noises, the grass mowing, there’s construction nearby. There are so many different distractions, right?

I think I got my point across. So, yeah, no. This is not going to be completely possible to eliminate all of the distractions so we have to learn how to deal with them or how to manage with them. And how to still be productive even though we have all of these different things going on at random times that you can really even plan for.

Tips to Manage Distractions When Working From Home

So, here are some tips to manage all of these distractions.

Create a routine for your kids (or family)

So let’s start with your family. If you have kids, get your family involved. Get them on a routine. That is my number one tip that I tell all my moms over on my mom blog. If you want more tips specifically on helping your kids get on a routine, then head over to: cheerstolifeblogging.com.

That is my main blog, or my main mom blog, where I talk about all of the time management tips for working moms. And I specifically have a blog post where it’s a bunch of tips specifically when you’re working from home with kids. So I will link to that in the show notes if that is what you’re looking for.

Create a dedicated workstation

The next step is to create a workstation or area that lets your family know that this is off limits. So for example, if you have a, if you don’t have an office, then at least have a dedicated workstation, whether that’s in a corner in your bedroom, whether that is in one of the rooms.

Wherever that is for you, let your family know. Set some ground rules and say, whenever you are in that space, that means you are working.

I know it’s not going to work all of the time. But as you start reminding them, as you keep telling them, hey, I’m working, hey, this, it’ll start to stick. Obviously, depending on how old your kids are, it may take a little bit longer, still. Stick it out. Okay.

But I do want you to avoid working from a comfy bed or a couch because then you’re really going to get distracted with maybe the TV, let’s turn on that TV. Oh, my show is on, right. Or I don’t know about you, but whenever I sit on my couch, whenever I sit down on my bed or lay down on my bed, I instantly get tired.

I don’t know what it is about our mattress, but it has this thing that kind of takes over me and once I get up, then I’m like, oh wait, like, I’m not really that tired. You know, I was fine before I sat down on this couch and now I am on the couch and I am like yawning cause it’s so comfy. So avoid working from any comfy locations.

And if you can find a room that has a door, that’s honestly going to be your best situation, because you can just simply close the door and say, hey, when doors are closed, I really, really need my alone time to work.

Get creative with “Do Not Disturb” Signals

Another thing that you can do is use signs or symbols to kind of let your family know not to bother you. So what do I mean by this?

Well, if you have kids, this is specific or not even if you have kids, if you have a spouse, if you have family at your home period, then you can have some sort of sign that lets them know when you really, really need that focus time.

So if you’re working, I don’t know, four hours straight, maybe out of those four hours, you really just want one hour, just one our of peace and quiet, no interruptions, no distractions, because you know that that one hour you’re going to be working on some major brain work stuff like writing content, right.

And so instead of telling your family don’t bother me at all for the next four hours, which is not going to happen, use a sign or a symbol that lets them know that, hey, when this sign is up, please don’t come here. Don’t, you know, don’t say mami or whatever, unless it’s an emergency. Okay. Just whenever this sign is up. Whenever the sign is up just please don’t okay.

This could be a sign where it literally says you know, do not disturb or something that, um, a Facebook group member actually said was they have a hair tie. So whenever she has a certain hair tie color on, it means ‘m working, please, don’t distract me.

Same thing that I have with my son is if I’m in the middle of typing, please do not interrupt me. Wait until I am done typing to ask me whatever question you have for me. And most of the times, yes it’s, can I have a snack? Ugh.

But that is my sign to him. That is my signal for him to hey, just at least wait until I’m done typing so that way I don’t lose my train of thought or whatever flow I’m in the middle of doing.

Use a headset to block out noise

Another thing is to use a headset. So use a headset to block out any outside noise, whether that’s the people mowing the grass by your neighbor, use a headset and turn on whatever music or sounds is going to help you really get into your zone of genius and to focus.

You also really want to keep your cell phone on silent or do not disturb. You can adjust your settings to only allow some phone calls to come through. So for example, whenever it’s school, school isn’t on right now, it’s the summer.

So whenever it’s school season, I do have my phone on “do not disturb” and I’m typically just looking for the school, the school calling me because my son is at school or my husband. Those are the only two calls that are really allowed to come through.

If someone is sick, or if I’m waiting for a specific phone call, then I’ll be on the lookout for that as well. But otherwise my phone is on silent. So that is something that you can do as well.

Join a virtual coworking session

The next tip is to join coworking sessions online. So this is something that I’m still a little bit new to. Personally, I don’t attend co-working sessions as much because my schedule is dictated by my kids, but this might work well if you don’t have kids or if your kids are a little bit older or maybe if you even have a sitter for your kids.

Joining coworking sessions is a great way for you to get on you know, camera, with people. It’s kind of your way of being accountable to saying, Hey, people are watching me. They’re going to see if I’m working or not and so you better be working.

Plan and time block your tasks

Of course, you also want to plan out and time block your tasks. Okay.

If you need help scheduling all of your weekly online biz tasks, I have an amazing freebie that you can download that’s going to really help you figure out how to prioritize all of the things that you want to work on and get your week scheduled and less than 30 minutes.

So if you want help on planning out your week, head over to cheerstoproductivity.com/pdf and download it for free.

Inside of it, you’re going to get my three secret strategies that are really going to help you create an effective plan along with some worksheets to help make that happen.

Related Post: Time Management Tips to Get More Done Each Day

Take regular breaks throughout the day

The other thing I want to remind you is you also need to take breaks throughout the day. Okay. Yes. You need to give your brain some breathing time so take regular breaks throughout the day.

I know that doesn’t really help you too much with managing your distractions, but in a way it kind of does, because if you are so tired and you are starting to burn out, if you’ve been in front of the screen for so long, then your brain is going to start to wander.

That is when procrastination kicks in. And that is when your phone gets pulled out to scroll on social media. So by taking regular breaks throughout the day, you’re actually kind of distracting your brain from itself. Okay.

Embrace the distractions

The next one is something you’re probably not going to like. And it’s to just embrace the distractions. I know. I know. This is not something that I like either. But you know what? It’s better than the alternative.

It’s better than always complaining about always being distracted or getting interrupted or whatever and then you’re just put in a bad mood. So remember the good versus the bad, right.

It’s going to happen no matter what so think of it as a good thing. And I know it’s hard, but okay. You’re getting distracted. Okay. Your kids are interrupting. Okay. They’re healthy. Your package from Amazon arrived. Great, it was in stock. It wasn’t delayed.

You know, try to focus on the good, because you’re not going to be able to really avoid distractions a hundred percent, so might as well just embrace them and just allow them to happen and you yourself find ways to help you manage it by using some of the tips I mentioned and give yourself the flexibility to allow them to happen. Right.

That is why I am super passionate about flexible planning, because I know that even though I am a big planner and yes, I tell you to get super detailed with your planning. I don’t tell you to plan out every single thing for every single minute of your day.

There’s a difference.

And I really, really strongly encourage that you add flexibility or you add the ability to be flexible with your plan. Okay. So give yourself the flexibility and embrace the distractions.

This reminds me of a saying where they say embrace the mess, like when your kids are growing up, right. When your babies are growing up and learning how to feed themselves, there is a huge mess. But what are you going to do? Nothing. They’re learning.

So embrace the distractions. Use the tips shared and today’s episode to really help you manage your distractions when working from home.

Episode Wrap-Up

If there’s any tips that you haven’t yet tried, but you’re going to, take a screenshot of you listening to this episode, tag me on Instagram @cheerstoblogging and let me know what you’re going to do to manage your distractions a little bit better. And also I want you to post, embrace the distractions. Okay.

I want you to remind yourself that it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay, even if things seem like they’re pretty chaotic. Just embrace the distractions and you will be even a little bit more ahead.

You’ll be a little bit more better off because hey, you already know what’s coming. You’re not trying to fight it all of the time and just frustrating you and getting you upset. So, share on instagram, tag me @cheerstoblogging and I can’t wait to hear from you soon and to see how you are managing all your distractions a little bit better.

Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats with me, Lucy Reyes To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit www.cheerstoproductivity.com/9. And before you go, make sure you subscribe wherever you’re listening so you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success!