People regard work from home jobs as a luxury. They imagine it as a cosy comfortable thing where you can be your own boss – no interruptions, no colleagues, no micromanagement and no hassle. You can work in your loungewear and take a break anytime when require.
But only those who work 24/7 from home, know what it feels like when your family members don’t take your work seriously and look for you after every half an hour for the home chores.
Are we that available?
Well, if you’re in the same boat, there are some common work from home distractions which freelancers or employees face every day.
Let’s count on them.
1. Food
Food is one of the common work from home distractions. When you’re at home, you’re always craving to eat something sweet or something sour. Even when you’re done with breakfast or lunch, you’d still be roaming around your fridge to snack in the odd timings. It’s because we are always looking for some kind of activity to take a break from work, to refresh our mind and also to satisfy our cravings.
Do you also end up checking your fridge every time even when there’s nothing special?
2. Kids
You can somehow control your hunger but not the kids. They’ll rush to you, take your chair and sit on your desk to use your workstation. And if you try to push them aside, they’d shout their heart out. And they’ll also be roaming on the back in your Zoom meeting so your bosses can also consider them for the job (:-P).
And if you have newborn with you, they’d always want to be in your lap so they can make your work from home more entertaining. Isn’t it?
3. The Door Bell
Dear X,
“Can you see who’s on the door? I’m so busy in the kitchen. Please check!”, says mother.
Although your family know that your home is the new office but still they will want you to see who’s on the door. For them, it’s a little thing but only we know how it breaks the flow of work. Pity for us!
4. The Guests
When you’re working from home and some guests come to your place and you don’t go to greet them, you’d be regarded as someone who’s running a million-dollar company and don’t have few mins to spare for guests. The Proudy one!
But that’s okay! Guest can wait but how to tell the boss that your parents are calling you to meet the guests?
5. TV
When your father is fond of watching political debates and mather is a fan of Pakistani dramas, you can’t avoid the TV. But this work from distraction is unavoidable unless you have a dedicated workspace.
Apart from the TV, a noisy environment can also become one of the remote work distractions. For example, the washing machine, dishwashing or the kids playing can interrupt your thoughts.
6. Home Chores
Well, we can avoid the huge chunks of work such as dusting our room or piling up the cupboards. But what we can’t avoid are the little chores such as fetching a glass of water, helping in the kitchen or going to the nearby shop to bring the grocery. If we take the courage to refuse our parents, what we gonna hear is that – “It will take your 5 minutes only. Wouldn’t you do it for me, please?
And we can’t say NO to the unapologetic request. Isn’t it?
This seems small but it can be the biggest distractions when working from home.
7. Social Media
How can we miss checking our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn while working from home? Because the boss isn’t spying on us. But checking our cell phones frequently can cause a lot of our work.
Sometimes it also happens that we pick our cell phones for checking it once and then end up giving an hour to it. But we can control this distraction during work from home by using the Pomodoro technique. It let you focus on any task for 25 mins. And then you can treat yourself with small breaks.
I have tried it and it really works. Have you?
8. Laziness
How to Stay Focused Working from Home?
Jokes apart, the best tip to make your work from home possible is to set up a dedicated place for work. WFH isn’t possible in a noisy environment, with kids or Netflix.
So, even if it’s a small corner, make it up for yourself to boost your productivity. Take your family on board and explain the priority of your work. If you don’t talk with them today, you might be giving your hours in between your work which can also affect your performance at work.
Social media and cell phones are also the two biggest distractions at work that nobody can overcome for you. This requires self-control and dedication to your work.
I prefer books and diaries more than phones and Facebook. Soulfully connected to Pakistan. And I passionately believe that I can change the world through blogging.
