I began to work as web developer for a company about a week ago. So, My problem with working remotely is that I easily get distracted. I don't have this problem when I am not working remotely (in office, etc). That's one of the reasons I don't like to work remotely. So, I get distracted and often do time wasting web surfing. From Wikipedia to Youtube, etc. But If I were in a work place, I would never do that. This is disastrous. Instead of working (for example) from 8 till 5, I have to work from morning till late night and I can't do my other stuff. That's not bearable. How to fix this? P.S. Since now, I had to watch the video courses and follow along them. I mean, I didn't do any real job (Like fixing a real website of clients). I guess it would be better in the following days when they give me real jobs to do. Because watching these specific courses have been boring for me.
In my limited experience with this, I've found that something that really helps is intentionally creating an environment at home to do your work. This means separating yourself from leisurely things at home - pets, TV, children, family, etc. Don't set this work environment up in a place you commonly relax in (for me, that's the couch). Part of getting into the mentality of work is entering a different environment than your typical home. As for easily getting distracted, I don't have an easy answer for that, but my advice would be to list what items you specifically wish to accomplish and then work on items one at a time. Having a clear goal makes it more difficult (but not impossible) to succumb to distractions. I know that this shift certainly has been tough for a lot of people. Some people thrive working from home; others do not. Best of luck.
I use my desktop computer and it's fixed in my room. Either I want to work or do other stuff, I do it in the same place. I do 90% of my stuff front of that PC. That makes it hard to create a work environment and separate it from other things. As for separating family and especially children, It can be doable. Not now, But we're going to move to another house and I try to fix it there. I'll try to make a to-do list and write it in a notebook everyday and put it in my desk to make myself more aware of the job and its importance. I really dislike remote jobs. It also limits my social communications. It's already near zero.
There's a piece of software -- unfortunately, I don't remember waht it's called, but I'm pretty sure it would not be difficult to find with a few minutes' searching -- that will block access to either specific sites or the entire web, for specific periods of time. It's intended for this specific problem. That might be your best bet.
I already use a blocker and it's great. But, I can't block Youtube, Wikipedia, etc because I use them for my job too. It's necessary to block or limit some websites (like twitter, news websites, etc) and it certainly benefits, but it's not enough. When I want to waste time, I will eventually find a way. From reading an article about a historic event to watching a Youtube video reviewing a sound card. Today I also deleted the chrome browser from my phone, So that I can't use it to violate from limitation of the blocked browser of my pc.
At a certain point it goes to your own procrastination and what's driving that. You might want to look at whether there's a fear of succeeding or a fear of failure and thus some self-sabotage behaviors going on.
Today I was much better. Because I didn't read any political stuff. They are extremely time drain. And they hurt me so much too. Among all the time-wasting thing, for me it is the worst by far. So, I just got my first work from my employee. He gave me a long to-do list for improving/fixing a website. He just said don't act in haste and do whatever you can from the list. I am very excited. Also a bit worried, some of those things in the list seems to be a pain.
I am working freelance/on probation for 2 different start-up companies. While both of them are based in the same city as I'm in, because of the pandemic situation, we all are working remotely, from the safety of our own homes, meeting on zoom/skype if and when necessary. I'm really, really, really good at procrastinating. Ha ha. And given my long gap from work, I got used to a lazy kind of lifestyle. Especially during these last few months. So to get into the groove of working, I set my room up in a way that I can concentrate when I do work. My desk has no clutter. My whiteboard, Laptop, Notebooks, pens and markers are all I have on my desk. I even keep a glass handy to drink water. My windows are open, to let the fresh air in. I have earphones handy to connect to my phone/laptop where a music app with a playlist of my favorite songs is ready, so that if I need to tune out any noise coming from the road/outside, I can. Since I don't keep any water handy or anything else, no eatables or anything, I have to get up and go over to the kitchen to fill my glass up with water. I take advantage of this setup to set my clock/alarm. I finish my chores/share of the house work, finish breakfast and sit to work at 10 am. I make sure I work on something or other (something productive), with a break of an hour for lunch between 1 and 2 pm, which I eat with my parents at the dining table. I even help with doing the dishes after that. Then I resume work till 7 pm, Make dinner, eat it, wash dishes again and then sit down back at my desk around 9 pm to work till 11 pm. I then relax till midnight or 1 am, watching tv shows, reading a book, or watching youtube. How do I ensure at least some productivity in the time I sit at my desk and work? Simple. I set alarms on my phone and laptop. For every 45 minutes I work, I relax for 15 minutes. In these 15 minutes, I take bathroom breaks, go to the kitchen to fill my glass up with water, chat with my dad or mom, check my phone, browse social media, watch one youtube video, make some tea (Especially during the afternoons) or get a snack from the kitchen. My phone alarm rings to tell me when my 15 minutes are up and my laptop alarm rings 2 minutes later, to remind me in case I'm not back at my desk. This also ensures that I try and spend 15 minutes away from the screen, doing something else, that gives my eyes some rest. Sure this is hard too, especially since you have to be accountable. But that's the fun in it too. Since productivity can mean lots of things. Since I'm a freelancer, I have flexible timings. I can work as little or as much as I want on a daily basis, as long as I submit my work on time. It's about deliverables. So I devise other "Productive" things to do. Like practice my language skills for a few hours a day, write a personal blog, brush up on my other technical skills, anything that can yield some productive output(someday, if not immediately). That way I'm not bored out of my mind, stuck with work the whole day. Hope this helps!
Following on from what @TJ said about the work environment, I would suggest you try to change chairs for the time when you are working. Most of us have a nice, comfortable chair in front of our computer at home that we can sit in for many hours at a time, and that's fine if we are self disciplined or just intend to surf the net for leisure, but if we are minded to procrastinate and waste time it can help to swap your chair for something less comfortable so you don't get into that lounging zone. If you have any wooden or metal chairs at home, use them while you are working. I doubt you will want to sit reading Wikipedia or watching You Tube for hours if you can't get comfortable.
I see. I am perhaps a veteran on fighting against procrastination and have made some great results. But still have this problem sometimes. About the intervals, It doesn't work on me. I either have to ban something or use it excessively. I've banned many things, Like most social media and news websites. And don't use some of them at all or at least not daily. It is great that you let your eyes rest. Don't you have to report how many hours you work everyday? You just have to finish the projects and no matter 1 hour or 12 hour? I mean, I report what i did and how many hours it took, every night. I am kinda tend to live like a minimalist person. So I already have nothing on my desk, Except mouse, keyboard and speakers. I even don't allow my phone to be beside me.
Fortunately I think I like my job. This 10 days was a pain because I had to learn and watch that courses which was boring. But maybe when I get into real work that changes. Today and yesterday was great. It was the first time I did some real work on a real website of our clients. In fact, I exhausted myself a bit too much. Like 4-5 hours of works without rest. So, Perhaps that procrastination thing gets better, at least to an acceptable level I hope. No matter what, My employee always say you're very fast and such things. He also increased my wage by 25 per cent last night. My salary isn't much. But great for me as I am a beginner.
I took my first monthly wage today. It was more than what I thought. My employee had increased my wage again and that made me more happy. I just have a problem. I have a big family and they're in need of money these days. I will help them as much as I can, But I want to save a certain amount of my wage each month. If they learn about my wage number, I will probably have zero chance to save money. So I won't let them to know how I get paid. So, What are some tips to successfully save some money and don't give them up to my family members?
