...to wonder how people work from home.

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So it's half term and as a teacher I'm off work, as is DH. We have no DC. I have been planning on getting some school work done, but so far I have done nothing because I've been titting around on MN and wandering off into town to drink coffee.
Honestly, how do people do it?

I'm with you there I have absolutely no will power or motivation to do what I needed to get done and get distracted far too easily by fb, mn - even the bloody dishwasher is more appealing than the work I need to do.

Any advice from those of you who do it successfully??

Get dressed, leave iPad, phone, everything on a whole different floor and shut eyes through mess in bedroom/kids' rooms/hallway/kitchen. Pretend that the office cleaners haven't been but it is nothing to do with you.

I do it because I'm paid to...would rather be doing something nice with my dc though!

It's amazing how motivating an impending mortgage payment can be when the only way to pay it is to buckle down at home. :)

I used to work from home a lot, but I'd have calls coming through and emails to answer, so I had to be online, available to answer the phone etc, guess its harder if you're just doing it yourself, bit like how kids must feel doing homework!

But I need to work on the computer! And the thing is that none of it has a deadline and no one other than me will know if it hasn't been done.
Also, I have a cleaner so I don't even have cleaning stuff to distract me. That said I did clean the outside of the house on Tuesday, as well as dig over the garden.

You have to get dressed, have an early coffee and sit down at 9am or before and crack on. I've worked from home on and off for nearly 12 years. Sometimes the best work can get done and dusted by 11am.

yanbu

I have deadlines I have to meet, if I don't meet them, then I can lose the ability to work from home. Working in your pajamas is a big motivator. ;)

I have two computers. My personal one and my work one. I don't allow myself to have MN on my work one so that I do actually get on with work!

I do find it quite easy though. Once I've dropped the DSs at school I get home, and if I haven't put the work machine on before we go out, I do it as soon as I get in and just get my head down and start.

I think it's all to do with discipline and knowing that I've got to get on with it and make the most of the time I have available.

I need to give myself set hours, and move to a room with no TV, I get really lazy if I don't and put it off until the very last minute.

I usually see what my dc have planned, see what appointments I have see what time Millionare Matchmaker is on and plan my work schedule a week in advance. It doesn't always work, but I have got better recently.

My DH works from home fairly regularly, he shuts himself in the spare room if he really needs to get something done, or else hangs out in the kitchen.

If the DD's are being particularly loud or disruptive I take them out for a few hours...

The deadlines loom if you don't actually work. You can still drink coffee, watch the olympics, have a break on mumsnet, put the washing on and get some work done.

When I worked in an office I'd spend half of it at meetings that had nothing to do with me, courses on fire safety and things or chatting to people by the coffee machine. The actual time spent working was less I think.

The novelty wears off. I used towfh and did mn in work hours, but when needed I also used to work late into the night. Pressure and deadlines focus the mind :)

YANBU. I wfm and find it really hard. I'm a morning person but can't work until after the kids have gone to bed, by which point I'm knackered and can hardly think.

It's OK once you get past the initial wanking phase.

Get up early and get started. After half an hour or so you get in to it. I tell myself that I need to finish a certain bit by a certain time, then I can have a coffee and fag break. And then set myself another limit, and so on. If I haven't finished by the time limit I've set, then no coffee until I do. That spurs me on. I do have overall deadlines to meet too though, so a little fear and panic helps greatly.

And I used to give myself my 'commute' time in the morning to clean kitchen, load of washing on etc. but it's often the other way round for me, work plays on my mind when I'm doing housework

I work from home. If I don't do the work, no one else does and I will get in the shit.

I also like doing a good job.

I work from home, and I don't do a very good job of it. It requires the kind of self-discipline that I seem to be lacking.

Be boundaried,get up set time.no tv no distractions
Kids are in school/nursery when I work at home
I set time frame eg work 3hours,20 min break.im quite regimented

If you have a deadline to meet it's no different from working in an office - you still have to get the work done. You can make the decision to fanny around all day if you want, but only if you're prepared to expand your work into your evening/weekends. And that quickly becomes something you decide not to do!

I schedule everything - including lunch!
I am tasks/results orientated rather than time bound. I get my tasks done, my work for the day is finished.
And yes, having an income is a real motivator!

Yes me too.i schedule and stick to timetable I'm v regimented