struggling with working at home...HAVE to finish a piece of work today, any top tips for focussing?

[hattyyellow]

Apart from not sitting staring at mumsnet?!

I think the problem is the specific piece of work I'm doing - I'm not normally so bad at concentrating..

Any tips for effective home working, when no one can see you browsing the web, making endless cups of tea etc?

When I am exam marking in the summer, I set myself small goals and rewards - when I've marked for an hour/five scripts or whatever, I can make a cup of tea/MN for ten mins/wander around vacantly. Much easier to think I have five scripts to mark than 225! Then you just have to be rigorous about meeting the smaller goals but they are much more achievable!

thanks slayerette - have managed half an hour uninterrupted..but the lure of mumsnet was too strong!

following your suggestion by trying to break bid down into smaller elements to complete - still like pulling teeth

I am a writer and when I am stuck on a chapter I bounce on my rebounder for five minutes or do a little ironing, just to get out of a rut.

I will be doing a LOT of ironing and rebounding because I'm thinking about my next book. Yikes!

Breaking it up into small chunks works well for me too.

What's a rebounder Eliza? Sounds intriguing! See I'm still here but at least I am getting little bits done (probably as deadline of tomorrow morning ticks closer and closer)..

Just get off HY!!!
I agree with small goals.
(Rebounding is tramplolining)

I know how you feel - I just take breaks every so often - or work to a specific point and then leave for a bit...I find that my judgement goes mad if I do too much at a stretch. Also my eyes (am an illustrator) ...I always wish I had someone to tell me I'm doing ok as I am a very harsh critic of anything I do. A deadline always works for me in the end though ! Good luck

getting there slowly but painfully...it's just such a dull piece of work..

I sometimes set the buzzer on the cooker for 30, 40 or 50 minutes (depending on how pressed I am/how bad my concentration is). I work for that time then go and make a cup of tea/put some washing on/take some washing out. I migh mn for my break - but it's dangerous! if you do mn set the buzer for 10 or 15 mins. I think the problem is that you just don;t realise how much time you're wasting. if you use a buzzer to regulate your time (both on and off) it's a real help

if you can't be bothered with the cooker you can download something from here - I also use this, but I like having to get up from the computer to turn the buzzer off, iyswim

I disconnect the wireless facility from my laptop when I need some encouragement to focus. Then I get no distractions from email etc

nearly finished- hurrahhhhh!

will now delay the final bits by looking at the timers on the website - thank you all!

have drunk my own body weight in distracting cups of tea today.

Another thing I like doing is just checking the biscuit tin to make sure that, you know, the little biscuits are OK and we haven't got mice or anything.

Then I have another rebound (like bouncing on a mini trampoline) to undo the effects of the biscuits.

I go out for a walk and when my thoughts start to free up a bit, dictate stuff into my phone/recorder thing and then type it up when I get back. This is where a dog comes in handy, unless you write very erotic fiction, as is quite socially acceptable to walk along talking to one's dog.