I was going to create a category called ‘Procrastination’, but decided that was just too negative, so went for ‘Staying focused’ instead. I’ve noticed that if I don’t have a looming deadline, it’s remarkably easy for the day to simply disappear without me achieving anything in particular.
Sometimes it’s because a supposedly small task turns out not to be small after all – that was the case with my business cards, where my search for a printer took a while because I wanted one that was environmentally friendly (I eventually settled on BlackRainbow – a solar-powered business in Victoria). At other times it’s because I get distracted by things like surfing the net, doing the washing, cooking the dinner, feeding the chooks, going to the gym, or cycling to the library or the shops. I think the latter activities are part of my need to get out of the house and interact with real people – the isolation of working from home is quite difficult for someone as sociable as me.
Any tips from other freelancers about how they manage to stay focused would be most welcome.