How to Deal with Interruptions while Working at Home

Filed in archive management on August 31, 2007

If you are working on a home business, you will encounter a thousand and one interruptions that will be out of your control: the phone might ring, you might need to run last minute home-related errands, and your children might break something or meet an accident. Because such interruptions are out of control, you will have to try to avoid them, but you can only do so much to keep anything from interfering with your work.

To prevent interruptions, have a set schedule that you will designate as work time, and lock yourself in your home office or work room during this time. If you have children, you might need to hire a babysitter to watch them while you are finishing work time. Along this line, have a set schedule for your break: if you work with a schedule, you can better manage your time to anticipate interruptions. You can check out other similar tips about getting rid of work-at-home distractions.

According to recent studies in psychiatry, multitasking does not decrease your workload. It only makes you more tired, and you will have a more difficult time finishing your tasks. Finish your tasks one by one: by subjecting yourself to less stress, you will not be too rattled if an interruption should arise.

Hire an assistant, and work out task distribution beforehand. You can hire an assistant to work with non-work-related interruptions, so that you have more time to focus your attention on your work. On the other hand, you can hire an assistant to work on tasks should you need to attend to the interruption. The key is to anticipate interruptions before they come, so that you can deal with them better.

Last, don't stress yourself too much. Small interruptions can be a welcome break from work, and they might be signs that you should go out and smell the flowers, so that you can feel refreshed.