Home Office Procrastination: 3 Reasons Why and 3 Tips to Overcome It

I recently heard Rory Vaden, author of  New York Times bestseller Take the Stairs, say the average employee wastes 2.09 hours/day. At $19.13/hr  that is $10,000+ lost per year. As your own employee, how much time and money do you loose every day? Week? Year? That is money out of your pocket.

Scroll down to see the full flow chart. What are your procrastination techniques?

Rory states there are 3 kinds of procrastination:

Procrastination – Consciously delaying what you know you should be doing. This is the favorite of perfectionists.

“Creative Avoidance” – Unconsciously filling the day with menial work. You reorganize your desk or your paperclip box.  Busy busywork, creating the Illusion of productivity, but nothing that meets your larger goals or grows your business gets done. My Waterloo is being busy busy with email.

“Priority Dilution” – (Un)Consciously delaying by allowing your attention to shift to less important tasks/interruptions. Working on a logo design when you need to send out invoices.  Or if you work from a home office there is: The ringing home phone, a load of laundry, the sink full of dishes, the errand that can’t wait – all draw you away from your real focus – growing your business.

3 Tips to Overcome Procrastination

Set priorities for the day. List what you want to do and get the 3 most important done (or make significant progress on) by the end of your workday.

Turn off or block Facebook and email alerts and check them only at specified times of the day. [link to manage emails blog]

When you are working in your home office, you are working – the location does not mean you are home, with all the responsibilities and distractions that implies. Close the door and put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign –  and mean it.

Learn more in the chapter on managing the distractions and loneliness of working in the home office in The Smarter Home Office: 8 Simple Steps to Increase Your Income, Inspiration and Comfort.

Does this ring true for you? How do you procrastinate?

Flow chart by Jean-Louis Zimmerman