My family is what might be described as “high energy.” There is always someone buzzing around the house with things to do and something to say to or ask you about. It’s what might be described by an 80-year-old woman as “a hoot.” 😂 It’s also pretty distracting which can make getting work done challenging. Which is problematic because the whole reason I can go visit family for a week at a time is because I work remotely while traveling.
This past trip to visit my parents in St. Augustine, Florida was one of the smoother ones work-wise. I met deadlines for three different projects with work I was proud of and did not feel overwhelmed or like I was completely ignoring family. My success was due in part to my parents’ new house which has a back porch that is quieter than the rest of the house and conducive to working and in part, because I’ve learned a few things over the years about getting work done at my parent’s house and other distracting environments.
Here are a few simple strategies that help me get what I need to get done while at my parents’ house that I think will also work for other distracting remote-work environments:
Headphones. Focusing 101: block out those distractions. I use cheap iPhone headphones and even the free American Airlines ones because I tend to lose headphones and the volume goes plenty high to block out noise. Those fancy noise-cancelling ones seem to be a hit with other people.
Plan to do Less. When you know you will be working in a distracting environment, say no to a few more things than you normally and plan to do less each day than you usually would. This ensures you have time for the inevitable unexpected work issues and environmental distractions. When traveling, it also gives you the flexibility to say yes to fun opportunities that come up, like lunch at a spot with limited hours, without putting you behind on work.
You simply cannot get as much done in distracting environments as a full-day in front of a desk. Trying to squeeze the same amount of work in creates stressful days, late nights, and sucks the enjoyment out of your fun-time because you are distracted by worries about getting work done.
This Productivity Planner. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this simple Productivity Planner for a variety of reasons. One is that it helps me to focus on getting the most important tasks done first. The reality is, in a distracting environment, you don’t always get everything done but the planner helps ensure that you get the important things done.
It also helps prevent me from falling back into over-scheduling habits because I’ll visually see that the number of tasks I want to take on exceeds the number of lines for the day.
Communicate & Plan Fun. If your distractions, like mine with family, involve people, communicate with them. Tell them what days you are busy and will not be around and what days you can do things. They’ll interrupt you less on your work days and might even do things to make your life easier. My dad cooks for me and it helps balance out some of the time lost due to distractions. #spoiled Knowing when you have free time helps everyone with plan their time as well.
Schedule a Longer Trip. Longer trips mean less guilt about those days and times that you must do work and overall, more time for fun. If I were to re-do my solo Asia travel from last year, this is one of the few things I would change. I would have doubled the time I spent in most cities to not feel as rushed when doing work and when exploring because I knew I had pending work.
Go Somewhere Else. Get out of the distracting environment. Simple but often overlooked. Not all cities have a plethora of remote-worker-friendly coffee shops and co-working spaces but everywhere has a library. And libraries are still great places to get some work done.
