Bloggers have one major enemy. It is called distraction. We experience it everywhere we are, whether we blog in an office, at home or on the road. Sometimes this enemy is responsible for a whole afternoon of lost time that will never come back and it is enough to put us so off track we wish we never switched on the damn computer at all.

However bad the gloom at the time there are some sure fire weapons we can use against distraction.

Switch off that annoying email notification

Seriously, how many of you still work with the email inbox open in fear of missing out on the few meaningful emails you get daily besides a bucket load of spam?

Is that an RSS reader I can see sticking out of your browser tabs?

I reckon RSS can be the biggest time waster of all. The worst thing is that many bloggers use RSS to give them some sort of inspiration for their own blog posts. This in itself isn’t a bad idea at times. Trouble starts though when you are still reading your feeds two hours down the track.

Hit the off switch on your TV

TV is great entertainment, I admit it. I often sit here at night, writing away going about my business with the back=ground noise of the TV blaring away. While it helps me to feel connected in some ways it can also become very annoying and take away my concentration.

When I’m in the flow, this isn’t a problem at all. But sometimes there simply isn’t a drop of inspiration coming forth from my brain, so the TV has to go.

Close the door

If you are working from home amongst family at night time it can become really challenging to stay focused. If you are fortunate enough to be able to work in a closed room, do so. It will save you a lot of time. Time which can be spent with your loved ones after you are finished.

Let the answer phone pick up

I have started to let all phone calls go to the answer phone a while ago. The most annoying distractions while working are those call centres. This eliminates all fluff calls. Those who call for a reason will leave a message.

Deal with unexpected visitors

While getting unexpected visitors can be great, they can also add to the distraction. In this case you will have to do a judgment call as per se. If your visitor is a long lost friend who happens to travel in your neck of the woods there is no question to take the time and re-schedule your posting.

If however you are consistently being disturbed by unresponsive relatives or friends it is time to set some boundaries.

Beat those hunger pangs

Hunger can be a huge distraction. The same applies for thirst. Keep yourself fed and watered while you work. Your brain will thank you for it.

Have you got your own recipe to beat blogging distraction. If so, please feel free to share them with us.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.