How getting sidetracked can actually help you move forward

It happens to me often enough - getting sidetracked - and I'm sure it happens to you too. You're busy with work on the computer (you work from home like Tony and I do) and you decide to perhaps quickly check your emails. Nothing there that you need to deal with urgently related to your business, but there's an email from your friend that looks interesting. Ah! Breaktime, and sidetrack time! You know you should be getting on with your work, but what's a minute or two - a break will do you good, revitalize you, and give you more energy to tackle your work with renewed energy and more enthusiasm (you think to yourself, trying to make excuses for yourself because what you really know, deep down, is that your break is probably going to be a bit longer than just a minute or two).

Being sidetracked for more than just a minute or two is not the end of the world either - it can actually help you with your work at home business. The words in your friend's email inspires you to click the link in it, or inspires you to "quickly" look up something on Google.

You find what you like, but on the Google results page, there's other links and descriptions related to the topic that sound interesting too - so you check those out too - then, on more than just one of these 5 or 6 sites you check out, you find more links of interest, and off you go - to check out those sites too!

You find a site or two that sparks your imagination, and this sends you off searching for something else completely different! Or you like a site so much you tell a friend about it, by sending them an email - they reply right away, saying "Thanks, cool, and have you seen this site?" It could never end!

But you know your work is calling, and you stop "being sidetracked" - eventually - and, it wasn't all bad - your "time away from work" was useful - perhaps you needed a break that was that long, perhaps you found out something interesting that can be of use to a friend or relative, perhaps you discovered a method to speed up your work or make it easier to do, perhaps you were inspired to put in more effort regards something in your life, perhaps you got ideas for another work from home plan that you or your family could benefit from.

So, next time you get sidetracked, don't panic, don't feel bad, just be sure to take notes, and use your sidetracking time as best you can!

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2010

I just said to Tony I wish I could just sleep for 5 days

Freelance work can be tough at times, and especially when one's freelance business is still less than 3 years old. When one doesn't work, one doesn't earn. We don't yet charge enough for what we do. We've recently put our prices up, but it's still not enough to afford a holiday once in a while - not even a holiday right at home. We're still growing. But, oh, to just do nothing and sleep sleep sleep as much as we like. I think that five days of doing absolutely nothing and sleeping as much as we like would feel like a 3 week vacation to us.

But we cannot afford to just stop work and do nothing for a few days. And if there is no work for a while, we spend the time marketing or blogging to give ourselves or our sites more exposure to get the next bit of work. Or we apply for jobs on oDesk.

Ok, we have breaks, and since Tony and I are pretty inseperable, we take breaks together:

Taking the boys to school is a break. 44 minutes there and back just for the driving, so with a brief stop at the shops for some essentials, it's about an hour and fifteen minutes break from work.

Fetching the boys from school? Perhaps another hour and fifteen minutes.

We sometimes (perhaps 3 or 4 times a month) pop in at Hemingways to lose some money, have a drink or two, and relax. So, what's that? Perhaps 9 hours a month break?

We don't watch tv - no time for that, and none in our bedroom or office anyway. Ok, so we do Stumble a bit, visit YouTube or FaceBook, but it's not for long.

We will also get out a dvd from time to time - perhaps sometimes we overdo it a bit, like 5 in ten days, but then we might go a month or so before watching another one. Our office is tiny, but there's just enough space behind our two chairs at the two computers (next to each other of course) to take a step or two backwards and plop into two lazyboys there, and watch a dvd on the computer. So, that's ten hours of dvd and perhaps 2 hours of YouTube a month = 12 hours a month. How much time each month do you spend watching tv - or playing computer games?

We will also take time out from work to take the boys to movies during the school holidays - you could say we go to the movies with the boys maybe 9 times a year. If the boys have something on at school, or to do with sport, we take time out to support them.

We also take them to karate two evenings a week, and wait there until it's over, walking our jack russell Gilly about 1 and a half kilometres on the fields - or using the time to pop in at the shops.

Then there's school projects and orals that the boys need guidance with, or learning for exams and we spend time asking them questions.

Oh, and then, of course, making meals, eating, showering, sleeping.

It's all a break from work.

And sleeping. That's a break too.

Sounds like a bit fat moan, doesn't it? Well, I guess it is, when one is feeling so tired, and, often, generally always feeling tired. Being alert, awake, fresh and active takes a lot of energy and I guess our batteries are not being recharged enough.

When associates or friends say "have a good weekend!" we know they mean well, but to tell the truth, a lot of our work gets done on the weekends - when the boys have less homework, when there's no sport or school trips, and when we know we don't have to get up at 5.40 am, so we can sleep a tad later in the mornings (if we're not too far behind with our work). But catching up on sleep one or two nights a week, isn't doing the trick. Our batteries need more recharging than that - and we can't just sleep and sleep, or else work (or marketing it) gets behind!

Well, now that my moan is pretty much over, do I feel better? I guess, somewhat, but, gee, I'm still so tired, and so is Tony. Sometimes we can't remember when we last felt really refreshed. Or when we do remember, we remember that it barely lasted.

With life what it is today, we know there are many people who feel the same as we do, each and every day.

Yes, we're a bit jealous of the people who can take time off work for a few days or weeks (and mostly still get paid while they're not working), but do you know what? - we are going to put up with how tired we feel, we're going to continue being available for the boys, we're going to continue working for ourselves, we're going to continue growing our business, building our portfolio and reputation, and, we're going to make it! Our determination is what keeps us awake.

And one day, whenever that may be, we're going to do nothing for ten days, not five, and sleep all we like, and at the end of that break we'll say: "Well, all that hard work was worth it!"

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2010