
Ask HN: How to increase self-discipline as a self-employed person? - desushil
TL;DR: Any tips on staying disciplined while being self-employed?<p>I recently got an offer to work remotely for a friend on couple of his projects that is interesting, pays better and is at least going to keep me busy for another six months. And there is a also good possibility that as I finish these, I will be getting more work and I am likely to build a small business of my own here through this. So last week I quit my job and started working on this full-time. So far, my friend is happy and so am I.<p>But there is something odd going on here. Unlike my previous job where I had to work 9-6, 5 days a week, I don&#x27;t really have a pretty good schedule here for myself. Now while working from home, sometime I work for a continuous 16 hours and then sometime I find myself I haven&#x27;t looked at that project in the last two days as I spent it by browsing random projects on the internet, working on other things, watching multiple seasons of sitcoms or just brainstorming about product ideas that I can build in future!<p>I know that to make it as a self-employed person, one needs to have a good self-control. But, do any of you guys have been through this? How have you managed yourself? Does this gets better after a while? What should I do to make this better and be efficient?
======
EvanMiller
I have to challenge the premise that most of the responders have taken, which
is that working on a daily schedule is "better".

On the contrary, I find that my work habits are a lot like yours -- and I
think that's a good thing! Sometimes I will be possessed by a coding demon and
crank out work for days (weeks?) on end. Other times I will putter around
watching TV or brainstorming ideas.

For me the whole point of being self-employed was to NOT have to show up to an
office (or home office) and work 9-5 every single day. A creative human brain
is a rare and marvelous creature, and we understand very little about how it
works. I think the best thing to do is to let it run around and work when it
feels like working, or read a book when it feels like reading a book. I
personally find my creativity withers away under a strict work regimen.

If your work is not creative and you're just grinding it out for money every
day, then by all means, follow the advice in the other posts. But if your work
requires imagination and making unexpected mental connections, then don't
worry too much about "efficiency". As long as you're thinking about something
related to work most of the time, over the long run your real productivity
will exceed that of all those poor saps who measure output as a function of
mindless hours in front of a computer.

Embracing your "lazy" side requires a certain amount of courage, but if you
can make ends meet while doing it, you'll be happier and end up doing better
creative work. In any event, don't worry too much about how most people say
they do things. Do what feels right to you. Good luck!

~~~
ISeemToBeAVerb
Obviously, every person is different and I applaud the fact that you've found
a method that works for you, but I vehemently disagree that routine is the
enemy of imagination and insight.

I worked in the ad game a long time and I never once knew a designer or
illustrator that relied on inspiration to get the job done. It's all process.

Our society seems to romanticize the lives of artists and treat them as
somehow "blessed". However, I think science is coming more and more to show
that creativity is far from an inspired activity. It's mostly the result of a
lot of hard work and problem solving. Both of which require a person to show
up and work.

Reading a book like Mason Currey's "Daily Rituals: How Artists Work" is very
enlightening because it illustrates just how shockingly routine and boring the
lives of many famous artists really are/were.

~~~
jnhuynh
I agree with you and I want to add your point with a video I found on HN (I
guess it crops up at random times).
[http://vimeo.com/58918963](http://vimeo.com/58918963)

John Cleese talks about creativity and how you need to create a space and time
for it.

------
edw519
This is what has worked for me for 28 years:

1\. Establish a standard daily routine. Follow it every day, Monday thru
Friday, _without exception_. This is the key. This is what you must do every
day, whether you feel like it or not. Weekends can be different.

Mine (yours should be whatever works best for you):

    
    
      06:00 - work out
      07:00 - breakfast at desk, email, internet
      07:30 - start work, short break every hour
      12:00 - lunch (at desk or go out)
      13:00 - continue work, short break every hour
      17:00 - start nightly crons, LOGOFF!
      17:00 to 20:00 - dinner, family
      20:00 to 22:00 - my time, including logging back in
    

2\. Have a dedicated work space. The desk & computer should be used ONLY FOR
WORK. If you can, have a second computer for personal. Your work computer
should be in a separate room with a door that closes.

3\. DO NOT surf the internet, text, chat, or use the cell phone (except for
work)! This is absolutely critical. If you break this rule, you will never
have a boundary between work and !work.

4\. Before you go to sleep write down exactly what the first thing you're
going to work on the next day. The rest will follow.

(EDIT: Check out all of the responses in this thread. Most of them are
excellent. Especially note all of the things that are repeated.)

------
thelogos
Many people have already recommended exercise, but I would advise you not to
jog or lift high rep.

Why? It's repetitive and time consuming. It also doesn't do anything for your
testosterone level.

If you're a guy, you have to keep your testosterone high and that means short
burst of high intensity exercise.

That's the #1 priority. It will increase your willpower and ability to cope
with stress. It'll also lessen the pain of social isolation.

You're going to be socially isolated no matter what. Working at a coffee shop
doesn't matter because you'll most likely won't spend your time talking to
people.

Testosterone will also keep you from packing on the fat, which is really easy
to do when you work at home.

My solution to this is eating healthy and stimulants.

Caffeine and nicotine patch will reduce your appetite significantly. I feel no
desire to snack between meals.

It will also keep you focus and motivated. They're much more sustainable in
the long run than prescription stimulants.

Lastly, take fish oil and vitamin d3. This is not optional. Most people's diet
don't contain enough fish oil, the inflammation will bring on depression and
sap your mental strength. Same for vitamin d3, most of us aren't exactly
outdoor creature.

~~~
yawz
Agreed with testosterone... however:

Snacking is not a "bad habit". It is a healthy eating mode, especially if you
incorporate exercise in your routine. Caffeine, OTOH, is bad for you in our
generic context.

HIIT is a good way of doing cardio work (because it results in a greater
turnover rate of free testosterone) but weight-lifting is best. Target bigger
muscles, core exercises. Do super-sets if you don't want to stay too long at
the gym.

My two cents.

~~~
HNJohnC
In my informed opinion snacking is indeed a very bad habit and it is not in
any way a healthy eating mode.

It's contrary to all of human evolution and there are objective measurements
that show the body needs rest from eating to heal and regenerate critical
systems.

That's why intermittent fasting is such a proven benefit to health in people
who have enough to eat.

Source: [http://www.marksdailyapple.com/meal-
timing/](http://www.marksdailyapple.com/meal-timing/)

~~~
yawz
You cannot eat and absorb all necessary nutrients in 2 or 3 meals. It is much
better to divide them in 4-5 meals where your body can digest and use the
various nutrients.

Without even talking about vitamins, fiber or healthy fats, let's take protein
as an example as testosterone was the topic: Your body's protein absorption
has a limit (it isn't not very straightforward and linear, and depends on the
type of protein). How much protein can you gulp in 2 or 3 sitting to make a
healthy man "keep his muscle mass" and how much of it will be absorbed vs.
stored or excreted? What if you're building muscle? What if you're regularly
training?

What part of our evolution favors fasting? Snacking doesn't mean you eat every
30 mins. If you're awake 16-17 hours a day, you can easily divide your 4-5
meals with 3-4 hours apart. This keeps your metabolism going. Especially if
you're exercising.

------
mikemaney
I've worked from home for the past 6+ years. I started with several of the
routine recommendations below (all good). What I've found over time, however,
is that the routine route is -- in most cases -- simply a transfer of
traditional office culture to a work environment that is anything but.

My recommendation: embrace flexibility.

Man-made time constraints are no longer part of your world (outside of
deadlines). Technology no longer requires that you are chained to a desk.
Shake things up to stay fresh. Don't let yourself think 9-5, 5 days. Your life
is now 24x7, 365 and you are in control of how you use those hours.

That said, there are some spot-on recommendations here by others based on my
experience:

* Exercise. I've taken calls on 50mi bike rides and from roadside taverns. Helps to have a buddy you can draft off during the calls.

* Nutrition. Laptop on counter. Work. Cook.

* Standing desk. You'll find yourself moving around a lot more rather than slouching in a chair and never leaving your monitor. On that, if you have the means, spread devices around your house. Mix up your screen time.

* Get up early. This one took some time, but is perhaps the biggest thing you can do. It jumpstarts everything.

* Sunday night scheduling. I believe it was Tim Ferris' 4-hour workweek that started this. Sunday night, write down what you want/must accomplish over the next week. When it's done, it's done. Doesn't matter whether it's Tuesday or Sunday.

* IM. IM. IM. Some see random IM conversations as interruptions to be avoided. They aren't. They are your watercooler, your vent, your muse. Embrace them.

Good luck! It's a great adventure.

------
awjr
Been working from home from the end of 1999 on and off up until the middle of
2012.

1) This
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGg1567fzTY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGg1567fzTY)
(almost posted anonymously). Deal with it :)

2) If you have a family or a partner. Just because you are at home does not
mean "can you just put on a wash". Build rules into engaging with the family.
You are working. You are not to be disturbed. If you choose to 'come out' of
your office and engage with the family then that is your choice. Emergencies
are acceptable interruptions ;)

3) Make an office. The kitchen table is not a great space. A spare room, an
office in the garden. Some place where you can just be professional. Avoid
having the office in your bedroom. You need a room you can lock.

4) Exercise. Seriously this is huge. Too easy to slob out. If you get up and
work at 6am, then go to the gym at 9. Do something. Make sure people you work
with KNOW this is your routine. Make it a routine. Get out of the house and do
something. Do not buy an exercise machine and stay locked in the house. Clear
your mind, stay fit, and go out and see the world around you. Don't like Gyms?
Go running, swimming or, my favourite, cycling (it clears the mind and you can
easily cover 10 miles while solving a difficult problem).

5) Get a dog :) Best decision I ever made. Get's you out and walking. You meet
other people and mine keeps my feet warm. Oh and she's very good at solving
technical issues. Sounds mad, but sometimes just talking about a problem to
her makes it work for me (and makes me look less stupid when I have to discuss
the problem with work colleagues).

6) Eat well. You have the time to make great food. Use it. Learn to cook great
food.

7) Pomodoro method. Some like it some don't. (I'm not a fan.) I prefer things
like coffitivity. If things start going south, try it. It's a decent rule
system.

8) Skype. If there is a group of you working together, just skype each other
and carry on working.

9) Socialise. Suddenly this is huge. Find local interest groups. Go to
meetups. Get involved. You won't realise it, but you can get your head down
and 3 months later you haven't seen anyone recently, cos y'know, work. Join
clubs. Do stuff. Give yourself a reason to not be working in the evenings.

10) Monthly team days. Once a month get together and have a hackathon. Go get
drunk. Be a team.

11) Use trello. I mean REALLY use it. A complicated example here
[http://community.uservoice.com/blog/trello-google-docs-
produ...](http://community.uservoice.com/blog/trello-google-docs-product-
management/) but build your own work flows that work with your team. Don't be
afraid to tear down your process and start again AND most importantly,
EVERYBODY buys in. Don't be the only person using a project tool. You will
fail.

12) If you end up doing a 16 hour day, recognise you've done two days work.
Have a reward. Go see a museum. Have a long lie in. Finish early and go for a
ride. See (1) ;).

13) Have fun. Be comfortable in working on your own. Give it 6 months. See how
it feels. Don't like it, then move on.

14) I may have mentioned this...exercise. Get out and do some every day. No
excuse.

15) Requirements management. It's a pain to do, but clients try and be sneaky.
Avoid fixed price unless you KNOW exactly what it is they want. Most don't and
even those that do, change their minds. Your fixed price contract MUST include
a change in requirements clause and what happens when they do. You will invoke
it.

16) If your client is haggling over local sales tax....walk away. Imagine the
pain you will go through haggling over signing each feature off.

17) Have payment milestones.

Right must go walk the dog :)

~~~
niyazpk
"This video is not available."

:(

~~~
teddyh
To awjr: Your comment is dead, probably beacuse it uses an auto-banned word.

~~~
awjr
I'll watch out for that. Then again it's not a word I expect to use on here
ever again.

~~~
teddyh
It’s hard to watch out for banned words when you don’t know what they are.

------
was_hellbanned
_" Unlike my previous job where I had to work 9-6 ... sometime I work for a
continuous 16 hours and then sometime I find myself I haven't looked at that
project in the last two days ..."_

I think that's actually really natural, and mimics the patters people were in
before industrialization.

Even when I was doing corporate work, that's very much how I ended up actually
getting things done. Sometimes it takes hours and hours to wrap my head around
some API and make the mental connections, at which point I'll just keep coding
until I run out of juice (typically the point when I realize I'm just making
errors, coding in circles, and resorting to random edits). The annoying thing
in the corporate world is that you can't just spend most of the next day in
bed, or on a hike. Instead, I'd work extremely hard one day, then slack off
and browse the Internet the next two days, and maybe fix some trivial bug for
the sake of a logged checkin.

In my current system, I would say my most valuable habits are:

1) Cardio. My goal is to do 15 - 30 minutes of HIIT every morning. In reality,
I end up doing it a few time per week. :-) Honestly, _nothing_ gets me
energized and motivated like doing consistent cardio. Two weeks of 30 minutes
_every day_? No depression, constant motivation, sex drive, etc. Incidentally,
forcing yourself to do this somewhat uncomfortable act regularly is itself a
way to develop discipline.

2) Pomodoros. Once you start forcing yourself to work in focused intervals,
you start to realize that you don't actually _work_ that much every day, which
is rather liberating.

3) Task estimation. I break down tasks by the number of anticipated hours,
then check off every Pomodoro (effectively 1/2 hour) next to the task.
Ineffective estimation has been both massively demotivating and very eye-
opening. My estimation and attention to detail in analysis has improved
significantly from forcing myself to do this. It's also easier to force myself
"into the mood" for coding when I'm actually reasonably sure that I only have
to do 1.5 hours of work, then I can go play.

4) Block all attention drains in my hosts file. HN, Reddit, etc.

------
vmsmith
I started working for myself from home earlier this year. Although it's great
in many ways, there are several challenges.

As you have noted, the lack of an external structure is a big one. Here's what
I do...

First, I map out a long-term timeline, which is generally a season (spring,
summer, autumn, winter). I identify goals, objectives, events, etc., and map
them out in a simple open source PM software package.

Second, each week -- usually late Friday afternoon or Saturday -- I take the
broad project plan stuff and create a more detailed plan for the next week.

Finally, at the end of each day I write a very detailed list of things I am
going to do the next day. This includes work stuff, but also anything else:
chores, exercise, etc.

When I get up in the morning, I look at my list for that day, and tackle it.
Round about 5:00 pm I review the list and make the next day's list, and at
5:30 I treat myself to a Manhattan and some good music. Then it's dinner and
whatever.

I also journal my work-related stuff in iPython notebook, and I keep an
accounting of my hours in an Excel spreadsheet.

All that keeps me focused.

It's also important to provide yourself some relief. When you first start
working like this, you realize how much time is spent at a normal work place
not really working. In a normal work place there are meetings, water cooler
chats, and so on. So it's important not to think that you must be productive
for eight solid hours a day, because in most work environments you aren't. I
plan on some reduced amount of productive time, and factor in what I call
buffer time. After, say, 90 straight minutes of work, I might take a 10 - 15
minute walk around the neighborhood just to clear my mind and get my blood
flowing.

That's what works for me.

TL;DR: Make a detailed daily list of things to do, and do them. Balance the
list, and reward yourself at the end of each successful day.

------
lisper
Maintaining self-discipline while being self-employed is related to but not
quite the same as maintaining self-discipline while working from home. My
advice would be to achieve clarity on which of those two is really the issue,
and if it's the latter, then do one of two things:

1\. Find a co-working space and go there to work.

2\. Failing that, mark the start and end of your work day in some semi-formal
way. When I was managing a team of people working from home I instituted the
following policy, which seemed to work really well: when you decide it's time
to "show up" for work, send an email to the team saying, "I'm in", and a one
or two sentence description of what you're working on that day. When you're
done for the day, send another email saying, "I'm out" and another one or two
sentence description of what you actually managed to get done. Just that
little bit of structure made a huge difference. If you don't have a team, then
collect a group of other self-employed-working-from-home people to be mutually
accountable to. Even just sending such an email to yourself might help. The
act of actually writing things down activates different neural pathways than
just thinking about things and so makes a difference in your mindset.

------
yojo
In my experience the times where I find I've done something that "feels"
productive but isn't (e.g. browsing projects on the internet, working on other
things) are times where I feel stuck on my main task. This could be due to
lack of clarity, or because there is a step that is
boring/uninteresting/tedious.

The best advice I can give is that when you find yourself unwilling to do the
work, break the work down into concrete, bite-sized steps. Then do the first
one, then do the next one, and you'll get it done. If you can't do one of the
steps because you're blocked, figure out the steps to get unblocked, write
those down, and do the first one.

The other thing I've found that helps is to set a clear schedule. The rhythm
of the office helps get things done. I still wake up to an alarm at 8, I have
a coffee at 10 and 2, and lunch is at noon. My wife comes home around 6, and I
try to make sure I'm done at 6:30. I occasionally break all of these rules if
I'm in the zone and really getting a lot done. If that happens, I give myself
more time off later/the next day to ensure I'm always on a sustainable pace.

If you're already stuck in a distraction quagmire, try to recognize it, and
set an alarm for 30 minutes. When the alarm goes off, go back to work. If you
still can't work, go take a walk and try again.

------
ISeemToBeAVerb
I struggled for a long time when I started working from home. I tried all
kinds of things, but what ended up working best for me was treating it like I
would any other job.

I get up and go to work at the same time every day. I take time off for lunch,
and I quit at 6:00 PM every day (assuming I don't have any pressing
deadlines).

That's not to say I don't allow myself any benefits of working from home. I'll
take a long lunch with a friend every now and again, but I try not to let my
routine slide over an extended period of time.

It's also important to set a precedent early on about what disturbances you're
willing to tolerate, if any. I handle distractions the same way I would at an
office. If it's an emergency, I deal with it. If it's not, I politely remind
the offender that I'm in the middle of work and then I get back to it.

As far as temptations go, I think it depends on what your vices are. That
being said, controlling your environment is the easiest way to limit your
temptations.

For me, internet browsing was by far my biggest time-suck so I used an app
called "Self-Control" to block access to sites I waste time on. I don't need
to use it anymore, but it helped a lot in the beginning.

I also used to do crazy stuff like unplug my electronics to keep myself from
watching TV or playing games. Taking the time to plug everything back in was
usually enough to remind me I shouldn't be doing this right now.

Really, It just takes a bit of experimentation to get the ideal routine down.
Took me over a year, but now I'm super productive.

------
ak39
In my experience I've noticed that lack of discipline is related to two things
(both of them subconscious). Lack of discipline strikes me when:

1\. I can easily predict what the end goal of any of my current project is ...
and it is less than what I want for myself. So I procrastinate the inevitable.
As if delaying it will somehow miraculously make it worthwhile after some time
has passed. Waiting for an epiphany to salvage the fait accompli?? I am not
sure. This is all of course subconscious. I don't like where my current
project is leading me to so I watch sitcoms or come to give unsolicited HN
advice. (Not really)

2\. I subconsciously avoid facing my burn-rate. Burn-rate is a function of
time and can be both direct financial (material) as well as opportunity costs.
Facing it is single most terrifying thing for me. My unfounded fear is that it
paralyses me. On the contrary.

The solution to 1 is to write down a single page or picture of where your
current project fits into your bigger goals. If I can see this type of plan
clearly for my current (boring) project and its global context is something I
am easily reminded of regularly, I galvanise into action - no matter how
boring.

Promising a deadline to your client is also a good way to work towards it.
Nothing like a nagging email or phone message asking about your progress to
get your arse into action.

The solution to 2 is to keep sight of your overheads by again writing a single
page of your costs (burn-rate) as a function of time. And there's always a
burn-rate. Planning for 3-6 months in my case seems sufficient. Make a poster
of this and stick it where you can't miss it.

Hope that helps you too.

------
SkyMarshal
_> and then sometime I find myself I haven't looked at that project in the
last two days as I spent it by browsing random projects on the internet,
working on other things, watching multiple seasons of sitcoms or just
brainstorming about product ideas that I can build in future!_

Start by cutting out the truly wasteful things, like watching TV. Throw your
TV in the trash (seriously), or first thing every morning get out of the house
and go work in a library or coffee shop for five hours or so.

The other things you mention are part of the creative process - browsing other
projects on github or wherever for ideas, brainstorming, working on other
projects (eg decluttering your todo list).

If you break your main project down into component parts and estimate it, that
will give you some baseline/benchmark as to the rate of progress you should be
making on it. Assume a 9-5 workday and no more than 5hrs of actual work on the
project per day. If you're roughly keeping up with that by working odd
irregular hours (16hr sprints, 2 days off, etc), then you're in good shape.
Otherwise it will give you an idea of how much more you need to reallocate to
your main project.

------
auctiontheory
Suggestions from my own experience:

1) Set _written_ goals: quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily. I have a pre-
printed "form" that I populate with my goals. Then I check them off at the end
of a period (day, week, etc.), grade myself, and make notes about what worked,
what didn't and what I learned. Save these in a binder so you can see your
progress, or lack thereof.

2) Use Pomodoro or HoursTracker or some other app that works for you.
Observing how many (few) hours I was productively working was eye-opening.

3) Reward yourself. The idea is, work shouldn't stretch on "indefinitely" \-
then you have little psychological incentive to complete.

4) Separate your workspace from your living space, even if it is only a desk
that you use solely for work.

5) Use StickK or some other form of commitment contract.

6) Use SelfControl or other internet-limiting app. Watch out for blocking
Google URLs though - block youtube, and you can end up blocking Google Drive.

7) In the beginning, overinvest in setting up systems and tracking to discover
what really works for you. Getting a good system going will easily pay for
itself in efficiency gains.

------
robbiea
I've been through the same exact situation and was able to get out of it.
There are a lot of great tips here that detail how to organize your schedule
tactically, but I'll give you a little different insight on how to convince
yourself to adjust and work a schedule that is better for you.

#1) Recognize that the reason you are looking at other projects is because you
feel free or unleashed from your full-time job and now all of the creative
restrictions that you had are now gone. So, this is you acting up because NOW
you have the chance to do something that you want to do, even though you still
are busy with this new remote gig. You are dreaming, which is great. This is
normal, and from my experience almost never goes away.

#2) Recognize that the work you are getting paid for now is your #1 priority.
Dreams come second. You still have a boss, even if your boss is your friend.
Anything you do outside of this work, your friend could care less. Do not lose
insight of that.

#3) If you do start a new "side" project, make sure you finish it. I ran into
many issues where I would start a new project, get people involved and then
never finish it. It was by far the worst feeling I've ever had in my life.

#4) None of these tactical schedules that people mentioned below will work if
you don't know why you continue to do browse new projects or sit down and
watch multiple seasons of sitcoms. This took me about 8 months to figure out,
so you have some time to go :). What is your longterm goal? To make money
enough money to live comfortable or to become Oprah successful?

#5) Get help right away. By help, I just mean other people that have been
through a similar situation and that you can ask for honest feedback from.
Obviously this HN post is a fantastic start. Find someone you can call up
directly.

If you need more insight (or anyone else on this thread), my contact info is
in my profile.

------
apunic
Your real problem lies somewhere else: You lack motivation because your work
lacks a long-term perspective. Being a freelancer who sells his personal time
is not what you intrinsically aimed for. You need something which is it worth
to stay home alone and this is not being a mercenary selling his time for
money. And the goal can not be just 'to work from home and being free' either,
you goal must be way bigger and 'working from home' is a means to an end.

Once you work on something big structuring the day with all good things like
exercise, good food, socializing comes by itself and you won't need a dog or
any other mumbo-jumbo, though Pomodoro comes sometimes handy just to get
started and getting shit done since some procrastination always happens.

This is my experience from working home for the first years of my company
(which was the most productive time of my life).

------
mailarchis
I struggled through the same thing for couple of months. Few things that
helped me get back on track

1\. Define your working hours and stick to it. Setup alarms and go to work at
same time of the day every day.

2\. Designated working place - If you are working from your home, try to setup
a place in your house that you will use only for work. Don't use it for
anything else. The way it worked for me was when I got to that place, I used
to switch into work time mode and when I got out of it, I will switch back
personal time mode.

3\. Log your hours - Use something like toggl to log your hours for yourself.
Track your working hours and if you are falling on the short end, you will
make up for it by working on weekends. But eventually you will try logging
consistently your work hours.

In the end, its matter of creating a habit.

------
rglover
I've been working from home for the last 2.5 years and the biggest lesson I've
learned is to embrace the ebb and flow. Keep a schedule, of course, but if you
have a day where you can't focus and get things done: don't beat yourself up.
When this happens to me, I try to dedicate my energy to something else like
reading, writing, or setting up a meeting with a friend.

Seriously, it's extremely easy to kill yourself working from home. An office
provides certain boundaries that are not available at home. Defining these
early in your at home career is important if you don't want to bum yourself
out.

------
lbrent
Some things I have not found mentioned yet:

1) Changing places inside the house (or moving out to the garden if the
weather allows it) sometimes really helps me to beat the monotony. I do have a
special workplace reserved though where I spend most of my time.

2) Exercise has already been mentioned. Running works best for me, because it
is done outdoors and therefore kills two birds with one stone (three if you
have a dog).

3) Another thing that has made a big difference for me was starting a regular
meditation practice. I have since noticed that it makes it much easier for me
to control my focus and handle distracting thoughts. And there seems to be at
least some evidence that I am not alone in this:
[http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-
to...](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-
brain/) Intensive Meditation Training Improves Perceptual Discrimination and
Sustained Attention:
[http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/6/829.abstract](http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/6/829.abstract)

4) Include relaxing activities on your daily agenda. Letting go is important
for your wellbeing and therefore your work performance. Make room for it and
allow yourself to enjoy it without feeling bad about it.

------
nnnnnn
I posted this before.. but here are some things I do to stay on task (or at
least try!)

Lifestyle:

* Sleep ... 7.5 to 8 hrs, no more no less

* Wake up at 8/9 to maximize hours of sunlight

* Lift weights 4+ times per week... the four hrs you spend in the gym will be made up for with 10 hrs of productivity throughout the week

* Healthy diet (high protein, low carbs, low sugar, fresh food)

Computer:

* VIM

* Avoid HN

* Start working right when you get up

* Answer emails / do other menial tasks when tired

* Get rid of all notifications: phone silent/vibrate, no Gmail/fb/twitter notifications outside of the platform itself

------
laurenstill
A while back I quit my 9-5 and started working on a number of
consulting/projects on a rotating basis.

One of the things I did in addition to having dedicated work space and clear
boundaries was to assign projects on a per-day basis. Most of my contracts are
longer-term grant projects where I'm committed to 10 hr/week or so.

Monday = local hardware project Tues = DirectTrust Wens = Dignity Health
etc...

I make sure the companies I'm working with understand what their dedicated day
is, and have a clear time line of deliverables. This gives me enough urgency
on a day to day basis to prevent falling into the trap of "taking care of it
later."

I also have a set time for general email first thing in the morning, in
addition to break times where I can cook, clean and work on dinner. I know
some would say that's a horrible break, but I'd rather do it mid day that at
9pm (as I would when I commuted).

The other thing was removing the tv in the office. I was surprised and how
distracting it was, considering I never paid attention to it. I now use use
music as background/white noise.

And I can't recommend a pet partner enough, just lock them out during concalls
least you earn a reputation of being "that cat lady in policy."

------
kriro
1) A dedicated "work room" with few distractions is the single best suggestion
I can think of. You can clock in and clock out and feel more like working.

2) Try to get up early in the morning as always (if that's an issue for
you)...just having a less slackish schedule helps a ton.

3) There's tons of self help stuff out there but I think the two that help me
get stuff done the most are:

\- Get some notebook and every day write down the date and one big item, two
medium ones and a three small ones you want to get done for the day (1-2-3) if
in doubt make it LESS. Get into the habit of markering the stuff you work on
and crossing it off when it's done.

\- Seinfeld method (google it) for stuff you want to do every day. Basically
get a calender sheet for the month, print it, hang it somewhere and put down
an X when you've done what you wanted. Try not breaking the chain. You can
actually practice discipline by doing some random task each day like this (I
did it with "go for a 10 minute walk").

Hope that helps, being self employed is a skill that can be learned (imo). The
way I look at it wandering off and getting interested in other stuff is my
main problem. Everytime I "catch myself" I note it and pat myself on the back
for having done one "rep". This can be reading a book and thinking about
something else and not remembering what you just read or randomly checking
hacker news or clicking on your mail client. [my experience comes from being a
poker pro for a bit which is even worse than other self employed jobs because
you don't work for anyone and the time you put in directly maps to
income...and if you put in bad time it often maps to negative income :D]

------
VLM
Feel like you're on call? Here's one small clearly defined task, get this
thing done so I can get back to living?

I've done the on-call / pager thing, and although I work in an office
environment with flex time, I've been stuck working in the house due to
blizzards and such, so I have some experience with this. Also lots of on line
classes.

It might be a total drag, but break down the project into "couple hour" pager
/ cell phone / emergency feel of tasks, then knock out exactly one task, then
go live for a little while. Exercise, or cook/eat, or socialize or whatever,
then "pretend" you just got a page and have to work the next task.

I've been on call before, so social issues WRT working at home have not been
an issue. You're not "working at home" you "got a call from work"; no one else
need know "the call" was just another regular project mismanagement
conversation or watercooler gossip.

No need to simulate it down to the point of random alarms on the phone, but if
you have to, then do it.

------
thallukrish
I actually don't believe in a rigid system office like. In fact you are self
employed because you don't want to be part of a process machine called the
office. You figure out what is right for you. If you feel you are reading a
lot of web, then go back do some work. If you feel you have cracked a problem
after lot of hours of work, go and chill out doing some thing else. If you
feel you are doing a hybrid of browsing the web which is not work related and
coding then turn off the internet. I do a mix of all of these. I feel it is ok
to be a bit fluidic but only with the end goal what you are working on in the
mind. I mean mostly to creative work - something that you are creating on your
own from home rather than a customer paid work which I feel the first comment
is good enough to follow. If you are creative, be relaxed and keep thinking on
the space you work on, keep diverting your attention from any disturbance and
keep going at it...that's the formula

------
enobrev
I've successfully worked from home as a developer since 2001, most of which
was in a 450 square foot apartment with roommates in a very noisy part of
Brooklyn. Now I'm in a far more comfortable 2 bedroom with a view in Seattle
with a separate bedroom as an office (and a door!), but my career was defined
in that tiny shoebox of apartment.

First and foremost, boundaries are necessary. This is both for you and for the
people around you. You don't have to explicitly work 8 hours in a row every
day, but whenever it is that you choose to work every day, disruptions should
be completely closed off.

This means if you have roommates, they need to know that when you're working,
you're not listening and impossible to distract. For me, this has proven far
more difficult with significant others who have lived with me. I have lost a
couple long term relationships with women who did not understand this, and the
woman with whom I'm now engaged not only appreciates this this very important
invisible wall, but helps me maintain it.

Same goes for other outside distractions. It would be weird if your friends
dropped into your 9-5 job and sat on the couch, cracked a beer and started
playing video games, or if they called your office line every 20 minutes to
try to convince you to head out for whatever might be going on. This same
limitation needs to be set at your home. If necessary, maintain a separate
lines of communication between work and personal life (phone, IM, skype,
email, etc) to make sure that while you're working, you can concentrate on
only communicating with work associates, and the opposite is just as important
- when you're enjoying your life, leave work to your office space.

And if your home office is in a distracting neighborhood (as mine very much
was when I was living in Brooklyn), turn some music on, wear some headphones,
find a coffee shop, or rent some office space somewhere quieter. Depending on
where you are, it's not difficult to find a company that happens to have an
extra desk or two and is willing to rent one out at a fair price.

Give yourself a great office space that you look forward to spending your days
in. Mine was a corner of a room that was sometimes also a bedroom and
sometimes also a living room. But it was the most well kept at all times.
Three monitors, a quiet and fast computer, a comfortable chair, interesting
art on my wall, a great keyboard and mouse, a relatively clean desk, a decent
coffee maker, great stereo system, studio-quality headphones, high speed
expensive internet, and a giant roll of paper with some markers that I could
brainstorm or play with whenever necessary.

I've read some other great responses here about exercise, and eating right and
so on. I agree with all of the above, but I didn't bother with such things
until the past 5 years. I never exercised, I worked stupidly long hours
(occasionally 36 hour days), I ate crap, I partied at all hours, and I'd never
set a schedule. I began changing a lot of that in the past five years or so. I
now limit myself to 16 hours in a day (but usually keep my limit to 8) and I
exercise more and I eat better. But I do those things because I turned 30 and
realized 9 years of random debauchery and no exercise do not do much for ones
health and figure. I'd be a liar if I told you I did that during the most
crucially defining portion of my remote career.

As for the Real Motivation. All of the above and all the advice in this
thread, and all the advice I've read elsewhere (and mostly ignored) about
remote working have no competition with this one single point. What has
motivated me more than anything in the world: Challenging Work at High wages.
I always needed at least one of the two or the project would definitely fail,
but having both ensured that I'd always find the time, energy, and space to
get the work done well, efficiently, with great communication. The office
space didn't matter. The noise didn't matter. The schedule _Definitely_ didn't
matter. I was unstoppable provided I had Work that I couldn't possibly tear
myself away from and a sizable check at the starting and finish lines to help
keep my life in order.

Good luck.

------
fit2rule
Its almost impossible to have self-discipline if there is nobody else around
to observe it. The #1 thing that I have found useful, when I've been a self-
employed worker, has been to have someone else around to talk to about my
progress, or lack thereof, over time.

For many, this can be as simple as having a partner who looks out for you and
checks in on you, making sure that you're not playing games or whatever
distractions tickle your fancy. It could be having a close friend or associate
who knows you are a self-worker and who takes a regular interest in your life
and actions.

Without another human being around, its very difficult to be self-disciplined.
This is just one of those quandries of life - things get a lot easier when
you've got someone, anyone, impartial or otherwise, with whom to discuss your
daily progress.

------
jakobe
One thing to note is that being self-employed doesn't mean you need to work
from home. I always had trouble staying focused at home, and since I have kids
working from home is almost impossible for me.

I now rent a desk in a shared office, and I work regular hours. I work 9-4
four days a week. I leave my laptop at work, so I can't do anything except
answer the occasional email from home (when the kids let me).

It makes a tremendous difference. When I'm home, I often think of something I
want to fix, but since I can't work at home, I have to wait until the next
day. When I arrive at the office, I'm already eagerly waiting to get started
and most times don't even think about checking HN.

(It doesn't always work. Sometimes I still have trouble focussing, but that
was the same when I worked a "normal" job)

~~~
graeme
>I leave my laptop at work, so I can't do anything except answer the
occasional email from home (when the kids let me).

I never thought of that. I am strongly considering a coworking space just to
try this.

My only issue is that I sometimes do Skype consulting in the evenings, after
my clients are done work (I'm a tutor). I would have to schedule those in
blocks and have my laptop home for those blocks only.

What's security like for your laptop at work?

~~~
jakobe
Someone I work with was abroad for a few months, so I also had to skype about
once a week in the evening. I brought the laptop home on those days.

Concerning security, all my hard drives (internal & external) are encrypted,
and my laptop is secured with a kensington lock. Those locks don't offer much
protection, but I know everyone who has keys to the office, these are more or
less just precautions to deter casual thieves if someone forgets to lock the
office doors at night. My laptop is pretty old, and most of my work is stored
in online repositories. It would be annoying if someone stole my stuff, but it
wouldn't be the end of the world...

------
shamp00
I spent 15 years working from home. Everyone I know who worked successfully
from home had some sort of trick to get into work-mode.

I always went out for coffee first thing. While I was out my apartment would
magically transform into my office and I would come back 20 minutes later
ready to work.

I know a guy who always put on a suit and tie even though he was at home
because it got him into the right frame of mind. Whatever works. You might say
the whole point of working from home is NOT wearing a tie. But if you can't
find a way to work well from home, you will eventually have to admit failure
and go back to working from an office.

Tell you what though: once you find your start-the-day trick and you feel you
are working productively, you'll have to find a similar reverse-trick to get
out of work-mode at the end of the day.

------
lg061870
This happened to me as well--back in 2007 I watched the entire Ana Nicole
Smith trial and then death! I came to understand that I need STRUCTURE to
carry out my work and I cannot do that on my own and not form home...so I
announced to everyone that I had taken a full time job! I actually got up a
7.30pm, showered and leave the house to go to a coffee shop to work at 9am.
Once I started I could not just back out of it--people would think I was just
CRAZY. Eventually I found more people like myself and pretty good co-working
spaces which allowed me to keep a fixed schedule and socialize.

Nowadays I am required to work at the client's site. When I am offered to work
from home I simply turn the opportunity down...unless I actually have nothing
big to do in which case what's the difference.

------
strictfp
A plan works wonders. Try applying SCRUM on yourself. Set up sprint goals and
find someone to demo for, so that you feel the preassure. Also, expose
yourself. Angle your screen so that someone else can see what you're doing, so
that you feel ashamed when procrastinating. If you have noone else, angle
towards the street or share your screen with a partner or something. Have a
schedule. Use different logins for work and leasure. I use another wm without
distractionware running. Find someone to discuss your approaches with. Working
alone increases risk of getting stuck. Planning also helps here. Regularly
meet your parners in person, a good time is for demos. Make promises for next
time. Stick by your promises. Never over-promise, never under-deliver.

------
shivekkhurana
Scientifically : Your will power to stay focused is simply not enough
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHfjvYzr-3g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHfjvYzr-3g)).

I'm a student working for different tech companies remotely. From my year long
experience, all I can tell you is you need to have a routine with :

a) Not more than 50min work at a stretch (even a 10 minute break will do) b)
Limited working hours (you set the limit) c) Workout (running, working out,
dancing | something that works out your muscles) d) Social life (with your
partner, friends, meetups etc)

Make short todo lists. Get your work done early in the morning(before your
family gets up) and keep noon time for meetings and extra work that does not
require focus. Evenings are great for working out.

Best of LUCK :)

------
atmosx
All you need to know is here[1]. It's called the "The Art of Self Discipline"
and Brian Tracey is probably one of the best examples of self-discipline.

Don't listen to this _once_. Listen to this Once every three days. If you
manage to put in your life 1/10 of what is discussed in this audiobook, you'll
see radical changes taking place very very quickly.

I listen to this at least 1 every month by now, while running. I have bought
the audiobook two years ago. I still listen to this and keeps me up-to-speed
when I feel like _not doing_ things I should do.

[1]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEDr7enw-c](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEDr7enw-c)

~~~
HNJohnC
Brian Tracey! What a blast from the past. Many years ago I was sent on a
course of his by my boss, nothing to do with self discipline, more like
general 80's "empowerment" or some similar wish washy shit. The part I
remember most is he advocated daily affirmations staring into a mirror and
saying "I like myself" over and over. I came away with very negative
impressions of Brian Tracey but he's certainly had time to get better, that
was a long time ago.

------
mfrankel
Pomodoros are very helpful. Here is a 2.5 minute guide to them:
[http://www.brevedy.com/pomodoro-power-time-focusing-
in-2-5-m...](http://www.brevedy.com/pomodoro-power-time-focusing-
in-2-5-minutes-video/)

~~~
teleclimber
The Pomodoro technique is the only thing that worked for me after everything I
tried.

I think it works because it's a positive-reinforcer ("do work and complete
Pomodoro" as opposed to "don't procrastinate so you can do work").

------
k-mcgrady
This is a huge problem for me. The best solution I have found is to schedule
every thing. I look ahead at the next week and what I need to get done and
then schedule it in Google Calendar. I name the events 'Coding (Project
Name)'. Typically I do a longer 4-6 hour session in the mornings and focus on
projects that have a lot to be done on them still. In the afternoons I
schedule a 2-3 hour session and work on projects that I'm finishing up on and
doing minor work on. I'm a huge procrastinator ("watching multiple seasons of
sitcoms" really rings true with me!) but this has helped me quite a bit.

------
amorphid
Formerly self employed here. One trick that worked for me, which was inspired
by some book w/ a tomato on the cover...

1\. Set a timer for 25 minutes.

2\. Work until the timer goes off.

3\. Take a short break, 5 minutes or so.

4\. Repeat :)

What I did was determine how many hours I wanted to work total, usually 40
hours. Then I'd shoot for 80% efficiency, so I'd try to work hardcore for 32
hours. Divide 32 hours by 25 minutes (32 * 60 / 25), and I'd work that many
blocks of time.

I found it really helped me focus. It also helped me separate my work time
from personal time. It also... well, it helped a lot.

You can play with the numbers to find a pattern that works best for you.

------
wyrmlet
I used a time tracker (Yast, but there are many) to keep myself honest and
find a schedule that worked for me. If you prefer a 9-5, set alarms and
schedule morning activities. But if you work better at a 16 hour stretch with
the next day as a break, that is okay! Be patient with yourself and thankful
you have such flexibility. Communicate regularly with coworkers and clients;
this may help you find a more regular schedule. Remind yourself every day who
is depending on you. The most important person depending on you is yourself,
so make your own health and happiness a priority.

------
ido
I try to restrict/minimize internet distractions between 10am and 6pm. That
means I strive to only check emails in the morning and evening, no
facebook/twitter/reddit/HN/etc.

I still have my ipod on do-not-disturb mode so that occasionally I can press
the power button and see if there are any gmail notifications, but most of the
time I can tell from the subject line that I can safely ignore said emails. If
it's important I log in to gmail (with gtalk turned off) ust to answer the
important email and then close it again.

------
adidash
Great tips already! I have been working from home for the past year or so. In
between got into the habit of spending time on HN, reddit, techmeme and was
kind of addicted to random browsing. Went on like this for 3 months. The lack
of any real output hit me after that and ended up taking the following steps.
Not perfect but have helped me come a long way.

What works for me:

1) Create a separate work profile on my mac.

2) Block sites you think are not helping you in your work but eating into your
time.

3) Write down just one big action item for the day (has to be done today)

------
easy_rider
One thing that really helps me is music. Some people like the coffee shop
sounds. I don't. I'm the type you see sitting in the office with headphones on
all the time, listening to fast music, and really feeling wired in. At home I
often forget to put on some music, because I don't get distracted by people.
But without music I find myself looking at youtube etc. When I have music on
it puts me in the right mindset, and start producing to the beat (be it drum,
be it machine ;))

~~~
auctiontheory
Rather than music, I use brown noise. Try the "Getting Wet" preset here:
mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php

------
kristiandupont
It's a tough one. I made a collection of tips and stuff here:
[http://procrastotherapy.com/](http://procrastotherapy.com/)

------
marcosscriven
Three things work for me:

1) Having a minimum realistic goal for the day. By having that realistic goal,
I find it much easier to get started, and end up achieving more than I set
out.

2) Proper cardio exercise - I find just a 5k run really clears my head, makes
me feel good, and relieves the physical boredom of essentially sitting down
staring at a screen.

3) Breaking up working time into one hour slots (roughly), and having a decent
10 minute break to stand up, have a drink or whatever.

------
lukasm
I've been working remotely for the past 2 weeks :)

Have a separate place in your house where you work. No browsing cats there.
You may try coworking space or rent an office with a friend.

There are 3 main drawback while working remotely: \- Communication (we are
wired up that face to face communication is the most efficient) \-
Interruptions (e.g. screaming nephew) \- Human interactions (going to lunch
with someone, discussions about tech)

------
tgflynn
I recommend using a time tracking app of some kind. The goal isn't to produce
timesheets for your clients, just for you personally to keep track of how much
time you spend working on projects.

For this to be helpful you need to be very conscientious about using it. When
you are clocked in you shouldn't be doing anything but project related work.

One disadvantage of this is that it's easy to forget to clock out.

------
davemel37
I find adding my to do tasks to my calendar assigning time blocks to specific
tasks makes it much easier to just do the work and much harder to waste time.
Another method is assigning a specific amount of time to a task. And setting a
stopwatch and taking a break when that time is up prevents me from taking more
time than needed for projects.

------
philfreo
Turn this baby on at 9am for 8 hours:
[http://selfcontrolapp.com](http://selfcontrolapp.com)

~~~
grimtrigger
I love this app. Hopefully you don't need any time-suck websites
(facebook/reddit) for your business.

------
adam222
awjr has put all the points and they are worth following.

I will only emphasize that never think you are working from home. Always
assume you are working as if from another building than your own home. And
always act as if you are in that building.

The moment you realize, you are in your own home, it would get harder for you
to stick to the 'normal business routine'.

------
avalaunch
awjr did a great job answering your question. I just want to add 2 more things
that help me:

1\. Get out of the house to work, at least occasionally. I find I'm often most
productive working in a coffee shop or at a Panera Bread type restaurant (no
waiters, free wifi).

2\. Don't quit immediately after finishing off a feature. Start working on a
new feature and then quit for the day. This one is big. Whenever I do this, I
find my mind continuously returning to the new problem and coming up with
ideas on how to solve it. At that point getting back to work the next day is
easier than not.

Finally don't stress out too much about what hours you work. Sometimes I work
in the morning. Sometimes I work at night. I work around spending time with my
son, which is what makes me happiest. That's the best part of being self
employed - having a flexible schedule that let's you maximize all of the
activities you enjoy most.

------
moron4hire
Start work at the same time and stop work at the same time, every day. Be
ruthless about it, even if you start late, stop on time. Don't make excuses
and don't try to "make up for it". You'll burn yourself enough times that
you'll start respecting the start time and actually do it on schedule.

------
aethertap
I'm going through a similar process right now and something that's helping me
a lot is the advice in The Now Habit _. It 's a quick read, and at least in my
case the advice is effective and sustainable.

(_) [http://amzn.com/1585425524](http://amzn.com/1585425524)

------
fredr
When I where running my own company, I rented a desk at an other company.
Since every one else there had regular working hours, it was more natural for
me to work regular hours too.

It also gave me "colleagues" to talk to, so I wouldn't be as lonely as I would
be if I worked from home every day.

That worked for me

------
cupcake-unicorn
If you're a gamer at all, [http://habitrpg.com](http://habitrpg.com) uses a
system to gamify tasks, and may work for you! I don't use it for work things
since I don't work from home, but it's been great to help me with other
things.

------
bearwithclaws
Two apps helped me best: [http://lift.do](http://lift.do) and SelfControl. Use
SelfControl to block all the time wasting sites; Lift for reinforcing
beneficial habits/routine such as exercise, eat healthy, meditate.

Work wonders.

------
scotty79
You need lots of daily interaction with coworkers. Ideally, everyday someone
should be waiting on the things you are supposed to deliver, to incorporate
them into his own work or at least test or review them.

------
mdmarra
You could always work exclusively from a cruise ship.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6697416](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6697416)

------
ThomPete
Discipline comes from routine.

Here is a possible routine.

1) Wake up at 7 at the latest

2) Take a shower

3) Get dressed

4) Eat breakfast

5) Read mails and news

6) Join #startups on freenode to have some company

7) Say good morning to everyone there (I am blackwhite)

8) Start working

9) Have lunch

10) Back to work

11) Stop at anytime between 5-7

12) have dinner.

13) Procrastinate some more or do some more work.

14) Get to bed at 12 the latest.

Rinse and repeat....

------
bentoner
Tip: Go to a CFAR workshop.

[http://rationality.org/workshops/](http://rationality.org/workshops/)

------
ehudla
1\. Work in coffee shops. 2\. But every so often choose ones where wifi is
flaky. 3\. Most importantly: org mode.

------
rf1331
Brain drugs

------
dCole
Well based on the fact that you posted this question you've already figured
out one of the most important things about working for yourself and that
is.....

Everyone needs to be managed. It's now simply up to you to manage yourself
given that you have nobody to answer to anymore (at least in theory).

The next thing is then realizing that there is no one correct way of dealing
with these issues commonly faced by entrepreneurs. Everyone is different and
therefore everyone will have different strategies or techniques that work for
them as an individual. You really just need to read up, get feedback from
others (like you're currently doing), and try a bunch of things to see what
works for you.

With that said, here are some general rules that I feel apply regardless of
many of the variables that exist.

1) Have a dedicated workspace. I lock the door to ensure that my wife and
daughter don't interrupt me. I took crap for this early on but as I explained
to my wife....when I was still working at my old job she didn't have the
luxury of walking into my office and interrupting me whenever she wanted so
there is no need for her to have that luxury now.

2) Keep your work space clean. I struggle with this one and it's easy to let
things get out of control. I find that when my office is a mess I want to
spend less time in there and I'm more likely to plop my ass on the couch and
get sucked into non-productive activity. Taking 5 mins to do regular cleanups
prevents your desk from building up and getting overwhelming.

3) Create habits. Humans are habitual by nature. Take notes on how you are
spending your time for a week and you will notice patterns. Make a schedule
every morning and allocate a certain amount of time for the things you
regularly focus on every day and that will help you avoid getting lost in
something (like reading HN or TC) for hours before realizing what happened.
Also, if you have multiple clients/projects that you have to give daily
attention to then work on them in blocks of hours to help make the limited
time you have to focus un them more efficient. It will also make tracking your
time a hell of a lot easier.

4) Remember that things change. Regardless of what it is...it is bound to
change. You just need to be cognizant of that fact and be able and willing to
adapt. When I started working from home I was single and could work however
long I wanted to, sleep whenever, etc. Now I'm married with a daughter and
life just doesn't work like that anymore. My schedule obviously had to change
in order to effectively incorporate the new changes into my life. I just had
to adapt and go through a new period of trial and error to see what worked
best.

Good luck working through it all and just remember to regularly schedule some
time to review where you are spending your time and how you can improve.

------
dschiptsov
Just love what you do, then you could experience what they call "flow" and,
indeed, will need some self-discipline to remember to eat and sleep and
exercise.) Self-control is mostly for struggling with boredom or fatigue.

~~~
danpalmer
I think it's a bit naive to think that the only reason for lack of focus on
work is boredom or fatigue, and that it can be solved by loving your work.

I love my work, but wouldn't want to do it every waking moment. Also sometimes
I hit a difficult bit of work and find it difficult to focus as I'm not
progressing as quickly.

~~~
dschiptsov
OK, let's put it differently - self-control to go on is required when there is
not enough motivation.)

------
Eleutheria
Lock your office.

Unplug the web.

Fire up your editor.

