Distracted? 6 Ways to Stop Interruptions When You Work At Home

Started from the bottom, now we're here. Me and Drake, we're like that. I don't even know what that means. What does that mean? Somebody's going to tell me it means something in sign language cause everybody told me what this meant in sign language and I'm like, "Hey, I'm a woman."

Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be if you want to create a business and life you love. And this is Q&A Tuesday. Today's question comes from Elena and she writes, "Hi, Marie. So many of us work from home, whether we're studying or running a business. Do you have any tips how to keep other house members from causing distractions?" Great question, Elena, but you know, I don't really have distractions when I'm working. Either that or I just don't notice them. But seriously, here are six simple things you can do to stop interruptions when you work from home.

Number one, issue a rude alert. Let people know your work schedule and tell them you're going to be unresponsive if they try to interrupt you during those hours. You can say something like, "Look, I'm going to work for the next three hours. If you try and interrupt me I'm going to be rude, but I still love you." Number two, close the door. Sounds obvious, but an open door can be a signal for others to come in and sit a spell, so make sure when you're working you close the door. And for bonus points, you can hang one of these bad boys up. Number three, don't send mixed signals. You can't be all, "I'm working, don't disturb me," and then two seconds later go, "oh my God, you have to see this video of a dancing Chihuahua right now."

Number four, wear headphones. You can get the expensive, noise-blocking ones, Josh uses those to block me out all the time, or you can just simply get headphones like earbuds or even something over the ear, which really signifies to people, "Don't disturb me." Number five, have a nunya clause. Here's the scene. Your significant other totally respects your request and they're careful not to disturb you, but when they walk by they catch you watching a Bieber video and pinning pictures of throw pillows on Pinterest. That's when you invoke the nunya clause. "Hey, if I goof off, it's nunya business." Remember, your sacred work time is about honoring your flow. You're allowed to take Bieber breaks as often as you need them. You know what? Let's make that a Tweetable. Bieber breaks are good for business.

Number six, get out of Dodge, or at least get out of the living room. Look, when you work from home and you live with other people, sometimes it's just not right to expect them to be quiet. It's kind of like going to a slumber party and then deciding to go to be at 8:00 and then getting mad at everyone because they're still up.

Hey Marie, shut up.

Don't be the wicked witch of the living room, just pack up your gear and cart yourself over to the nearest library or coffee shop. So there you go, Elena, six ways to stop interruptions when you work from home. Now, I would love to hear from you. Do people try to interrupt you when you're working from home? If so, how do you deal with it? As always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at marieforleo.com, so go there and leave a comment right now.

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