I’m right with you guys there. Today there were roofers working on a house across the street, and I got NOTHING done. A month or two ago, a neighbor had a very large tree removed from their yard, so that was two days of constant sawing, grinding, and running truck engines. Whee.

The last few nights I’ve had a brand-new noise problem: Halo 3 on surround sound. (Anyone who has read my blog post on Halo — like Amy! — already knows my feelings on this. )

Blogging and reading other people’s blogs is a problem too. Particularly this one.

For the last three weeks, my horse has been a major distraction, too. This week I tried not going to the stables till evening, but that experiment didn’t work well. I think going in the morning is good because I get it out of the way, and then I know better how much time I have leftover for working. (When I’m facing a time shortage I tend to get distracted less.)

Mariella, I don’t like noise either. Construction outside would be too much for me to handle.

Amy, I am RIGHT THERE WITH YA! My street has construction going on right now, and every time those guys sit out on my curb and eat lunch & chat, I want to join them!

My other biggest time waster is that I smoke, but I don’t smoke in my apartment. So, when I go out to smoke, there’s always some neighbor outside walking a dog, whatever, and of course I have to stop to pet the puppy and chat, because I’m people deprived. Even if it’s only for five minutes, it adds up since I go out like every hour.

Jodee, I used to do the music thing too — singing along while trying to work. Haha. When I first learned how to download music, that was a big big big mistake. When I got this new laptop I made some rules — no downloading music, no watching movies, no playing games. If I want to do those things I have to go to another computer. Now all I have are blogs. *whines*

About a month ago, my wireless router quit for no apparent reason. I almost ran out to buy anew one but got side tracked. Since then I’m finding I’m not quite so easily distracted since I have to be “wired” to play. SOmetimes it’s a little restricting, but by and large it makes me shedule time better and keeps me off the net when I should be. I’m still debating over the loww of the router. It my not be coming back anytime soon.

http://markpknowles.com/wasting-time-applying-for-jobs-that-dont-exsist/

“1. Every eiuoo group is involved in CGO Plan while the group is established.
2. At early of every month, eiuoo.com calculates group’s cost at previous month, 15% of the cost is the prize and is transited to CGO account.
3. The prize is eiu dollar, precise in 0.01 eiu dollar.
4. CGO can charge the prize, and distribute the prize to group member.
5. The prize is started to calculate at 00:00 first of every month. CGO receives the prize before 00:00 sixth of every month.”

The English is so bad it’s almost funny. In fact it would have been funny if it hadn’t been a waste of time. I did find this job posted here, and I don’t blame Deb or Jodee because they make it clear that the jobs posted have not been checked out at all. I am thinking of setting up a pre-screened “Freelance writing Jobs Blog” Would anyone else be interested in that, because I spend too much time writing for jobs that are either so low paying it’s not worth the trouble or like this. Not to put too fine a point on it, I am fairly new to writing for money, but also fell for both the Laray Carr scam and the Vancouver keyword article. On top of applying for jobs like this one above, I waste too much time to even think about.

I really like what Fiona said about writing longhand. Good tip!

The tabs in FireFox are both a blessing and a curse for me as well. Although, with the automatic pop up telling me I have mail the moment it comes in helps cut down on the mail checking distraction. I can just keep it open in the background and forget about it until I get a mail notice.

I also have the toddler distraction. I’m thinking about taking up the pen and paper method at the kitchen desk and then transferring to the laptop once my husband brings it in from work. That way I’ll be more available to my toddler, who is currently saying bye-bye to the beloved afternoon nap way too early for Mommy, and avoid the allure of internet distractions.

I check e-mail a lot….and I read celebrity gossip (a guilty pleasure). I sometimes listen to music through my headset while I’m trying to work….bad idea, because I can’t work and listen to/sing along with Bon Jovi at the same time! Go figure.

It´s pretty distracting around here and as you can see, my main distractions are offline! Although I have to admit there are some times when my Stumble bar calls my name.

I really need to work out a more disciplined system…write for 50 minutes, fool around for 10, but I am a weak, weak woman.

I’m also currently underemployed and spend a lot of time looking for full-time jobs and an inordinate amount of time writing cover letters. Having trouble getting hired is a new one for me, and I’m getting fed up! In my most recently completed cover letter, I refer to myself as a data dork. If that doesn’t get me an interview, I don’t know what will!