The last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to teach myself good work-at-home ethics. I’ve been using this quilt as my learning tool. Part of its purpose is to explore tonal gradations. The other part is to train myself to stay on task.
I need to learn good work-at-home ethics because I’m becoming more ADD as I grow older! I remember when I used to sew single-mindedly for hours on end. Now it seems like I work for half an hour and then get up to go to the bathroom, which naturally takes me through the kitchen. This makes me hungry, so I forage a bit. That makes me thirsty. If I’m a little stressed out, I want comfort, so I think of coffee or some other hot drink. But now it’s summer, which means I need to add ice cubes to make it cold. Then I need to sit down and savor my drink, so I pull out my iPad and get lost on Pinterest for an hour or so. After pinning a ton of quilt pictures, I finally feel guilty and wander back into my studio for another half hour. Any of this sound familiar?
Somehow, I’ve got to stop this habit pattern! There is a passage in the Bible that say, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do -— this I keep on doing…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:18-19, 24)
I know what I want to do, but I am so easily distracted! So, I’m trying to stay on task for longer periods of time, and I’m trying to give myself shorter breaks. This means less time on the computer, less time in the kitchen, less time on the couch…
And more time in my studio! This is what my work table looks like right now. I have my work laid out for me. I just need to do it.
Wonder how much I can get done today?
Comments
9 responses to “Good work-at-home ethics”
Sewing is the funnest kind of “work” I find that I get distracted by my sewing when I try to clean house. I invariably stray too close to the sewing room and soon I am working on my latest project. Cleaning my sewing room is the hardest. I am drawn to finish UFOs or start a project that has been waiting. Wait! What was I doing.???? Oh yeah, supposed to be cleaning.
Oh, that’s my problem! I don’t do housework either. Sweet hubby does all the hard stuff.
I hear you !!!! I do the same thing and if I am focussed the kids take my time and I let them do it. I am trying to be more focussed too. I am trying a new schedule I found that so far seems to be working (we’ll see how long it lasts) You work for 1 1/2 hours then have a break for 1/2. It seems too help this brain of mine and still to get wee jobs done around the house too.
I can relate to what you’re saying – same here 🙂
This sounds VERY familiar Maria! It doesn’t help that the children (teenagers) are home for the summer. They distract me a lot – but that is why I am home so I let them. It will all come together eventually! You can do it! Good luck!
OH and I love the gradation project!
Working from homes takes so much discipline, I struggle with it too. My disraction is reading. I pick up my book/kindle and promise myself one chapter…..you can guess the rest.
We’re right there with you, Maria!
What is it about becoming more ADD as we become older!? I, too, have so much trouble keeping on task. Even though I love working in my studio, I cannot seem to stick with the program these days. Perhaps I allow myself far too much time online with Pinterest and others’ blogs, that I cam constantly in sensory overload? Now to shut down the computer and back to more productive studio time.