Have you become the “Go-To” Break Buddy?
If your friends and family are regularly calling you when they’re on their way to work, taking a break or eating lunch, I’ve got bad news. You’re a Go-to Break buddy. And unfortunately this could be disasterous for any “recovering” procrastinator, especially if you work out of a home office.
Your well-meaning friends are probably forgeting the “office” part of “home office”.
They subconsciously imagine you sitting at home with nothing to do while they are at work. Although their intentions are innocent; the ramifications of you becoming the regular break-time entertainment are anything but. Think about it…
If you have three people calling you during their breaktimes, you could burn at least 3 primetime working hours!
And let’s be honest, if you are tackling a project that you’ve been putting off, it doesn’t take much to pull you away, now does it? No matter what you are working on, you have to put a stop to it or else these calls will continue to:
- Break your concentration flow
- Rob you of valuable productivity time
- Force you to steal hours from other areas of your life
- Stress you out
- And even make you feel like a bad friend
That’s right a bad friend. Once you realize and accept the importance of ending these daily interruptions you may feel terrible but…
Here’s what you have to do about it:
To put a stop to it you have to be straight up with your friends. Clearly and honestly explain why you can’t talk during the day, despite how much you may enjoy the unscheduled breaks. They should and will understand. But be warned, you may have to remind them more than once if it’s been a long-standing habit.
When you address this problem you have to be direct.
Becoming the world’s worst conversationalist by giving short one word answers, being ultra quiet or trying to sound like you are busy hoping they’ll get the hint, is not the way to go. This passive aggressive approach will only frustrate your friends and possibly put a strain on your relationship. Don’t worry. Your friends want what’s best for you, even if that means losing a break buddy.
But, sometimes you actually need the break and if so take it and enjoy it.
Just make sure you watch your time
So what do you think? Do you have this problem? Or have you dealt with it in the past? What’s worked for you? What didn’t? I’d love to hear your story.
