morsla | Experiments in productivity

I haven't really worked from home since I wrote my thesis last year, and that was in a different house. I've noticed a few things that work differently here - mainly because I'm not beseiged in a single room that had my computer, bed, painting desk and bookshelf in it. Physically separating the tasks helps to differentiate them, which means I don't bring stray thoughts with me when I sit down to work. Sleeping in one place, painting in another, typing in another.

Early starts: I never thought I'd say it, but I like getting started on things early in the morning. By "early," I mean around 8am. By the time I've started running out of momentum it's time to eat breakfast, and that gives me a natural pause to step back from whatever I'm doing. An "early start" used to refer to my habit of starting a new piece of work at about 1am, and working until sunrise...

Painting: Having a spare room to paint in is fantastic. I don't need to clear things away when I want to do something else, and I save all the time I'd normally spent setting up the workspace. I'm painting a bunch of things for

bishi_wannabe at the moment, and Lon may be supplying me with enough figures to keep me painting for the entirety of next year. I've packed away most of the models on my desk, but intentionally left a few distractions. If I'm stuck for inspiration (or if I want to paint a different colour for a while), I just pick up one of the extra models.

Computer: Not nearly as efficient as it could be. I use my computer for work (InDesign, Photoshop, Word, email), and for random timewasting (I'm an admin on a large forum... enough said). It's getting harder to wrestle my attention back towards work, when all the rest of the internet is calling. I think I'll make a new login for my PC, in an attempt to keep a "different" place to do my real work in. Different desktop, only work-related tabs in Firefox, etc... if I don't have the physical resources to do my computer work in two places, I'll take up some more virtual real estate instead.

Food: Breakfast has a natural place in the day - when I run out of steam from the first sectionof work. Dinner also has a place - when

aeliel gets home from work. So, what do I do about lunch? If I'm bored I'll eat all day, but lately I get so absorbed in the tasks at hand that I forget all about it. Any suggestions? My stomach is not a reliable gauge of how regularly I've eaten.