1.

The comfort of the chairs and/or lack of comfort of the chairs. It’s either this chair is too comfortable and you keep melting into it or this isn’t very comfortable I need to find another place to sit. And since you’re at home and there are endless options it quickly leads to…

2.

The various locations you could be working from. You could work from bed or the couch or the porch or the kitchen table or anywhere you can imagine. All of which will bring on their own sets of distractions: sleepiness, the sounds of nature, hunger, etc.

3.

Your pets undying thirst for attention. Just give them a quick belly rub, that shouldn’t take your mind off things for TOO long.

4.

Netflix / Hulu / Vudu, et al. Just a quick episode so you don’t keep losing your train of thought on work wondering what the next part of the story is going to be. Just one episode, it couldn’t hurt anything. Not to mention it’s accessible on the same screen you’ve been blankly staring at for hours anyway.

5.

Texts (literally from anyone about anything as long as you can take a much need break from your work). Just got to check in with a friend about the thing that isn’t that important but you can’t get off your mind. It shouldn’t take too long.

6.

The weather outside. Good or bad: either you want to be out enjoying it or it simply makes you want to take a light snooze (i.e. multiple hour long nap).

7.

The temperature inside the house. Too hot or too cold, you can’t decide what to wear and with your entire closet at your disposal you keep changing clothes.

8.

The fact that there is food in the fridge and you could be eating it. Maybe a light snack will kick start your brainwaves. Wouldn’t hurt to find out, and will only take a few quick moments of your precious time.

9.

Laundry you haven’t even dreamed of touching until now. Just fold all those towels really quick, that’ll get your mind going again, right? It needs to get done anyhow.

10.

Dishes that haven’t been touched in weeks. If you just put those away you can stop worrying about them and get focused. You should also do the stack in the sink real quick…just real quick. It’ll just take a moment.

11.

Overall cleanliness of the house. Well, you simply can’t work if the house is slightly messy. A quick spruce up and you’ll be able to hone in on your tasks.

12.

The time of day, initially. Oh, it’s not even lunch yet. Maybe just kind of cruise for now, and after a hearty lunch you can hit the ground running.

13.

The lack of literal and/or metaphorical breathing down your neck from a colleague or boss. There’s no pressure to get stuff done right away, so why bother? This leads to…

14.

Internet wormholes. You may have gotten on Pandora just to get some background music going, but then that triggered some memories in your head. You remember liking a certain music video, so you get on YouTube and watch said music video, just really quick. Then all the suggestions at the end of the video send you spiraling down a wormhole of lyric videos and interviews. Just a few more though, it’ll be really quick.

15.

General things you’ve been putting off. You needed to get ahold of your landlord for some household issues or you need to email that person back about that thing you’ve been avoiding. Either way, now is a great time to do it, because it’ll only take a second away from your work and then you can get right back to it afterwards.

16.

The time of day, revisited. Oh wow, it’s just the middle of the afternoon and you’ve gotten some stuff done. No need to blaze through too much when you’ve still got daylight ahead of you. Now, just a quick peak at social media considering we have all this time left in the day…

17.

Accidental social media endless scrolling and trolling. You get on Facebook, really quick, to check your notifications. That’s when you notice a picture from a person you haven’t heard from in a while. You click their profile and it turns into an all out troll fest. Oops—there went half an hour. Better head over to Twitter and make a joke about being so distracted, that’ll just take a second. Then maybe you can catch up on some news while you’re there.

18.

The fact that there is STILL food in the fridge. You had a snack earlier, and had lunch already, but you’re just craving something a little more. Taking a quick peak around won’t hurt anybody and it’ll get your mind off the nonexistent grumbles of your tummy. A quick rummage through the fridge seems to be in order. No worries, you’ll get right back to work in a jiff.

19.

Needing a change in scenery. You’ve been working from the same place all day. Maybe a little movement will help really jumpstart you. Yeah, if you just move from where you ended up deciding to work from earlier, maybe this new locale will give you a fresh perspective on the tasks at hand. It’ll only take a moment to relocate anyway.

20.

The time of day, finally. Man, it’s 5:30 already? Well, time flies when you’re working Just call it a day. Maybe you could take care of those emails you ignored all day first thing tomorrow morning. Yeah, you’ve gotten plenty done today, no need to push yourself any further. Now what episode did you leave yourself off on earlier?