Hooray! School's in!

My kids all popped out of bed excited for the first day. Something felt different about this first day of school. They seemed more independent, more hopeful and excited. No one complained about anything, least of all me.

My self-imposed work schedule already had to be flexible, but I accomplished a fair amount of the tasks on my list. Using my graphite palm pilot, I made my list the night before, making sure "morning walk" and "shower" were on there so I would have something to cross off early. I guess what didn't get finished goes on tomorrow's list. I just hoped for more hours in the day.

What throws off your work schedule? What throws me off are not necessarily bad things. For example, I often get side-tracked on laundry. Since it is endless, I have to just plan to skip a few days or else I'm always sorting and folding. Lately iTunes is slowing me down. I just need to ignore it for a while. E-mail can be distracting, but again, it is a distraction I enjoy. And then there's coffee and lunch. I'd get more done if I had no friends and never ate or slept, but I don't suppose I want that life. I'd rather feel behind.

How do you force yourself to focus? How to you stick to your schedules? Do you find you get more accomplished when you are already busy or when you only have a couple things that HAVE to be done today?