This is an I-Heart podcast.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the new corner office, the podcast where we share

strategies for thriving in the new world of work, where location and hours are more

flexible than in the past.

Today's tip is about how to avoid the urge to work on household chores during your designated

work hours. You aren't Cinderella, and just because you're working from home doesn't mean you

should structure your time to take on the whole household's work. Working from home has a number of

undeniable benefits, including the fact that it often allows complete or near-complete control

over one's immediate work environment. Want a warmer temperature? Great. Want to burn a cinnamon-scented

candle or paint the walls bright pink? Awesome. However, this control can sometimes have a time

stealing flip side. When household messes, dirty dishes, and unfolded laundry are part of the

view from your workstation, it can be tempting to take breaks and tackle chores through the day.

Many people also assume that because they're skipping the daily commute and thus saving time,

they should have no problem keeping a clean house and getting more chores done during the day.

If other family members are not working from home, they may not mind you turning into Cinderella.

This temptation seems noble, after all, cleaning and tidying feel productive, but it can also undermine

your ability to work on the things you actually want to get done.

When we fall prey to the Cinderella effect and spend prime work hours

flitting back and forth between our desks and other household distractions,

the result is often a feeling of tiredness and dissatisfaction at the end of the day.

We feel as though we've been working for hours,

but haven't gotten much done. Psychologists have a term, flow, for the state in which a person

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