Want a Boredom Killer?

Posted On: 2015-04-30

I doubt that many people on the outside of this industry would ever think that life as an adult webmaster could be boring but, once you get into it, it's not long before you begin to realise just how repetitive this business can be.

Of course, repetition can lead to boredom and the more bored you become with this business the less creative you become and that can have a really nasty impact on your bottom line. You slip into a rut and it becomes comfortable to be doing the same old same old day after day. It becomes so comfortable that you don't want to get out of that rut, you find it almost impossible to get out of that rut, you don't want to try new things and you tell yourself that you haven't got time to try new things.

And if that worries you then I have a solution ... move house. That's what we have been doing for the last week and while it might sound strange that it has taken us a week to move house I have to tell you that there is a lot more to moving house than just packing up your furniture, piling it in a truck and unpacking it at the other end.

There's the planning for the move even before you even start looking at boxes. There's electricity, phone lines and Internet connection to arrange, removalists to book and cleaners to take care of the place you're leaving. Even when you think that you have it all organised you basically don't because you're relying on other people and other people are notoriously unreliable.

For us the electricity and phone lines were fine but the Internet is yet to be connected at the new place and the cleaners who were supposed to be doing their thing at the old place by now are not returning my calls.

And then there is packing ... ah yes, packing. Of course you're going to pack all the important stuff yourself and make sure that it gets to the other house and we did. Perhaps that's why we have our four printers but can't find one printer cable. Four power boards went into the boxes but so far we can only find three.

We've been out of the old place for four days now and there is still no Internet connection here. Of course we can connect down at the office but who wants to be at the office at 4am and not leave till 10pm?

How could anyone possibly be bored when your too busy stressing about missing cables and no Internet connection?

Of course while you're moving you're going to start thinking about what you can do when you do get your new home office set up. You will start to see new possibilities, have some great ideas of things you can do to make even more money than you're making now.

You will want to jump right in when you get to the new place and do some research but with no Internet connection you're stuck trying to do it on your tablet or smart phone and suddenly you begin to realise that all those cool toys have some severe limitations. And by the time everything is back to normal and you have your connections back you will have either forgotten what those wonderful plans were or you won't have time to pursue them because you will be frantically trying to catch up on all that lost time.

Yes, moving house is a great cure for boredom and it's also a great chance to start over again. Now I don't mean that it's a chance to start over in this industry but it is a great chance to reorganise things like your home office so that they work better. If you're like us you will have thought of ways that you could have improved the old set up but making the change was going to be difficult and who wants to get out of their comfort zone?

But when you're moving you have the perfect opportunity to set things up differently, to work smarter rather than harder and that's what we'll be doing. Because I work from our office in town my side of the home office will stay the same but my partner has taken the opportunity to set up a second computer and add an extra screen because we want to try something a little different and the extra box and screen will make life easier for him.

So what could you do to improve your work flow if you're moving ... or not moving?

If you're not moving then maybe it is time to look at ways of re-arranging where you do your work so that you can work smarter rather than harder. Maybe you don't need a crazy week like we have had to get yourself out of the rut you're in and try something new. Maybe you just need to bite the bullet and tear your work area apart and then put it all back together again so it works better for you.

Whatever you do, get out of the rut you're in, shake off the boredom and start seeing the possibilities that are out there for you if only you will get out of your comfort zone.