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The work you actually sat down to do rarely gets interrupted by something dramatic. It gets interrupted by housekeeping—a quick fix here, a quick lookup there, each one small enough to feel harmless and just long enough to break your focus.

This is true for freelancers, founders, designers, and developers. But it’s also true for work-from-home employees and busy people in general. And it’s not that any of these tasks are difficult (which almost makes them more annoying); it’s that each one takes just enough time and attention to pull you away from whatever you actually sat down to do.…