I make deals with myself all day long. This is what happens, in lieu of having an actual boss or officemates. I am my own coworkers! Now you know why I mutter to myself while I work.

Anyway. These deals are my way of getting through the day without either becoming paralyzed by my workload or goofing off entirely. It’s part of my system, if you will.

So, for example: I’m allowed to read blogs while I eat breakfast. Due to the nature of my work, I do consider it part of my job to keep up on the blogosphere… but it’s not as though I get to bill someone for time I spend doing so. If I do it while I’m eating breakfast, that’s allowed.

Or I’ll start working on something and tell myself: After I finish this, I can check my email again. Or have a snack. Or make that (non-work-related) phone call I need to make.

You probably know how it goes. This task-to-task motivation system works… most of the time. And the truth is that I did the same sort of thing when I worked in an office.

The problem is when life gets crazy and my solution—rather than cutting back on things like, say, reading blogs—is to just keep working in the evening. By the time I get the kids into bed, I still have a pile of work to do. Once in a while, that’s not a big deal. Every single night, and it wears on a person. Especially if that person is me, because I take my sleep very seriously.

I’m trying to work, I’m trying to pack up my house, I’m trying to prepare my family to move 1,000 miles away. It’s all getting done (sort of) but I feel like work is omnipresent. The only thing keeping me from putting my head (or maybe my computer!) in the oven is the belief that in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to get back into my regular routine again.

There may be people who can work 16-18 hours each day and thrive, but I’m not one of them. Now I have to go get another cup of coffee and decide whether to work or to pack. And then maybe assign someone to call me tonight at 11 and tell me to stop whatever I’m doing and go to bed.