Combating Distractions

I was just about ready to start writing a post for this morning when Hubs walked into the room and started talking to me.  Needless to say, everything that was in my head regarding a post disappeared.  I can't even remember what topic it was going to be. 

So, the topic for this morning will be... distractions and combating them. 

Now, I'm pretty lucky.  I don't have that many distractions around.  There's Hubs, but he's pretty good about leaving me alone when I'm actually working.  There's Kira, but she's a cat and cat's cannot be controlled.  But they can be scheduled, so as long as it's not near 7am, 2pm, or 7pm, I'm pretty assured she won't bother me.  (I fed her before I started writing this post, so that was taken care of.  Otherwise, she'd be next to me meowing.)

Not having that many distractions around is a necessity for me.  I'm easily distracted.  And I forget stuff.  A lot.  I used to have a mind like a steel trap.  Now, it's a sieve. 

Some people combat distractions by having an office with a door that closes.  Go inside, shut the world away, and focus.  That would make me totally claustrophobic.  Our office is one big room (formerly the master bedroom of this house, but we needed a big office more than we needed a big bedroom, so we converted it to our purposes).  And we leave the door to it open. 

Some people combat distractions by putting on headphones and listening to music.  I do this sometimes, but lately I haven't wanted even music around me when I'm writing. 

Years ago, I started writing at night.  After dinner and dishes, when the house was quiet and I was done teaching the Kid for the day.  (Homeschooling and writing is not for the faint of heart.)  And the schedule stuck.  I still write at night, when there's less chance of a distraction.  (Unless I'm under a fast approaching deadline, then I suck it up and write during the day, too.  But it feels weird.)

The worst distraction, though, cannot be combated by simply shutting yourself away.  It's the distractions in your own mind.  You're supposed to be thinking about your work, but your brain keeps going off on tangents.  There are bills to be paid and that appointment you forgot to make and that home repair you need to do and the to-do list and...  Argh.  I'm still not sure how to make this stop except by trying to get as many things off your plate as possible before you sit down to write, or by simply accepting that there's nothing you can do about any of it right then and maybe your brain will allow you to focus on writing instead.  It's a work in progress.

What about you?  What are your distractions?  How do you combat them?