I live right in the heart of a bustling neighborhood. The beachfront park is just down the hill. Gelato is sold on every street corner. Live music floats through the air from all the pubs. In our neighbourhood, there is always something happening and I love it… until summer calls.

Summer is a bad influence buddy who doesn’t respect work, office hours or deadlines.

Remember that friend your parents always said was a bad influence?  Yep, that’s summer. I’m sure you’ve noticed how the recent explosion of beautiful weather can be a major distraction. It was shining through the window blinds, beckoning me to come out and enjoy life. “I’m not here forever y’know!” it called out from the beach. So I gave in. Just a little bit at first. I went out and enjoyed an hour here, and an hour there. Soon an hour became an afternoon. An afternoon became a day. All of a sudden I was enjoying summer so much that I was spending a day here and a day there having fun in the sun.

Suddenly it hit me, how will I ever get any work done with summer around?!

As entrepreneurs, we have the freedom to work around life and make our own schedule.

It’s important that we use this freedom to its full extent whenever possible since we usually don’t have real, paid vacation time like our corporate friends do. Technology makes it possible to work from anywhere, at any time, so if the family is ready and the RV is gassed up, I say plug in the laptop and drive on!

But how do you make sure that the work still gets done?

Over the years I’ve learned that I work best when I go with the flow. I have never been good at keeping a routine but I am very good at working when I need to. Here are my tips to get work done when you’re tempted by summer fun:

1. Put a time limit on work. Set the alarm for a short hour or two then work like stink until the timer goes. There’s something about being timed that puts on the pressure. It’s very motivating!

2. Take your office outside. I wrote part of this post on my smart phone while sitting on a park bench watching the tide go out. (And you thought I was texting, snicker snicker!)

3. Take a walk outside. It might be for an hour or just 15 minutes but you’ll be enjoying summer and letting your brain recharge enough to get back to work.

4. Limit distractions. Occasionally I deliberately put in a few hours of work when the house (and the world) is asleep because I know I can focus more intently when there are no distractions.

5. Reward yourself for each completed job. In summer that reward is often gelato… or a green tea cr