A lot of women, especially work at home moms, try and do everything all at one time, and of course, 100% perfectly! This can be challenging to say the least.
Use the seven tips below to give you a boost and make it work for you! Try them out, you will be surprised how it will help you be more productive.
Set your priorities and make sure that the family understands them.
This is not said to make you a drill sergeant, but just so that others will know what you are doing and when you will be doing it. You will not be spending as much time with your family as mothers who don’t work. Don’t expect to give your children cupcakes worthy of a master chef and decorated to look like butterflies and flowers, for the school fundraiser. Most of the weekends should be dedicated to family time, but not for you slaving away trying to catch up with other obligations. But there will be compensations, both financial and personal achievement compensations.
Communicate with your children
This is even more important than before you set up your home business. Tell them the purpose of the business and how it will impact them. Use age appropriate language such as more toys for the smaller children and college etc. for the older ones. You mustn’t be afraid of also telling them that you like to do the type of work you are doing. We all need fresh horizons now and then. Plan a vacation together that could be taken with any leftover money. This can be great bonding time. Do not take your laptop on vacation!
Talk to your spouse.
Get him on your side and explain what your goals are and how it will affect him and the family. If you are both working there needs to be a simple plan for levelling the playing field with household chores. You can’t do everything yourself, nor should anyone expect you to. There also has to be common free time so this should be coordinated. Again, this does not have to be done with any kind of military precision just understanding. Perhaps you could swap off doing most of the chores and the children could also do age-appropriate ones as well.
Make a plan for play and work time.
Set up a schedule for your business hours. You could make a little sign for your office door which says: Mom’s work is closed then on the other side it could say Mom’s work is open. Even young children would understand this. Time does not have to be set in stone but it should be kept mostly on track. You are your own boss and should be flexible some of the time when it comes to work vs family or personal hours. You could tell the children that after mummy has finished work, you will go to the park with them.
Designate a special room or area for the home office.
This will set the boundaries of the work area and once it’s clear, do not start to use it for other purposes. If you can purchase an office desk, a good chair and perhaps a few other pieces of furniture like a filing cabinet, so much the better. Don’t forget at least one live plant so that there will be something in there that you can talk to. Decorate the room sparsely but put what you want into it. Leave enough room so that you can get up and walk around every now and then.
Get help with the children if you need to.
You are also entitled to a little free time yourself. Always try and fit in at least thirty minutes of exercise a day and this will help you clear your head. Be sure and leave the house if you can on a regular basis. Maybe it’s only to the backyard but it all helps. Try and pamper yourself once a week with a spa or shopping trip.
Learn to say no and stop.
Be wary of people who request more of your time than you have to give. Make dinner time your stopping time so you can relax for the evening. If you don’t do this you risk building resentment with your family. You need your family’s support in order for your business to grow and prosper.
Create The Winner’s Circle
If you can apply the tips above conscientiously, you will be way ahead of most of the other work at home moms out there. Of course, all of this applies to dads as well, if they are now working at home, or soon plan to be. When your productivity increases, so will your income, and there will be more time to spend with your family. Transform a vicious circle into a winner’s one!
Emmanuelle Burrell is a work at home mom with 2 children, a cat and a husband, and she lives in the Southwest area of France.
She loves to write for her husband Lloyd’s website, officedeskreviews.com where you can find extensive reviews on home office furniture desks. Emmanuelle writes reviews on a whole gamut of office desk furniture ranging from modern home office computer desks to more traditional wood office desks. She loves to spend time with her family and sing in the local choir.
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Those are great tips! I know that as a blogger I can incorporate many of them into my daily life and maybe get down a better routine in my home 🙂