Tips on How to Balance Working at Home

January 16, 2008 | By Kristen | In Work at Home MOM

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I hate to admit it, but there are weeks when my family believes my computer is a physical extension of my body. Hard enough to admit, those are often the weeks that I get the least amount of work “accomplished” no matter how much I try to fit a few minutes in here and there.

I am sharing my best success tips on balancing your home based business and your family. If you have school age kids, working from home may be a bit easier but if you have small kids underfoot like I do, it can be challenging.

Make a designated work area It is often easier to have a seperate area that is just for your work papers so you don’t have your business plan soaking up the spilled milk. If you have a seperate office where you can close the door for seperation and quiet even better!

Create a set work start and stop time. Let your family know you have work to be done and tell them how long you will be working. I find that setting a fun kitchen timer in 15 increments help during the day to give the younger kids. They know that I will work until the buzzer sounds then it’s play time with mom. I do this in cycles so we can go from work to play, work to play.

Work Smart Don’t waste precious work time cruising the web or emailing friends. Stick to that Goal List. Email is necessary but can often “suck you in” and waste your precious time. Set aside two work sessions of 15 minutes each to focus on only email at the beginning and end of day.

Be Realistic. Set goals for your work day and stay with them. Getting distracted is easy to do, especially when you see the laundry pile in the bathroom.

Work when others sleep Yes, it stinks for us, but it is often a reality that if you need to work on a project or focus and concentrate it’s easier to be done early in the morning while everyone is still in bed or at night when they have gone to sleep (if you can stay awake). I personally have found that my best work time is from 1-4 in the morning. I go to bed at 9 because I’m tired but find that I wake up on my own at 1 and I’m on the ball.

Don’t be afraid of the word NO. You don’t need to be everything to everyone. Just because you don’t go into an office every day doesn’t mean you have to be the one that volunteers in school at every event.

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