If you think working at home will be “easier” than any other option
available to you, chances are you’re fooling yourself. It is different, more
convenient, immensely rewarding, but not necessarily a walk in the park.
You can learn how to handle it all and excel in your personal and business lives both.
To make sure you juggle your work, family and home responsibilities with the greatest amount of ease, it can be useful to consider the following tips, techniques and strategies for getting it all done:
1. Set your hours
This particular tip cannot be stressed enough. Whether you plan to
work a full eight-hour day from morning through afternoon or you
intend to work at night after the kids turn in, set your hours and try to
stick with them.
2. Take advantage of down time
If you do have some downtime during set hours, take advantage of it
to do other things on your plate. Tackle some housework, hang out with
the kids, get dinner ready or just relax for a little bit.
3. Be realistic
Even working at home, you very likely will not be able to handle it all
every day in and out. Give yourself permission to let the house go a bit
in favor of landing a big contract or carving out enough time to take the
children to the park. Prioritize what is really important and your juggling
act will work.
4. Be patient
If you’ve never worked at home before with children running around,
you are about to embark on an exercise in patience. Your children very
likely will not initially understand they cannot interrupt you every five
minutes. You’ll have to learn the fine art of compromise and even how
to be firm and loving to pull this off. With a little effort, you can avoid
bruising little egos.
Launching into a stay-at-home business can make some things
in life a
whole lot easier. It can
also present with a whole new set of challenges. Be prepared to prioritize what
matters and compromise on points that aren’t quite as important. If you do
these things, you can juggle it all and keep your business going, your sanity
intact and your family chugging along just fine.
