One thing I think we all learn when we work from home or are self employed is that there are not enough hours in the day to be a parent, friend, neighbour, boss, worker or even yourself. How do we find time to fit everything in that we need to accomplish in a reasonable amount of hours?
Step 1. Write a list or 2 the night before of all the things that you need to do the following day. Make sure it includes home and work life.
Step 2. Put the hardest and longest tasks at the top of the list (after doing the school run), this way it gets them out of the way in the morning, and your not worrying about it when you hit the wall at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Step 3. Dedicate 1 to 2 hours a day for family and general home duties. i.e eat lunch with the family and do a general tidy of the house.
Step 4. Stop working at 5pm like you would in a normal job. Spend quality time with your family and don’t look at your computer. You can return to the office once the kid’s are in bed and hubbies watching the footy.
Step 5. If you feel like you need to pull a late night, look at the list you have made and decide whether it will be a quick task that you can do before bed or one that requires a full functioning brain and has to wait till the morning.
Step 6. When working a late night don’t distract yourself with the things that you would during the day. Don’t hop on Facebook and procrastinate, it will just make you feel worse for having a late night.
For those of us that feel guilty for being work focused and working all night, remember that tomorrow is a new day and you can change the way you that your day flows.
Maybe spend an additional hour with the family during the day, or take a 10 minute break and plan a family picnic for the weekend where you will have no distractions.
It can be hard trying to get it all done, but the people in your life understand that you are creating a better future for them.
