 Finding Time for Family: Work at Home Tips for Mom
A Quick Guide Busy Business Moms by LaShanda Henry
While most 9-to-5 workers dream of working at home for comfort and easy living, most work at home moms know that it takes far more time to run a home business than people think. Unlike full time jobs, there is no set hour when you stop working because you always feel like more work needs to be done. Under those circumstances, it’s very easy to neglect your family for your business, which can take a toll on your personal relationships. Finding the time to work and be mom is a skill that every busy mommy must learn to master.
Good time management is all about setting schedules that ideally turn into habits and routines. Just as you know when your work needs to get done, you also have to know when work does not get done. Designate blocks of time when you only do things with your family and prioritize those time periods above everything else. When family time is optional it’s forgotten, so make it a requirement rather than an option. At 6pm is it time to eat and chat over dinner? At 8pm are you all huddled in front of the television or playing board games? At 9pm are you reading the kids a bedtime story? On weekends are you all family fun or all work and no play? On Mondays are you taking a break or diving into emails? What does your week look like? Do you have a schedule or are you winging it?
Full time workers know when its work time, lunch time, and break time, do you? If you don’t stop and look at how you spend your week, you just might be spending months mismanaging your time. One of the highs and lows of working at home is that you are the boss. You are the one who has to set the schedule, so if you don’t set one then you won’t have one. When you’ve designated your family time, it gets easier to stop working because you have a clear reason. You can say things like, “I can’t take that call after 6, I have a personal appointment.” And you can set boundaries for yourself like, “No reading emails after 9 pm, because then I’ll never get off the computer and won’t be there to put the kids to bed.”
To sum it up, whether you are looking at your business day or home life, you should have a good sense of when things are supposed to happen, like weekend outings, family vacations, client meetings and business trips. Setting dates will help you set boundaries and avoid losing site of your personal obligations. Sit down and pencil in family time into everyday, so you can start putting the “mom” back into your “work at home mom” status.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LaShanda Henry is a full time work at home mom who enjoys teaching other women entrepreneurs how to work the web! She is the creator of Sistasense.com and WorkandWebWomen.com online resource guides for beginner entrepreneurs. |
