How To Manage Your Work At Home Schedule

How To Manage Your Work At Home Schedule

Perhaps the biggest adjustment to working from home is learning to manage your newfound freedom. You'll find that working at home takes discipline and focus just like any other career opportunity. The trick is learning to manage your time effectively while you enjoy a closer connection to your family.

What Will You Do All Day?

The best way to make the most efficient use of your time is to keep a dedicated schedule in a day planner or on your computer. Make your calendar a trusted system to help you manage your life and obligations. In other words, get the details out of your head.

If I don't put a task on my computer calendar it often doesn't get done. My day often becomes a whirlwind of distractions from my daughter, the dog, and the demands of my home business. Then my computer calendar thankfully beeps at me and snaps me back to reality.

I try to work about 15 - 20 hours a week, depending on my overall workload. To accomplish this I have to be very careful with my time and equally careful that work tasks don't get in the way of my daughter's activities.

I'm more or less available to clients during the 9-5 workday but make a conscious effort to do almost all of my business activities by email and minimize phone conversations. I also look for work projects that don't necessarily need to be done during normal business hours. That's the big reason copywriting and web design had such a strong appeal for me.
So set your schedule and keep it. And remember that family time is equally important, if not more important than work time.

Keeping Your Cool With Kids And Work

Working from home is a great lifestyle, but it isn't always easy. My 4 year-old gets busier every day and doesn't care if I have a conference call at 2pm right when she wants a yogurt drink. In her world I'm home - which means we get to play, right?

Not always. If you're working from home you'll have to set limits on when you're available to your family and when you have to get work done. Some work at home professionals keep formal office hours with the door shut and hire a nanny. This way their children know they are not to be disturbed during work time.

This scenario doesn't work for me and seems counter to the whole purpose of having a home-based business. But some childcare is still necessary when you work at home. I use a babysitter one day a week, but sometimes work a few hours in the early morning instead. If I have a conference call when my daughter's home in the afternoon I keep the phone on mute. My door stays open and my daughter knows she can come into my office whenever she wants.

If I'm on a tight deadline I'll sometimes bring my laptop into the family room while she draws or plays. But when my daughter asks me to turn off my computer I know it's time to quit for the day and make every effort to honor her request. It's a constant balancing act.

Take Time For You

Who has time to relax with all this activity? Even though you're busy it can be very isolating when you start working from home. Sure, you'll have great quality time with your family, but you may also feel stressed from being alone without adult conversation for long periods of time.
One of the hardest things for most working moms to remember is to take time to rest and rejuvenate. This is critical for your overall health, well-being, and for your family to get the best "you" possible. So make sure taking care of you is also on your schedule.

This is often difficult when you're taking care of young children and working part time from home. Proper self-care should be right up there on your goals list with all the other things you want to accomplish.

Go for a long walk, run, or swim. Take time to listen to your favorite tunes. Curl up on the couch with one of your favorite books with a fresh brewed cup of coffee when the house is quiet. Go out to a fancy lunch with one of your best girlfriends. Indulge in an all-consuming hobby such as painting or songwriting. Learning how to relax is a critical part of success, so start today.
Taming your schedule is a constant challenge, but using these tools and tips should help keep it manageable, and maybe even fun.

About The Author
Mary Shaw is a part time work at home mom and the author of The Mommy Track: How To Live A Full Time Life On Part Time Income.
Get a free chapter at www.themommytrack.net/chapter1.html