Moms that work from home have unique time management challenges and never-ending distractions that can make it hard to find time to focus on their business or at home jobs. I know many moms will choose to work late into the wee hours of the night, and then again in the early morning while their kids are sleeping, so they can be available to them during the day. Same with nap times–that can be a terrific time to work as well. Problem is, even if we carve out time time for working, this time can be compromised with our own worries about other things like that laundry pile that keeps growing and growing. And what about those dishes lounging in the sink? Or the dust bunnies having a midnight party?
Undoubtedly, wanting to be at home with our kiddos is the main reason so many of us make the decision to work at home— but the time we get to work can be limited, so we need to make every moment of that time count as best we can.
Here are a few tips to help with time management– for those times we actually get kid -free moments to work.
1. Turn off email notifications. There is nothing quite like that little ping letting you know you have new email to distract you and stop you in your tracks. Am I right? Of course curiosity will win and we will pause what we are doing to go read that email, LOL!
2. Same goes with Instant Messenger, Skype, or Google Chat open–these are distractions tat you simply do not need when your work time is limited as it is. Set your status as “away”, “busy”, or even “invisible”. Don’t worry, you will find you are more productive this way. And you will survive. Honest.
3. Keep your phone by your desk and use your caller id feature to see who is calling. Try your best to ignore calls that are not urgent. Phone calls that can be returned later should go to voice mail.
4. Be careful with the time you allot to Twirl, Tweet Deck, and any other Twitter applications . Log in to Twitter, check your “@ replies” and answer them. Socialize for a bit but keep to your schedule so you can accomplish other tasks that need to be done.
5. Which brings me to organizing and notes. I find it helps to write notes and lists of certain job-related tasks I need to get done and those that I would like to get done. When I get time to sit at my desk, alone, I try to focus on the “need to do ” list first (even though the “want to do” list often looks more fun and appealing.) And out of the need to do list, I start with the most important first, because you never know how long that quiet work time might last!
How do you balance working at home and family time? What works for you?
