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Managing Your Time in Your New Home-Based Business
If you are just transitioning from working outside the home to working inside the home, your
head is probably spinning crazy with all the things that you will get done now that you don't
have to waste all that time commuting, getting ready for work, etc. Cut to you a few weeks into
your new lifestyle, and things probably won't be going along as smoothly as you had
imagined! What the heck happened? Well, we certainly hope you didn't toss that daily
planner you used to fill out so religiously! You just might need to pull it out and put it back to
work.
In the first place, you are still "working.” You are just working “here” and not “there.” You still
need to keep a schedule, and maybe even a daily flow chart. It will just have different items on
it. Instead of dealing with meetings, phone calls, reports, face-to-face chats with clients or
customers or employees or the boss, deadlines, countless interruptions, and all that, you
will need to schedule time for focusing on the work you are doing from home, maintaining
your home itself, your family, and maybe even YOU!
Take your planner out and come up with something that works for you. You might start with
what worked before. In other words, if you had to be ready to leave the house by 7:00 AM
before, then let it be that way now. You don’t have to be all dressed up with nowhere to go, but
you can be showered and dressed, and ready to get the day started. Assign times to focus on
various activities, keeping in mind that none of it is etched in stone. Build your own individual
situation into your schedule, and remember that it is only a guideline. Your boss is not going
to call you on the carpet if the schedule doesn't work (unless you stand in front of the mirror
and have at it). Remember you have flexibility that you didn't have when you were working
outside the home. You are the boss and you can arrange your day as you choose to fit the
needs of your family, health, interests, schooling, or whatever reason you chose to work at
home. Keep adjusting until you find what works. It may need tweaking when your kids' school
starts up or lets out, as days get longer or shorter, as the seasons change, etc. That’s OK!
If you are thinking, “but I quit work so I didn't have to be scheduled!” remember that this is
YOUR schedule, not someone else’s. You can take as many breaks as you need, and you
can take them whenever you need them, not when you are told to go. You are working into the
schedule YOUR needs and your family‘s needs, not the needs of the company for whom you
used to work. Because you have control over what is happening instead of being at the mercy
of someone else, you can handle it!
And one last thing: you will never, ever have to come home so exhausted that you stand at the
kitchen sink in your coat and high heels doing dishes because you know that if you stop to
take them off, you will never get up to get the dishes done. And yes, we actually heard of
some poor soul who did that.
If you are just transitioning from working outside the home to working inside the home, your
head is probably spinning crazy with all the things that you will get done now that you don't
have to waste all that time commuting, getting ready for work, etc. Cut to you a few weeks into
your new lifestyle, and things probably won't be going along as smoothly as you had
imagined! What the heck happened? Well, we certainly hope you didn't toss that daily
planner you used to fill out so religiously! You just might need to pull it out and put it back to
work.
In the first place, you are still "working.” You are just working “here” and not “there.” You still
need to keep a schedule, and maybe even a daily flow chart. It will just have different items on
it. Instead of dealing with meetings, phone calls, reports, face-to-face chats with clients or
customers or employees or the boss, deadlines, countless interruptions, and all that, you
will need to schedule time for focusing on the work you are doing from home, maintaining
your home itself, your family, and maybe even YOU!
Take your planner out and come up with something that works for you. You might start with
what worked before. In other words, if you had to be ready to leave the house by 7:00 AM
before, then let it be that way now. You don’t have to be all dressed up with nowhere to go, but
you can be showered and dressed, and ready to get the day started. Assign times to focus on
various activities, keeping in mind that none of it is etched in stone. Build your own individual
situation into your schedule, and remember that it is only a guideline. Your boss is not going
to call you on the carpet if the schedule doesn't work (unless you stand in front of the mirror
and have at it). Remember you have flexibility that you didn't have when you were working
outside the home. You are the boss and you can arrange your day as you choose to fit the
needs of your family, health, interests, schooling, or whatever reason you chose to work at
home. Keep adjusting until you find what works. It may need tweaking when your kids' school
starts up or lets out, as days get longer or shorter, as the seasons change, etc. That’s OK!
If you are thinking, “but I quit work so I didn't have to be scheduled!” remember that this is
YOUR schedule, not someone else’s. You can take as many breaks as you need, and you
can take them whenever you need them, not when you are told to go. You are working into the
schedule YOUR needs and your family‘s needs, not the needs of the company for whom you
used to work. Because you have control over what is happening instead of being at the mercy
of someone else, you can handle it!
And one last thing: you will never, ever have to come home so exhausted that you stand at the
kitchen sink in your coat and high heels doing dishes because you know that if you stop to
take them off, you will never get up to get the dishes done. And yes, we actually heard of
some poor soul who did that.