Time Management
for Work At Home Moms
(excerpt from 'Tasking Tips')
Make sure your schedule
is realistic. Kids are notoriously unpredictable, so attempting
to set a rigid schedule is only going to frustrate you
and your kids. You simply cannot expect to have the entire
day mapped out to the very minute and not allow for some
wiggle room. When you are mapping out your activities
for the day, you should attempt to make the schedule more
of an outline than a rigid schedule. For example, instead
of proclaiming that you will work uninterrupted from 1:00-3:00,
you may want to instead plan on working for two hours
after lunch. You will still get your hours of work done,
but without the time constraints which will eventually
stress you out. You will eventually find out which method
works best for your needs. Some moms find a rigid schedule
is actually what they crave, while other moms like to
keep things a little more flexible when planning their
day.
A consistent schedule
will make your kids' day easier. This does not mean that
you need to have your kids on an incredibly rigid schedule,
but if they know that mom always works after the morning
nap without fail, they will begin to expect it and maybe
even keep themselves occupied while you work. You may
want to declare "Quiet Time" during a certain
part of the day, when you work and the kids do quiet activities
such as reading or drawing. Of course, this is much more
difficult with younger children…a one year-old will
probably have much more trouble with doing quiet activities
than a four year-old would, but this all depends upon
the temperament of the child. You simply cannot suddenly
declare to your children that you are going to work for
hours on end and you expect no interruptions if you have
never had that as a part of your schedule before. If working
from home is a new thing for you, be sure to ease your
children into the transition. They might be used to you
being available to them all the time, and if you don't
make the transition a smooth one everyone is going to
be miserable.
Set your goals, and
stick to them. You can't hope to achieve your long-term
goals if you don't set any. It isn't enough to have the
vague goal of being successful at work while also taking
care of your family. You need to sit down and think through
what steps you need to take to reach your ultimate goal.
How do you define "successful" when you think
about your occupational success? Is it achieving a certain
pay rate or position? Is it receiving some type of formal
recognition from your bosses? How do you define the goal
of taking care of your family? Do you mean making sure
that the kids are fluent in three languages and skipping
grade levels in school, or do you mean that they are simply
happy and not burning the house down? Figure out what
it is you want to work towards, and then figure out what
steps you need to take in order to reach your ultimate
goal. For example, if your long-term goal is to get promoted
to a certain position, then start setting smaller goals
which will ultimately lead to your eventual promotion.
This may mean taking a few night classes or taking on
specific projects. In the end, though, clearly defining
your goals and the things you need to do to reach your
goals will certainly save you time in the long run. You
will spend more time aggressively pursuing your goals
instead of floundering around, not working towards anything
specific.
Don't panic if your
schedule falls into chaos. It's hard to tell where the
day will lead when you are home with small children. You
may have the best intentions of getting a specific project
done during the day when suddenly your baby falls ill
and needs to see a doctor. Or maybe you have an unseasonably
warm day in the middle of a cold winter and you know that
if you don't take advantage of the day by heading outside
with the kids then you will regret it. You need to be
flexible when working from home, even if that means you
aren't consistently time-efficient. Don't get down on
yourself if you take a day off once in a while to take
care of a sick child or run off to the park to play.
