I’ve juggled working from home and a family for twelve years. Going freelance or starting your own business offers a lot more flexibility when it comes to managing a family and working. It isn’t always easy to find ways of managing your family and the home while building a career or a business, but it is worth the effort if you think it is right for you. Work life balance is essential and hopefully these tips will help you juggle working from home and a family too.
Prioritising
To start with, the first steps always has to be the abilities to prioritise. You need to think about what matters to you the most. Is it spending more time with your family? Or being able to challenge yourself with work? Or it could be that you feel fulfilled in your career and be a great mother, wife, daughter, or whatever else. And when this is the case, you have to set your priorities. There’s no wrong answer here. Obviously you want to be there for your family and do right by them however working the number of hours you need or want to work is fine, you just need to find the balance.
Scheduling
When you know what your priorities are, you need to factor them in when it comes to scheduling. You really need to make sure that your day-to-day activities and actions mirror that and establishing a routine is just so important. I use a colour coded Google Calendar for everything from school trips to medical appointments to when the food shopping will be delivered.
It is OK to Ask For Help
You need to make sure that you’ve got the support that you need, both professionally and personally. Maybe you need a nanny full-time or someone for a few hours. I used a fabulous local childminder when my youngest was little which made all the difference. It’s ok if you need more help, like Porthaven, with elderly family members. You wouldn’t think twice if they needed more help, so why second-guess yourself? Working from home-wise, use a virtual assistant to help lighten the load of give you cover during holiday times.
Setting Expectations
It’s just so important for you to be able to set your expectations at the right levels. Do you expect more help around the home? For your children to be somewhat independent and less reliant on you? Or maybe you want to set expectations with your work and clients, so that you’re only ever working set hours. Either way, if you set expectations in your mind, you’re going to find it all the more easier to establish a healthy balance here.
Working from home and managing a family at the same time is hard at times but honestly, I love my life! I’ve worked hard to balance everything else and prioritise some self-care time too. Try and make sure you do the same as you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long before you get burned!
