When you work from home all the time, the boundaries between home and work life can become blurred, and although for some that’s not a problem, if you have a family and want to spend quality time with them, it can certainly be an issue. Here are some tips on how to improve that all-important work-life balance, and make the most of your kids while they’re young.
Get Dressed For Work
If you worked in an office, you would get up and get dressed in something appropriate, depending on the dress code. When you work from home, it’s tempting to stay in your pajamas all day or wear something like lounge pants or a tracksuit. If you wouldn’t wear it to an office, or a meeting, it’s best not to wear it at home. You don’t have to get dressed up in a suit or wear high heels all day, but make sure whatever you choose is smart, and not something you would necessarily wear when playing with the kids or heading out to the movies. If you are going to do those things after work, get changed – this will give you a mental distinction between work and play time.
Have A Separate Work Space
If you’re working from home, it’s best if you can have a workspace that is completely separate from the rest of the house. A spare bedroom used as a study is perfect, or a corner of another room that is usually vacant. Try to screen off your workspace if you can, so that when your ‘door’ is closed, your family know not to disturb you. Don’t fix up your desk in the same room that your kids will be playing or watching TV in – although it may seem like a good idea, so that you can keep an eye on what they’re doing, it will distract you, and you will be less productive, and that will result in you working longer hours. At the end of the day, you can close the office door behind you, and be with your family. Just don’t be tempted to open it again!
Automate
Like all large corporations, you’ll have to delegate some tasks to automation. You can, for instance, automate your social media posts and even your emails. What is marketing automation? Marketing automation is all about setting your marketing strategy, so that it works when you are either not, or are (most likely) concentrating on another pressing task. By automating some business processes, you’re able to somewhat forget about menial business processes (which, let’s face it, are quite boring in the first place).
Block Out Your Time
Depending on how you work, and what you want to achieve, you may find it useful to block out chunks of time for certain activities. You could work for two hours, then play with your children for an hour, then do some housework or other errands, then back to work for another set amount of time and so on. As long as you are focused on what you are doing and when you are doing it, and as long as you are realistic about how much you can – and need to – achieve, this can work very well indeed, and give you the ideal work-life balance.
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