If you have a regular 9-to-5 job, you may not struggle as much to separate work and personal time. When you clock out at the end of the day, you can usually turn your attention to your family, chores, and other aspects of your personal life. The same holds true on weekends or whenever you have days off.
However, if you run your own business from home, the line between work time and personal time can get blurred. Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can implement to be more productive while you work and more present with your friends and family when you “clock out.” So, in today’s post, we are going to look at a few different ways to separate your work time from your personal time!
Create Boundaries With Your Family Members
Do you ever find yourself constantly interrupted when working from home? Maybe your husband comes in to ask what model of bilge heater he should buy for your boat or your toddler comes in crying because they bumped their elbow. Either way, it can be really difficult to get things done when you have a million distractions throughout the day. For this reason, it is vital to set boundaries with your family. While you can’t tell a small child not to come to you with problems, you can have older members of your family help take care of the kids while you’re working. Additionally, you should make it clear to any older family members that you should not be bothered while you are working.
Set Specific Work Hours
It is much easier to create boundaries with your family members when you (and they) know when you work. Setting specific work hours and days can help keep everyone on the same page. Just as importantly, a set schedule can help you stay consistent and focused on your work from one day to the next. If you don’t have set work hours, your work may merge with “family time” or vice versa, making it hard to give proper attention to your business or your family.
Make Realistic To-Do Lists
Many entrepreneurs create really long to-do lists that cannot be feasibly done in one day. This causes them to feel like they need to work extra hours (or days) just to meet their goals. However, this is a quick way to experience burnout and end up being less productive. So, set realistic to-do lists that you can actually accomplish in the allotted time. This will ensure that you don’t have to take away from your personal time to tick off all of the items on your list. If you’re struggling with reasonable to-do lists, try to make to-do lists by day, week, month, quarter, and year. This will help you keep you on track on a daily basis while also focusing on your long-term goals!
Image by Vadim Tashbaev from Pixabay