How many times have you breastfed while responding to a dozen emails? Better yet, how many times have you driven around your neighborhood until your two-year-old fell asleep? Well, if you're a parent working from home and you have your kids there too, then you've more than likely done this more times than you can count! This doesn't necessarily make it right or wrong... it's simply how you've been able to get through your workday.
In the same token, you shouldn't have to resort to car rides to calm your toddler down or have baby shark playing loud in the background to keep your little one happy... in your mind, there has to be a better way to increase your productivity. Well, luckily there is. Working from home while looking after your little ones can be quite the challenge, especially when you have a workload to the ceiling and deadlines to meet.
When you initially made the decision to start working from home, you probably didn't put too much thought into the challenges you'd be facing involving your kids... Outside of finding a web-based website builder, investing in marketing, and finding the money to fund your business, those are stressors you were prepared to endure but trying to work more efficiently without neglecting the needs of your child is definitely a challenge you didn't think about at first when it came to thinking of everything required in running a home-based business.
Despite the many challenges you face in running a home-based business with kids, it's still very doable. In fact, according to CNBC, 5.2% of Americans worked from home in 2017 and that number has steadily increased over the years as its popularity has grown. The key to success is staying on task and avoiding distractions... that's easier said than done, clearly... that's why there are some tips and tricks you can follow to make things a little easier and ultimately increase your productivity working from home.
Designate an Office Space in Your Home
When you live in a household where it's too easy for your kids to conveniently lay their book bags and homework on your desk or want to hog your computer to play games, the idea of being productive for work seems like a distant memory and it's definitely not a professional atmosphere. That reason, alone, is all the more reason to designate an area specifically for work.
Ideally, you want to have a room that you can turn into your home office but if you don't have that luxury, then you need to at least designate a specific area in your home where you conduct business. This area needs to be away from high traffic areas if possible.
Give Yourself a Daily To-Do List
One of the best ways to be productive at work is to give yourself a daily to-do list. The fact that you work from home and don't have your boss peering over your shoulders from time to time to instill that bit of fear in you means that you need to have a certain level of self-discipline to get the work done that you need to get done.
You'll want to write down all the tasks you need to get done for the day and then number them in accordance with their priority. As you complete each task, mark them off your list and whatever tasks are left by the end of the day, simply transfer those remaining tasks to your to-do list for the next day. By continuing to do this and making a habit of it, pretty soon you won't be transferring remaining tasks to the next day's list... you'll have gotten a pattern down to work more efficiently!
Get the Family On Board
When you work from home, your success isn't solely dependent on you... it's going to take some effort from everyone in your household. Not necessarily in the sense of getting them to do some of your work but more so in the aspect of getting their help in keeping quiet and not disturbing you while you work.
Just like all businesses have business hours, your business should have business hours too and your family needs to be fully aware of those hours, meaning they should not disturb you for anything outside of an emergency during your business hours. In a nutshell, your family needs to treat your business as if you physically went to work.
If you commuted to work every day, do you think your spouse would be trying to talk to you as often if he knew you went into work? He probably wouldn't because he knows that you can't just have full-blown personal phone conversations while at work and he would respect that. For some reason, people tend to think that just because you work from home that you don't really do any work... The sooner you can get your family on board with respecting your business hours, the sooner you can increase your productivity.
Getting the family on board also includes household chores as well. Having your child help out around the house is going to help free up some of your free time when you're done working. While you're working, your teenager could come home from school and do a load of laundry... this is not only going to free up your time but it's also going to allow for more family time.
Don't Eat At Your Desk
Eating at your desk might seem convenient but it's really not. The fact that you do computer work means that if you bring your food to your desk, you're not going to take a real lunch break. When it comes to lunch breaks, you need to take them and step away from your computer when you do it; eat your lunch in the kitchen or eat in front of the TV if you like... you just need to be away from your computer. This is not only going to keep your desk from getting junky but it's also going to give you a nice mental break as well.
