Balancing Work Life and Home Life When Your Home IS your Office
Do you ever have days where you feel like you can NOT keep up with life? Being an adult holds its own challenges. Being an adult who happens to own their own business and works from home also holds challenges. When work is at home and there is no escape, it can make things feel like nothing will never get done, despite the work day never ending.
Balancing work and home is very important to your success, both as a business owner and as a functioning person. You must be able to separate if you want to avoid burn out. It doesn't matter how much you want to do it all, you have limited energy, time, and sanity.
I can't tell you what will work perfectly for you to help gain balance. But, what I CAN do is tell you what I've learned over the past several years of working from home. Below are my top 5 tips for balancing life at home and work at home.
HAVE A DEDICATED WORK AREA - Whether or not you are using a desk, a crafting table, a sewing table, whatever - make a workspace. Leave work in that space. It is tempting to do work around your house because - well, it's your house! If you leave your work in the designated workspace, you're less likely to let it take over your entire home. In addition, you are minimizing your distractions. You will be less distracted at work in your dedicated workspace. You will be less distracted from your family when work time is over.
HAVE SET BUSINESS HOURS - This is hard! I am a mother of two children, all three of us have ADHD. To top it off, my husband works shift work. Routine is NOT something that is common within these 4 walls. But, it's important to set, display, and stick to business hours. If you do not, you can burn out more quickly. Not to mention, your SO, spouse, kids, dog, or whoever will miss you and begin to feel that your business has taken over not only the house, but your time, too. Also, by setting business hours, you are giving your customers a clear indicator of when you are available to respond to requests, something that builds trust in your business relationship.
DONT FORGET TO SCHEDULE BREAKS - You can't work 8-5 with no breaks. If you're like me, it's easy to get distracted. All of a sudden it's 3pm and you've not even had breakfast, much less lunch. Or you're on a roll, so you think, I'll just eat lunch at my desk. Nope. Don't do it. Resist the temptation. Those breaks are important for our mental health and productivity. I try to give myself 15 minutes of stretching (brain AND legs) every 2-3 hours of working. I also try to schedule a full hour for lunch and MAKE myself take at least 30 minutes of that! However it works best for you, just don't forget that you need the breaks!
TAKE 2 DAYS OFF A WEEK and AN EXTRA DAY A MONTH - This is important, y'all! It is super important that you give yourself time OFF from work. It doesn't have to be Saturday and Sunday. It doesn't have to be two days in a row. BUT, it does have to be OFF. That doesn't mean doing behind the scenes stuff. That doesn't mean jotting down product ideas. That does NOT mean handling business social media. Completely off from your business. Make a list of fun things you want to do that are not business related. Schedule in those days off and start checking those things off!
And that brings me to the most important tip I have:
TAKE CARE OF YOU - I'm not sure what this means for you. It could be a monthly trip to the hair and nail salon or a night a month in a hotel away from all responsibility. Maybe it means morning yoga, maybe it means a half-hour heavy metal session in your bedroom at the end of the day. Whatever it is, do it. If it means you have to take a mental health day, do it. You, your family AND your customers will appreciate that you are giving them your best.