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When Balancing Home and Work- Kick it Up a Notch

photo credit: Flavio~ via photopin cc
photo credit: Flavio~ via photopin cc

It is fantastic to kick it up a notch when you are balancing your obligations at home and work.

Increasingly in my travels, I come across women like me, women who have chosen to work at home rather than a traditional office and have a family at home. When we meet each other at a school event or at a networking event, or business meeting, the talk always comes around to the struggle to balance home and work obligations. At the same time, when I speak with women who work at traditional office places talk about the difficulties they face in balancing home and work obligations. Even the stay at home moms talk about trying to balance the things they do for their families at home and trying to find time for themselves. In other words, no matter what kind of work women do, they are all looking for ways to balance home and work obligations.

 

Today I am suggesting we kick up our balancing acts.We all have plans for balance. I have a calendar that strictly delineates time for work, home, school and all other activities in my life. I planned everything out carefully and the times I put on the calendar are adequate for each task. When I follow the calendar, things run smoothly, everything gets done, and I feel satisfied at the end of the day. However, when I just go with the flow and don’t follow the plan, I fail. In other words, I don’t get everything done, I miss deadlines and I feel dissatisfied at the end of the day.  So, I need to kick things up a notch.

I often remind myself of the “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” line that is common in today’s world. At the same time, I have to start reminding myself  that “if you don’t work the plan, the plan won’t work.” In other words, creating a plan that balances home and work is a great first step. It is a crucial and important part of the plan. However, creating the plan is not the end of the matter. Once you set up a plan that works for you, and it may take several weeks to work out the timing, start working the plan. Kick things up a notch!

Work during work hours. It doesn’t matter if where the work takes place:
  • If you are working at a traditional workplace, during work time, stay away from personal activities, do your job
  • If you work at home, set up a dedicated work space, even if it just a corner of the dining room table and work during your work time, do not do any household chores
  • If you are a stay at home mom, when you are supposed to be doing household work for your family do it, do your personal things after your work is done
  • When it is personal time, put away your work, do not answer work calls, do not read work emails and do not do work activities
  • When it is personal time, dedicate your time, attention and efforts to yourself and your family

We all work in one form or another. It is crucially important to find a way to balance the obligations to work and home. If you are not satisfied with the balance between the two in your life, stop complaining and do something. Kick things up a notch. For me, I am going to start sticking to my schedule like wet on water!

It is fantastic to find a way to kick it up a notch when it comes to balancing home and work. So, the question for you this fantastic day is how can you kick your balancing act up a notch?

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